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.
Class: Sophomore Did
You Take a Prep Class at UF? No What Study Materials Did You
Use? Actex Manual Did You Pass?
Yes
Comments:
I wanted to get a head start on my exams, so I
took Exam P the summer following my freshman year. I hadn't taken any
statistical courses at UF, but I took AP Statistics in high school and felt like
that gave me a very good background in order to start studying for this exam. I
studied the Actex Manual whenever I could over the summer, and that was enough
for me to pass. I would recommend against doing this, because it is usually
beneficial to have information presented to you in different forms if possible.
Study the concepts first in a study guide or two, and then takes lots of
practice exams and practice problems. A well written practice exam is better
than just doing problems because it gives you an idea how well you are doing and
which areas you need to focus the remainder of your study time on. I was doing
well on the practice exams in the Actex Manual so I felt good about my chances,
but what I didn't realize was that the real exam could have been harder than
depicted in the manual. For this reason you should find different sources to
study from. I would recommend The Infinite Actuary's exams as one of these
sources, because the exam is probably not going to get any more difficult than
that.
Class: Sophomore Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? STA4321 (Spring 2011) What Study Materials Did You Use? ASM
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments:
The ASM study book was very helpful. All of the material on the actual exam
was covered thoroughly in the study book. I reccomend taking the STA4321 class
close to when you plan to begin studying for the exam because I made the mistake
of waiting a significant amount of time between the two. I began to study for
the exam about four months in advance and seemed to have just enough time to
complete the study manual and feel prepared for the test. I completed all 20
practice exams included in the study manual. It was very useful for me to make
sure I understood the solutions to the provided practice questions.
Class: Junior
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? STA4321 (Summer 2010)
What Study Materials Did You Use? ASM and SOA Practice Problems
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments:
I took STA4321 in the summer but didn't start studying until January
for my test in March. I would recommend ASM as a study manual
because the material was understandable and there were plenty of
practice exams to work on. STA4321 was also very good backgrond
for the exam but additional studying is necessary. There are
several things I would have done different, however. I wouldn't
have waited so long between STA4321 and sitting for the exam as well as
doing even more practice exams before the test as practice problems are
the best way to prepare for the exam, in my opinion.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
P/1 January 2011
Class: Junior
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? STA4321 (Fall 2010)
What Study Materials Did You Use? The Inifinite Actuary and Actex
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments:
I highly recommend The Infinite Actuary for this exam. Dave Revelle is
very good at explaining the concepts, and it helps to see practice
problems done in front of you on the screen, step by step. The Actex
manual was decent, although I used it as a secondary resource. I didn't
do any of the practice exams from Actex, but I did do all of the TIA
ones. I tried to do most of the Actex problems, as well as the TIA
problems. I felt like I studied a sufficient amount. I began studying
as STA 4321 started, and continued after the class was through. STA
4321 covered a majority of the material, and helped me pace myself for
learning each topic. I attempted to cover the relevant material in the
seminar and manual as the topics were covered in the class, and this
method worked out well for me.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
P/1 July 2010
Class: Junior
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF? STA4321 (Fall 2009)
What Study Materials Did You Use? ASM, SOA Practice Problems, and 4 (free) Infinite Actuary Practice Exams
Did You Pass? Yes
Comments:
I started studying for P in mid-May once school was out. STA4321
provides a very good background for the exam, but there are still
several new concepts on the exam that I had to focus on. I thought the
ASM manual explained the concepts very well and I highly recommend that
for anyone trying to decide on a study manual. I finished the ASM
chapters about a month before the exam and then took roughly 15
practice exams after that; the ASM practice exams are (intentionally)
considerably more difficult than the actual exam, so I think that
prepared me well. After 2.5 months of studying, I found the exam very
fair and doable, and was not surprised by any of the questions.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
P/1 December 2007
Name
Diem
Rating of
Study Materials
Class
Junior
Actex-
7
Ramanathan's
Study Manual- 7
Did You Take a
Prep Class at
UF?
STA-4321 (Fall
2006)
How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it")
3
Diem's Notes on Exam:
It was much harder than I expected. Some of the problems didn�t look
familiar to me or I haven�t encountered while studying. I
definitely needed to work more on insurance policy questions and
integration.
What would I do differently?
I wish I had more time to study solely on the material instead of
studying for four other classes as well. I would do the problems in each
chapter I had trouble with over a few times more and do all of the
practice exams over. I also wished I did the past exam questions from
www.beanactuary.com.
How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it")
8
Nicholas's Notes on Exam:
The problems were a little harder than
those in Actex but were manageable. I would advise that you really
learn all the insurance terms and conditional probability since they
appear all over the exam. Learn how to use EVERY function on your
calculator since it will save you a lot of time. I would also recommend
that you become extremely comfortable with evaluating multiple integrals
by hand. Finally I noticed that in the practice exams that out of the
continuous distributions the normal, exponential, and uniform appeared
the most. This doesn�t mean that you shouldn�t learn the others, I am
just saying that you should know these the best, along with ALL the
discrete distributions.
What would I do differently?
Spend less time going over discrete distributions in Actex and
Probability for Risk Management since the Art of Problem Solving books
covered everything I needed and more, and their problems for discret
distributions were harder than the ones on the exam.
STA-4321 (Spring 2007), but only gave a
broad introduction to the topics the exam covers. It helped, but still
needed to study a lot on my own.
How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it")
I personally thought I got like a 4 on
it, but I got my score back and passed with the minimum 6.
Chad's Notes on Exam:
I
thought it was difficult, right after the test I thought I failed, and
then at the end I received the congratulations message which indicated I
passed. I wouldn�t rely on STA-4321 at all. I would recommend not
worrying about any long integration that some of the manual�s problems
put you through. I think out of 30 problems I only had to double
integrate once.
What would I do differently?
I would have studied more than one month
in advance and followed a schedule rather than cram for up to 12 hours a
day right before the exam.
Name
Yong
Rating of Study
Materials Used
Class
Junior
Actex- 8
Sample Exams from SOA or CAS- 8
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF?
STA-4321 (Fall 2006)
How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it")
I got a 5 on the
first attempt. I think I can get 7-9 on the second attempt.
Yong's Notes on Exam:
If you think the ACTEX problems and those sample exams are ok for you.
And you get used to them. You�ll be fine for the real exam.
Name
Van
Rating of Study
Materials Used
Class
Senior
BPP Practice Exams- 8
123 SOA Practice Problems-
ASM- 9
Actex- 6
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF?
STA-4321 (Fall 2006)
How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it")
I at least passed the exam
Van's Notes on Exam:
The
exam is doable if you study with the amount of time they suggested. Make
sure that you know the materials on the topic thoroughly. Practice the
questions with insurance context many times.
What would I do differently? Study earlier and span out the amount of study
time. Also try to arrange your class schedule so you don�t have to
juggle a heavy load classes with the studying for the exam.
Additional advice:
I
think it will be very helpful if you can find somebody that is currently
taking STA 4321 and try to explain some of the concepts to them or
answer their questions. I think you learn more that way and you also
make sure that you truly understand everything. I guess it is the same
like having a study group.
Take the time you study seriously. If you
feel like you are distracted, just go and do something else. Don�t count
the time sitting at your desk as study time if you don�t really study.
And the people design the exam mean it when they say 100 hours study
time for each hour of the test.
Know when your brain works best. If you
are an early person, you should wake up early and study for the exam. If
you are a night person, start studying when it is late. (Don�t stay up
until 5am and try to study for the actuarial exam though. Been there,
done that, it is not really helpful because you think you are still
awake but your brain is not functioning any longer). I would do my study
for the exam first and my school work later.
If you take the exam the first time and
pass it right away, it is great. But if not, don�t stress out too much
because the 2nd time around will be easier since you learn
most of the materials. Just make sure that you feel ready and confident
for the exam. Like many people suggest, you should know all the familiar
problems and how to do them without thinking. The problems that seem new
to you and complicated leave them to the end. If you know how to solve
them, do it. If not, just make an educated guess and move on. Try to
finish your exam within 2 hours so you can have an hour to check your
answer and work on the tough ones. When you read most of the questions
on the test, they should be familiar to you. You don�t need to know
everything but you need to do correctly at least 70% of the questions.
In the exam, I read the question twice.
If I have no clue, I just move on. Personally, I always skip the first
question and come back later because for some reason, it might seem
overwhelming.
Try to use the suggested calculator when
you study for your exam.
Practice and practice. Figure out what is
the best strategy to do a problem for you, not according to any text
book or study manual.
Name
Christine
Rating of Study
Materials Used
Class
Grad Student
BPP Practice Exams- 7
123 SOA Practice Problems- 10
DVD seminar (old)- 2
Did You Take a Prep Class at UF?
STA-4321 (Fall 2005)
STA-6326 (Fall 2006)
How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it")
9
Christine's Notes on Exam:
I thought it was very fair and found it
not too hard, but then I had just taken the Masters Qualifying Exam for
Statistics so my response is biased.
I�d recommend getting a study manual and
looking over the syllabus posted on the SOA website to make sure you�ve
covered all concepts. After taking the exam I learned about the
actuarial discussion boards, and I think they would also be a very
helpful resource because you can see what other people about to take the
test are saying.
How do you
think you did on the Exam? (10 being "aced it")
7
Crystal's Notes on Exam:
The exam was what I predicted,
hard/intimidating but possible.
What would I do differently?
I could say study more but
realistically I think I did the best I could and study the most I could
fit in to my schedule (quality over quantity)
Additional advice:
Use the comment section at the end of the
test to bring up any questions you aren�t sure of. Pace yourself on the
exam and don�t leave the exam until the last second times out (even if
you have an hour left). Don�t make any plans for after the exam besides
resting, you will not feel like doing anything afterward. Try and relax
the night before and get a good nights rest, coffee/caffeine is not
your friend when you have to concentrate.
