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Joint Exam FM/2
click a button below for more information on
this exam
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Register online
here
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General description
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Length of exam
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Format
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Seasons offered
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Current locations
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UF prep classes
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Study Group information
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Exam FM/2 - Financial
Mathematics
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Register to take the exam
here
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General description:
covers interest theory and introductory financial mathematics
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Length: 3 hours; 35 Questions
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Format: Computer-based
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Dates offered: February, April, June, August, October, December
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Current locations:
Currently, the CBT (computer-based
tests) are offered in Gainesville (among many other places)
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UF Prep Classes:
Theory of Interest (STA-4183) and/or
Finance (FIN-3403)* FASS recommended study manuals/exam seminars: ASM, The Infinite Actuary
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*Theory of Interest should contain a majority of the material you will need for Exam FM/2 (except
for Derivatives), but it
is only offered odd Fall years. If you cannot take it before Exam
FM/2, then it is recommended that you try to at least take Finance to
get some background on the time value of money. Finance will not
prepare you for the exam like Theory of Interest, but it will at
least give you some type of reference point to help you begin studying.
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Study Group Information: Fall 2012 - email Boyang at b.meng@ufl.edu
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Study Materials for Exam FM/2 |
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Textbooks / Study Manuals to purchase:
Seminars / Online Courses:
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Free Materials:
Free
Problems:
(link here)
(link here)
Free Samples:
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Tips for Passing
Have you already taken an exam? Whether you
passed or not, other students would love to hear about your experience. It
is an intimidating process and the more you know about it, the better off you
are. Share your thoughts, feelings, experience, advice, and anything else
you have to say about the exams on this page. Just fill out
this form
and email to the
President (alexamertens@gmail.com) to get it
posted on here.
Useful Links:
Future
Fellows - June 2001 - The Secret to Passing Exams (http://www.casact.org/newsletter/index.cfm?fa=viewart&id=4264)
FM/2 February 2012
Class:
Sophomore
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? STA
4183
What Study Materials Did You Use? Actex Manual, The
Infinite Actuary Practice Exams
Did You Pass?
Yes
Comments:
I would say that most of my studying for this
exam was during the STA 4183 class, with a little bit of extra
studying/reviewing after the class got out in preparation for the exam. Pay
extra attention in STA 4183 because you are going to see a lot of these concepts
again when studying for FM/2. I studied with the Actex manual and thought it did
a good job of preparing me, but I have heard great things about the ASM manuals
so I likely will try those for my next exam. The Infinite Actuary's practice
exams were very difficult, but I learned a lot missing those problems because
they came with video solutions. I watched the solutions over and over until I
felt like I could do most of the problems on the practice exams, and I believe
that this helped me tremendously. To conclude, I would recommend taking a course
at UF if possible, buying/renting/borrowing a study guide (probably ASM), and
spending a little on The Infinite Actuary's exams in order to protect yourself
from failing. You don't want to have to take these exams multiple times if you
can avoid it.
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FM/2 February 2012
Class: Junior
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? STA4183, FIN3403
What Study Materials Did You Use? ASM Study Manual, Kellison Theory of Interest
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments:
The ASM study manual was
certainly the most effective study manual. STA4183 did a good job
in introducing the concepts, however it was easy compared to the
difficulty in the actual FM exam. The ASM was the best way to
study for the exam. I did almost every problem at the end of each
section and did every practice exam question until I knew how to do
every single one.
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FM/2 February 2012
Class: Junior
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? FIN 3403, STA 4183
What Study Materials Did You Use? ASM Manual, The Infinite Actuary, ADAPT, SOA Practice Questions
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments:
The ASM manual was, in my opinion, the best resource for this exam.
Although I didn't do most of the problems in it, I did read it and do
all the practice exams, and I thought they were very helpful. The
Infinite Actuary was good too. It had (what I consider) an ample number
of practice problems, and the sample exams were very good, although
they can be bought separately without buying the seminar. The online
lectures were useful too. If I could have done things differently, I
would have done a lot more problems from ASM, and relied less on TIA.
Still, I don't think you can go wrong with either, as long as you're
willing to put the effort in. STA 4183 was helpful, although perhaps a
little on the easy side with the teacher we had. Like exam P, the class
helped me with the pacing of learning the material, as I waited until
we covered a topic in class before I covered the topic in the
manual/seminar. My 2-day ADAPT subscription was a great resource to use
right before the test, and helped me gain confidence going in. The SOA
practice questions were helpful too, although the interest theory part
was a little on the easy side. The SOA derivatives questions were
pretty difficult though, and are great for preparing for that section
of the test.
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FM/2 February 2012
Class: Senior
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? STA4183 and FIN3403
What Study Materials Did You Use? ASM, SOA Practice Problems, 2 Infinite Actuary Practice Exams, and ADAPT
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments: I
felt very prepared for taking FM. Unlike P, I was aware of how
much time I needed to study and had found more resources. The ASM
manual was very helpful as it had a lot of practice problems after each
sections as well as practice exams at the end. STA4183 was also a
great background for the exam and I would highly recommend taking that
class when it comes around again. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ FM/2 February 2011
Class: Junior
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? FIN3403
What Study Materials Did You Use? ASM, SOA Practice Problems, and 2 Infinite Actuary Practice Exams ($20)
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments:
Since
I wasn't able to take STA4183 before taking FM, I relied mostly on
self-studying for this exam, though FIN3403 was very useful in
introducing me to the basic fundamentals of Time Value of Money,
Annuities, and Bonds. I started studying about 2 months in advance and
went through all the ASM chapters, which I felt prepared me well. I
took the last 2 weeks or so to focus on practice exams (I did the 5
practice exams in the ASM manual, the SOA practice problems, and I paid
for 2 TIA practice exams online). All in all, I felt comfortable with
most of the problems on the actual exam, though there were a few tricky
ones that caught me off guard. If I could do something differently, I
would have spent a bit more time on practice exams, as two weeks was
sufficient but certainly not ideal.
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FM/2 November 2007
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Name |
Alan |
Rating of
Study Materials |
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Class |
Junior |
Theory of
Interest Edition 2 textbook (Kellison) - 8
Actex Exam FM
Study Material - 8 |
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Did You Take a
Prep Class at
UF? |
STA-4183 (Fall
2007) |
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How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it") |
6, I think I
nailed everything but derivative markets, which I did not study at all.
But only 9 of the 30 questions were on derivatives |
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Alan's Notes on Exam:
Straightforward Financial Math except for derivative markets.
Except for derivative markets, of which the only things that came up
were puts and calls, If you can do time value of money and annuities and
a little math, It�s very passable.
What would I do differently?
Study derivative markets. |
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Name |
Christine |
Rating of
Study Materials |
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Class |
Grad Student |
Mathematics of Investment and Credit
textbook - 4 not so helpful to learn the material, problems not
indicative of exam questions
Derivatives Markets textbook - 6
helpful, but problems not the greatest
ASM FM 6th Edition - 10 This is
the best study manual for FM in my biased opinion, excellent
explanations and tons of questions
Old Actex FM DVD - 5 Useful but
didn't have a lot of the syllabus material since it was older
BPP Practice Tests - 7 Though I
only did 1 of the 2 exams, it was helpful, made me realize I forgot to
learn swaps and a few other derivative concepts
The Infinite Actuary Practice Tests
with video solutions - 10 EXCELLENT, the exam quality was great AND
the video solutions helped me learn different ways to solve the
questions. James Washer is excellent at explaining this material,
I didn't take his online seminar but I would recommend it since his 2
exams alone were very helpful. |
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Did You Take a
Prep Class at
UF? |
FIN-3403
(Spring 2006) the helpful part was I learned bonds have semi-annual
coupons |
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How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it") |
9 � The day before I thought I
hadn�t prepared well but during and after the exam I feel very strongly
about the exam. I�m 99% sure I passed. So overall I would recommend
the ASM study manual by Cherry and Gorvett and The Infinite Actuary or
at least their practice exams. They also had video solutions to the
Derivatives released practice questions which was helpful to have them
explained. |
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Christine's Notes on Exam:
I
thought it was very fair. Easier than the ASM and TIA practice tests,
which is good because I got a lot of practice with hard exam questions
and the exam seeming easier is always a plus in my opinion.
Another cool thing to
do is to look at the message boards actuarialoutpost.com and actuary.com
both have them. If you ever have questions on material or want to see
what people thought of prior exams this is an excellent source. Oh,
problems are definitely key to the exam. I completed probably about
400-500 questions in my 111 hours of studying and that really really
helped me. Also I made flash cards while reading Mathematics of
Investment and Credit and Derivatives Markets which were helpful when I
was waiting at places I could drill on the concepts. For FM it is
important to know the concepts. Especially with regards to methods of
risk management and how to transfer risk. There were several questions
that tested your general knowledge of reading Derivatives Markets.
Also know how to construct the different types of options and why you
would use them, that is pretty important.
What would I do differently?
Should�ve spent a little more time on
swaps, cost of carry, and a couple other later topics. I wasn�t tested
but I hear some of that stuff was on the other exam forms. |
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Name |
Corey |
Rating of
Study Materials |
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Class |
Junior |
Derivatives
Markets textbook - 8
BPP Study
Program (lectures, textbook, practice exams, Q&A book) - 8 |
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Did You Take a
Prep Class at
UF? |
STA-4183 (Fall
2007) |
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How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it") |
7 |
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Corey's Notes on Exam:
Wasn�t too bad,
but more derivatives material than expected.
What would I do differently?
Started studying earlier. |
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Name |
Emily |
Rating of
Study Materials |
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Class |
Senior |
Theory of Interest (Kellison) textbook
- 5 I don't think it's too good for your only textbook, but it was a
good supplement. It's also the book we are using for STA-4183, but
I didn't use it too much to prepare for the exam.
Derivatives Markets textbook - 10
If you want to understand the derivatives material, this book is a must!
A forewarning though, there are NO solutions in this book (not even just
the number answer without explanation). You must buy a solutions
manual for it.
A Deeper Understanding, Faster
Calculation-- Exam FM Shortcuts and Insights (Guo) - 9 This book
gives full solutions to every syllabus-related problem in the
Derivatives Markets book. There is also a section in this book
that goes over every syllabus-related section of the Derivatives
book...that was very helpful! I did not get much out of the
earlier section of the book that goes over the old material...it was
very hard to follow. There are a lot of grammar mistakes, but I
liked the Derivative explanations.
BPP Lectures and textbook - 9 The
textbook is great for the old material and the lectures are really
helpful to watch after reading the Derivatives Markets book.
BPP Practice Tests - 10 From what
I remember, the actual exam was very similar to these practice tests |
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Did You Take a
Prep Class at
UF? |
STA-4183 (Fall 2007)
FIN-3403
(Spring 2007) - taught me how to use a financial calculator |
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How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it") |
7- I would
be really surprised if I didn't pass...but I guess you never really know
until the results are released |
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Emily's Notes on Exam:
This was my second
time taking it and I feel really good about it this time. Last
time, I didn't have a good understanding of Derivatives and I didn't
have a lot of the concepts down...I was hoping to be able to just solve
problems, but FM is not like that. The derivative questions were
not too in depth. I knew how to do a lot more than what was asked
of me on the test. The way I learned that material was to read
Derivatives Markets, talk about the material with my study partner, read
Guo's explanation of the section, watch the BPP lecture on that
material, and repeat as necessary. I also had to make note cards
for the new material. That was my biggest struggle...I had a good
understanding of the old material, but I was nervous about the new
stuff. About a week before the exam, it all clicked and I became
the Derivatives master!!...or something. ;O)
What would I do differently?
I always wish I would've studied earlier and smarter. In
retrospect, you always see how you shoul | |
