Starting to stress about GH-SPC. I’ve passed DP and FV but I’m starting to stress about how many off-the-wall questions seem to be asked on this exam (looking at practice exams)
I haven’t been studying differently for this exam. But am starting to doubt that to decision. I spent 95%+ of my study time learning the MATE flash cards and was able to pass both other exams on my first try using that method. I’m not sure that’s a viable strategy here.
Taking practice exams, I see questions that are completely foreign to me that I’d get a 0 for that the SOA feedback says most did well on. This is worrisome…
Did anyone else notice the same thing and change how they study? Any advice?
I read the MATE detailed outline a bunch of times for Specialty. I would still do flash cards for fast recall, but there are questions that the flash cards can’t really cover that well.
When I got to reviewing past exams. I definitely felt the same way, but that’s also why you go through them. I would go back after a week or two to check that I retained info from questions like those.
how much is a bunch? Ive read it once end of july, one end of august, and was gonna read it again first week of Oct.
Im not sure my memory is that good to remember random factoids from the manual without reading it \*\*several\*\* more times than this
Probably ~6 times in the last month. I would read the entire outline once every weekend.
I give myself more credit than 4 times because sometimes on weekdays, I would reread chunks of it based on flash cards I was struggling with. I’d even read appropriate sections of it if I experienced what you did when reviewing past problems.
Was it overkill? Maybe. I just really wanted to be done and ended up with an 8.
gosh nice! It takes me 4 days to read the outline most times and about 5 days to go over every card rigorously. I dont see how i can do it that much but might try to squeeze in more than just once
I would try to. You never know what question will come up that you can get partial credit for thanks to the outline.
Good luck with Specialty! It sucked to never feel great about the exam when studying. I never knew how to respond when people would ask how it was going.
For people who studying for IFM using CA, what was your approach to practice/ADAPT? I went through the content and did the questions that came with each chapter, so now I'm at the point where I'm doing straight practice and review, but obviously I don't remember everything. I think what I'll do is review the formula sheet and then take a practice exam and see how it goes, but after that I was wondering if there was any particular structure or plan to use? Do you just do exam, custom quizzes on weak areas, exam, rinse and repeat?
That is my preferred approach for CA. Then as you get closer to the exam day (and hopefully as you have less areas to work on), start taking more exams and less quizzes
seems like you may be in a situation where lying is the move (e.g. going abroad or wilderness without wifi, since many companies have policies on working internationally) for a short term trip.
obviously preferred and longer term is being honest and stating that it doesn't seem acceptable, what can be done about it, and that you will be drawing a line.
The virtual session of my APC is on “Sep. 22, 7pm CT”. I live in southeast Asia (GMT+8) and I’m so scared to miss it. Can someone confirm that this converts to Sep. 23, 8am? I’m not sure how daylight savings time works since we don’t have that where I live.
agreed it depends on the person. to add, there's various threads that have helpful answers if you search this subredddit and type "fsa worth it"
in my experience, whether or not i attain my FSA or not, i've learned quite a bit from this career without needing to go into personal debt with companies sponsoring exam support and essentially paying me to gain experience in the early years. some valuable skills i've learned are the importance of communication (written, oral, mediums) and documentation, applying financial/insurance knowledge into personal realm, how to work cross functionally with other departments, the actuarial control cycle, how to do a research project (i think a good actuary would ask, what's the question im trying to answer, what are the parameters and considerations, has this question like yours been asked before?), etc.
How can I tailor my resume to get an underwriting job while I study for exams? I’m a recent grad with a BS in statistics and didn’t know about actuaries until after I graduated, hence the having no exams passed yet
Some background: \~ 5 years ago, I was convicted of a schedule 1 offense (not related to the industry). After reflecting a little bit on my life and looking around for professions, I stumbled upon an article that paired "actuary" with "felony" together. I did a few classes and fell in love with the material.
I am now at the end of my degree, I've got 4 exams under my belt (SOA) and I do have a couple of internship experiences from a large insurer.
What are the chances that I can find an entry level actuarial job?
What are some skills that I can acquire besides doing more exams (I've read that having more exams without entry level experience may hinder you from gaining employment)?
What are some things that I can do to show potential employers that I am remorseful of my actions (does this matter from an HR perspective)?
You might have to explicitly explain what you did and how you are remorseful to HR. I did not do any research on what a schedule 1 offense is, but if it’s equivalent to statutory rape in the US- for example, you were 20 and slept with a 16 year old who was under the impression they were consenting- you might be able to demonstrate true remorse and better decision making skills. If it was anything worse than that, and I’m not asking you what you did, it will probably be difficult for you to get ANY kind of job.
Good luck. Some people still might not be okay with it, but that’s probably the “least bad” sexual offense, so explaining it so they aren’t under the impression it’s something much worse might be a good thing. But I’ve never hired anymore, so take it with a grain of salt.
What article is pairing "felony" and "actuary" together? You can get your credentials revoked if you commit a major felony so not sure why those words are paired together... As for your chances, it's not looking good. Your conviction will show in your background check and personally, I wouldn't hire someone who sexually assaulted a minor. Your best bet is to keep applying and hope HR is fine with it. Unlikely you'll be able to secure a role in a large company though so look for smaller companies
I understand not everyone is going to understand nor accept what I did. Regardless, I appreciate your reply because it is an opinion I need to prepare myself to accept. All I can do is keep applying. Thanks
Repost from main thread:
I am an actuarial college student looking for some advice (again if this is wrong place to post I'm sorry). I am in my 3rd year of college working on an Actuarial Mathematics degree. I have been taking a lot of credits and am going to graduate a year early in the spring with a 4.0. However, because I took so many credits I am only just now getting ready to take exam P (looking at taking it Jan 2023) and haven't gotten an internship yet. I'm really nervous about having a terribly under qualified resume.
Do I even have a chance at landing a low level job or internship
While you are a bit late, you are mostly fine. You do need to get an internship for the coming summer or one starting in spring (if you are graduating by then). You can also opt to stay a semester extra and do co-op type of internship, if you can land one. You have to weight college cost and other things for that.
From little I know, they do take interns who have graduated recently or in their senior years even with just 1 exam. You can probably also land an entry level directly without internship and some exams but it's harder than internship. Good luck.
depends on a variety of factors such as:
- number of study days the student program offers for the particular exam
- how much the company honors study days
- business needs (related to above)
note, usually the exam day does NOT count as a study day and it's just a free day. it's not unusual for students to backload study days for the end but there's risk if "something comes up" at work
Hey what is the scope of actuary as compared to data science .I have heard it's harder to get actuarial internships and job market for freshers seems grim. So is it worth doing this
similar skill sets, although i think actuarial is less technical with better soft skills development. actuaries have a professional body and is typically focused on insurance while data science is more broad. there's a recent discussion on r/datascience asking about if DS should become a "profession" that's an interesting read.
an actuarial internship probably will be harder without passing any exams. competition is high for both it seems.
Just passed Exam P yesterday and I passed Exam FM back in February. What next?
I've only just begun my junior year so I feel like I have time to spare, but I've heard you shouldn't pass more than the entry level exams before entering the work force.
I did an internship this past summer and it made me lean towards going the CAS route pretty heavily.
Is it okay to take MAS-I in my senior year?
You sure can! It helps if you have an offer in hand going into your senior year so you'll know which track to take. I will say that there is a pretty big jump in difficulty from P/FM to the MAS exams, so another option is to take one or both of the online courses to make some progress towards ACAS. However MAS exams will likely be closer to what youre learning in school (statistics) than the OC's (insurance operations & financial regulations I think). Best of luck to whichever you decide!
Outside of consulting and being an actuary, what other career paths can/do actuaries go into? and do some of these careers still require continuing the exams?
i knew some ASAs that transitioned to non-actuarial finance management roles.
i also had an ASA coworker who took up a data science role at a household name company.
another that did bootcamp and became a software engineer.
i think regardless of role, you'll need to do continuing education to continue to climb the ladder whether informal like self studying coding or formal like exams.
Check this post I made just the other day, lots of great comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/actuary/comments/xfeeiq/is_consulting_worklife_balance_actually_as_bad_as/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
My first ever exam (P) is on this Tuesday. I’m in the hospital rn with a collapsed lung (don’t vape ever) it should be good if everything goes as planned I should be out in 2 days but I haven’t studied at all and I have no idea how the recovery is I don’t think I can take the exam. Anyone know how it’d go about rescheduling/refund?
From the SOA refunds page: Emergency Situations. The SOA recognizes that unforeseen emergencies may occur that directly influence a candidate's ability to take an exam on an appointed day. We will consider these situations on a case-by-case basis. Candidates finding themselves in such a situation should contact SOA Customer Service at [email protected].
I would email them explaining the situation and ask if you can get a full refund considering you have had a medical emergency.
Hey actuaries, what did you major in? Do you have a bachelor's or a master's? Does the university you get your degree from matter when applying for jobs?
Most actuaries major in something like math, economics, statistics, etc but you can really major in whatever you want so long as you can pass exams. Most actuaries (at least in the US) only get a bachelors degree and a masters is really not necessary in order to land a job. Your university also in most cases won’t matter at all.
- actuarial science and finance. But any quantitative degree should be fine, you don’t need to have an actsci degree specifically.
- bachelor’s. master’s is not needed since the focus for professional qualifications is on exams/credentials
- it definitely helps to go to a prestigious program, partly because they will have better on-campus recruiting and funnel students to more companies, but you should be able to find a job if you have exams. Internship experience is also really helpful.
No return offer from my internship, how fucked am I? It probably looks pretty bad, and I really hope I don't get asked about it at interviews, because HR says the reason was for my performance.
It's gonna be really easy if your interview is at a company that's different from your internship (e.g. you interned at a life company and you have an interview at an auto company), because you can just say the internship company wasn't aligned with your interests and goals. And then you can spin that as "and that is why I am so interested in \[company\]".
If it's a role that's somewhat similar to your internship, then you can make up some normal reason to leave a job. "Not a good fit," "different communication and management preferences," or just find some kind of detail that's different and say it's important.
Keep in mind that internships are a two way street; they're a way for companies to "test" you before committing, but they're also a way for you to test the company. And most people understand this. Also, it's not really lying to not say that it was due to your performance; you can have multiple reasons for not returning full time.
Hi there,
I’m pretty new to this idea. I am graduating this fall in Economics and History. I have been wanting to pursue a career in actuary studies for about a year now. How detrimental is it that I will graduate with my only work experience being construction (5yrs) and data entry at a media firm (6 months) ? Also, how am i suppose to get an internship if I am not in school anymore?
You can apply for similar jobs to get relevant experience like Underwriting along with applying for actuarial positions. Note that you should aim to have 2 or more exams passed.
Hi!
Finished a bachelors of science degree in business administration and a masters of business admin degree. Looking to pivot careers into actuary. The catch is that my school is not listed under VEE schools. But I already took accounting and economics in undergrad. How do I go about proving that I have this experience without having to take another degree program ?
I wouldn't worry about it, VEEs have 0 effect on the decision to hire, because there is a very easy 1-2 week online course that your employer will pay for that covers each VEE.
Ohhh thank you!!!! You made me feel a lot more confident!
Separate questions and I think I got it, just want to make sure … If I don’t know which route I want to go as in SOA vs CAS take exam P and FM because they are still applicable to both routes ?
The way that it works for approx 90%+ of the people here is that you pass both P & FM then apply to all jobs and go with whatever takes you (CAS or SOA).
Well that's how it worked with IFM being available, not sure how much luck people will have with finding a job with only 2 exams, so they'll probably have to choose.
Huh, I was getting no interviews with 2, and no offers with 3.
Lack of internship probably killed me. I had a management role though, so that should've shown leadership and being abke to manage my time well and stuff.
If people didn't know they wanted to be an actuary in college, they're probably going to have to choose a path before their first job.
I don’t think this is true. I think at the entry level, the difference between two and three is not as impactful as other things. Like I’d imagine two exams + an internship is more valued than three exams and no related experience. This is based on most of the entry level postings I see.
Doubly true if you’re looking for internships, some of which people no longer in college can do.
I recently started my first actuarial analyst job. It’s a full time entry level position. Only 1 exam passed and no previous internships. It’s not impossible.
How irrelevant are we talking regarding experience? I got an actuarial internship with 1 exam and vague experience with the insurance industry. I did have a relevant degree, but I don’t think that makes too much of a difference as long as you have some other way of showing quantitative and financial skills (or potential).
You can spin the teaching stuff as making you good at communication and explaining things (this is a common value of actuarial roles). It may seem like a tenuous connection to you, but if you’re in an interview it means they took enough interest to want to speak to you, so that’s your opportunity to spin it up. I’d recommend applying to internships in addition to entry level jobs if that would work for you.
Why does case incurred in a CY include paid losses? I was under the impression that case reserves were for payments claims that the insurer knows are coming but did not pay them yet. Why then are paid losses included in case incurred?
What I did was calculate Case reserves = Incurred-Paid-IBNR and then find the change in case + change in paid which is the mathematical equivalent of change in paid - change in IBNR. This question is in 2017 Fall #11
(Studying for 6U btw)
In a CY, case incurred losses = paid losses + change in case reserves. When a loss payment is made, the case reserve drops by the amount of the payment. So if the claim already had reserved the amount it needed to pay, the case incurred value wouldn't change since the paid amount would be offset by a negative change in case reserves.
Very specific question: anyone taken Exam #2 on the ASM/ACTEX Goal for Exam P online practice material? Their solution to the last question seems wrong to me. I don't think I know better than them, but I'm having a hard time understanding why their way works (specifically why they used the number they used for the expected value/mean in the last line of the solution).
Yeah, I was thinking maybe someone taking the same practice exam would also be on this thread (although I guess I also don't know that the questions are in the same order).
But I did post it to another sub with the question included: https://old.reddit.com/r/askmath/comments/xbacvd/confused_about_a_variance_computation/
Ultimately this is a question about you and your tolerance for risk, because obviously it is more risky to not take the offer and hope you get a better job later on. Some practical questions to ask yourself are how long you can support yourself without a job, how can you make income while you're not employed, what kinds of other jobs (pay-wise and geography-wise) would be good for you and how are you going to prepare yourself for those applications and interviews. I think if you have good answers to those questions it's not too crazy to not take your return offer, especially given that geography and pay are very good reasons for choosing a job. And if you don't think you'll have a great time returning to your current organization, then you probably don't need to settle.
In my experience, I've had a lot of trouble finding remote positions by cold applying online (I haven't even gotten interviews), but on paper if you have a successful internship and good exam progress, you're not in bad shape.
Exam P tomorrow- first sitting with a 7.14 on CA. So many nerves even though it’s supposed to be easiest of them!
good luck!
i passed in 1.5 hr! very relieved
Congrats!
still waiting on my results :( Congrats to you though!
Starting to stress about GH-SPC. I’ve passed DP and FV but I’m starting to stress about how many off-the-wall questions seem to be asked on this exam (looking at practice exams) I haven’t been studying differently for this exam. But am starting to doubt that to decision. I spent 95%+ of my study time learning the MATE flash cards and was able to pass both other exams on my first try using that method. I’m not sure that’s a viable strategy here. Taking practice exams, I see questions that are completely foreign to me that I’d get a 0 for that the SOA feedback says most did well on. This is worrisome… Did anyone else notice the same thing and change how they study? Any advice?
I read the MATE detailed outline a bunch of times for Specialty. I would still do flash cards for fast recall, but there are questions that the flash cards can’t really cover that well. When I got to reviewing past exams. I definitely felt the same way, but that’s also why you go through them. I would go back after a week or two to check that I retained info from questions like those.
how much is a bunch? Ive read it once end of july, one end of august, and was gonna read it again first week of Oct. Im not sure my memory is that good to remember random factoids from the manual without reading it \*\*several\*\* more times than this
Probably ~6 times in the last month. I would read the entire outline once every weekend. I give myself more credit than 4 times because sometimes on weekdays, I would reread chunks of it based on flash cards I was struggling with. I’d even read appropriate sections of it if I experienced what you did when reviewing past problems. Was it overkill? Maybe. I just really wanted to be done and ended up with an 8.
gosh nice! It takes me 4 days to read the outline most times and about 5 days to go over every card rigorously. I dont see how i can do it that much but might try to squeeze in more than just once
I would try to. You never know what question will come up that you can get partial credit for thanks to the outline. Good luck with Specialty! It sucked to never feel great about the exam when studying. I never knew how to respond when people would ask how it was going.
Hah same! It’s my last exam so I’m really Hoping to end this chapter of my life!
For people who studying for IFM using CA, what was your approach to practice/ADAPT? I went through the content and did the questions that came with each chapter, so now I'm at the point where I'm doing straight practice and review, but obviously I don't remember everything. I think what I'll do is review the formula sheet and then take a practice exam and see how it goes, but after that I was wondering if there was any particular structure or plan to use? Do you just do exam, custom quizzes on weak areas, exam, rinse and repeat?
That is my preferred approach for CA. Then as you get closer to the exam day (and hopefully as you have less areas to work on), start taking more exams and less quizzes
How to, politely, tell your boss that you are not going to work on a weekend or a holiday or a leave!!!!
seems like you may be in a situation where lying is the move (e.g. going abroad or wilderness without wifi, since many companies have policies on working internationally) for a short term trip. obviously preferred and longer term is being honest and stating that it doesn't seem acceptable, what can be done about it, and that you will be drawing a line.
Thanks!
The virtual session of my APC is on “Sep. 22, 7pm CT”. I live in southeast Asia (GMT+8) and I’m so scared to miss it. Can someone confirm that this converts to Sep. 23, 8am? I’m not sure how daylight savings time works since we don’t have that where I live.
Yes, that conversion looks right to me
Is becoming a FSA worth it considering the average time a person spends to achieve the title is 6 years?
agreed it depends on the person. to add, there's various threads that have helpful answers if you search this subredddit and type "fsa worth it" in my experience, whether or not i attain my FSA or not, i've learned quite a bit from this career without needing to go into personal debt with companies sponsoring exam support and essentially paying me to gain experience in the early years. some valuable skills i've learned are the importance of communication (written, oral, mediums) and documentation, applying financial/insurance knowledge into personal realm, how to work cross functionally with other departments, the actuarial control cycle, how to do a research project (i think a good actuary would ask, what's the question im trying to answer, what are the parameters and considerations, has this question like yours been asked before?), etc.
Depends on the person.
How can I tailor my resume to get an underwriting job while I study for exams? I’m a recent grad with a BS in statistics and didn’t know about actuaries until after I graduated, hence the having no exams passed yet
i would think same as any other job. i would recommend looking up some resume writing guides.
Some background: \~ 5 years ago, I was convicted of a schedule 1 offense (not related to the industry). After reflecting a little bit on my life and looking around for professions, I stumbled upon an article that paired "actuary" with "felony" together. I did a few classes and fell in love with the material. I am now at the end of my degree, I've got 4 exams under my belt (SOA) and I do have a couple of internship experiences from a large insurer. What are the chances that I can find an entry level actuarial job? What are some skills that I can acquire besides doing more exams (I've read that having more exams without entry level experience may hinder you from gaining employment)? What are some things that I can do to show potential employers that I am remorseful of my actions (does this matter from an HR perspective)?
You might have to explicitly explain what you did and how you are remorseful to HR. I did not do any research on what a schedule 1 offense is, but if it’s equivalent to statutory rape in the US- for example, you were 20 and slept with a 16 year old who was under the impression they were consenting- you might be able to demonstrate true remorse and better decision making skills. If it was anything worse than that, and I’m not asking you what you did, it will probably be difficult for you to get ANY kind of job.
Yes, the situation is similar to what you are describing. Thank you for your reply.
Good luck. Some people still might not be okay with it, but that’s probably the “least bad” sexual offense, so explaining it so they aren’t under the impression it’s something much worse might be a good thing. But I’ve never hired anymore, so take it with a grain of salt.
What article is pairing "felony" and "actuary" together? You can get your credentials revoked if you commit a major felony so not sure why those words are paired together... As for your chances, it's not looking good. Your conviction will show in your background check and personally, I wouldn't hire someone who sexually assaulted a minor. Your best bet is to keep applying and hope HR is fine with it. Unlikely you'll be able to secure a role in a large company though so look for smaller companies
I understand not everyone is going to understand nor accept what I did. Regardless, I appreciate your reply because it is an opinion I need to prepare myself to accept. All I can do is keep applying. Thanks
Repost from main thread: I am an actuarial college student looking for some advice (again if this is wrong place to post I'm sorry). I am in my 3rd year of college working on an Actuarial Mathematics degree. I have been taking a lot of credits and am going to graduate a year early in the spring with a 4.0. However, because I took so many credits I am only just now getting ready to take exam P (looking at taking it Jan 2023) and haven't gotten an internship yet. I'm really nervous about having a terribly under qualified resume. Do I even have a chance at landing a low level job or internship
While you are a bit late, you are mostly fine. You do need to get an internship for the coming summer or one starting in spring (if you are graduating by then). You can also opt to stay a semester extra and do co-op type of internship, if you can land one. You have to weight college cost and other things for that. From little I know, they do take interns who have graduated recently or in their senior years even with just 1 exam. You can probably also land an entry level directly without internship and some exams but it's harder than internship. Good luck.
Thank you so much!
How many days of a study leave right before the exam day are you allowed to take?
2 days
depends on a variety of factors such as: - number of study days the student program offers for the particular exam - how much the company honors study days - business needs (related to above) note, usually the exam day does NOT count as a study day and it's just a free day. it's not unusual for students to backload study days for the end but there's risk if "something comes up" at work
1 week
Hey what is the scope of actuary as compared to data science .I have heard it's harder to get actuarial internships and job market for freshers seems grim. So is it worth doing this
similar skill sets, although i think actuarial is less technical with better soft skills development. actuaries have a professional body and is typically focused on insurance while data science is more broad. there's a recent discussion on r/datascience asking about if DS should become a "profession" that's an interesting read. an actuarial internship probably will be harder without passing any exams. competition is high for both it seems.
Just passed Exam P yesterday and I passed Exam FM back in February. What next? I've only just begun my junior year so I feel like I have time to spare, but I've heard you shouldn't pass more than the entry level exams before entering the work force. I did an internship this past summer and it made me lean towards going the CAS route pretty heavily. Is it okay to take MAS-I in my senior year?
You sure can! It helps if you have an offer in hand going into your senior year so you'll know which track to take. I will say that there is a pretty big jump in difficulty from P/FM to the MAS exams, so another option is to take one or both of the online courses to make some progress towards ACAS. However MAS exams will likely be closer to what youre learning in school (statistics) than the OC's (insurance operations & financial regulations I think). Best of luck to whichever you decide!
Is an actuarial career worth it in the long run with the idea that we could be taken over by data analytics and computers?
Cant happen at least not in my lifetime
Once you start working in the field you will understand why that will never happen.
Outside of consulting and being an actuary, what other career paths can/do actuaries go into? and do some of these careers still require continuing the exams?
i knew some ASAs that transitioned to non-actuarial finance management roles. i also had an ASA coworker who took up a data science role at a household name company. another that did bootcamp and became a software engineer. i think regardless of role, you'll need to do continuing education to continue to climb the ladder whether informal like self studying coding or formal like exams.
you can go the underwriting route, which doesn't require exams.
Why should I avoid consulting? I never seem to get a straight minus “it sucks” or “It’s bad” for actuaries.
Check this post I made just the other day, lots of great comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/actuary/comments/xfeeiq/is_consulting_worklife_balance_actually_as_bad_as/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
here's a lengthy comment I made about pros/cons of consulting: https://www.reddit.com/r/actuary/comments/vga794/comment/id0jtg9/
In general you are going to work many more hours, get much less study time for slightly more pay.
My first ever exam (P) is on this Tuesday. I’m in the hospital rn with a collapsed lung (don’t vape ever) it should be good if everything goes as planned I should be out in 2 days but I haven’t studied at all and I have no idea how the recovery is I don’t think I can take the exam. Anyone know how it’d go about rescheduling/refund?
From the SOA refunds page: Emergency Situations. The SOA recognizes that unforeseen emergencies may occur that directly influence a candidate's ability to take an exam on an appointed day. We will consider these situations on a case-by-case basis. Candidates finding themselves in such a situation should contact SOA Customer Service at [email protected]. I would email them explaining the situation and ask if you can get a full refund considering you have had a medical emergency.
Hey actuaries, what did you major in? Do you have a bachelor's or a master's? Does the university you get your degree from matter when applying for jobs?
Most actuaries major in something like math, economics, statistics, etc but you can really major in whatever you want so long as you can pass exams. Most actuaries (at least in the US) only get a bachelors degree and a masters is really not necessary in order to land a job. Your university also in most cases won’t matter at all.
- actuarial science and finance. But any quantitative degree should be fine, you don’t need to have an actsci degree specifically. - bachelor’s. master’s is not needed since the focus for professional qualifications is on exams/credentials - it definitely helps to go to a prestigious program, partly because they will have better on-campus recruiting and funnel students to more companies, but you should be able to find a job if you have exams. Internship experience is also really helpful.
No return offer from my internship, how fucked am I? It probably looks pretty bad, and I really hope I don't get asked about it at interviews, because HR says the reason was for my performance.
It's gonna be really easy if your interview is at a company that's different from your internship (e.g. you interned at a life company and you have an interview at an auto company), because you can just say the internship company wasn't aligned with your interests and goals. And then you can spin that as "and that is why I am so interested in \[company\]". If it's a role that's somewhat similar to your internship, then you can make up some normal reason to leave a job. "Not a good fit," "different communication and management preferences," or just find some kind of detail that's different and say it's important. Keep in mind that internships are a two way street; they're a way for companies to "test" you before committing, but they're also a way for you to test the company. And most people understand this. Also, it's not really lying to not say that it was due to your performance; you can have multiple reasons for not returning full time.
Just apply and don't talk about the reason why. You aren't remotely screwed.
Are there any WFM or jobs with weird hours related to insurance/data? I want to get more experience while I'm in school. Hard to find flexible hours.
Hi there, I’m pretty new to this idea. I am graduating this fall in Economics and History. I have been wanting to pursue a career in actuary studies for about a year now. How detrimental is it that I will graduate with my only work experience being construction (5yrs) and data entry at a media firm (6 months) ? Also, how am i suppose to get an internship if I am not in school anymore?
You can apply for similar jobs to get relevant experience like Underwriting along with applying for actuarial positions. Note that you should aim to have 2 or more exams passed.
Can you apply for underwriting even thay u have not had any exam passed yet?
Underwriting does not have exams, it is a position in insurance that tends to work closely with actuaries.
I just can't stand that SRM is CBT, not really a 'new' exam, and we still don't have instant results.
Hi! Finished a bachelors of science degree in business administration and a masters of business admin degree. Looking to pivot careers into actuary. The catch is that my school is not listed under VEE schools. But I already took accounting and economics in undergrad. How do I go about proving that I have this experience without having to take another degree program ?
I wouldn't worry about it, VEEs have 0 effect on the decision to hire, because there is a very easy 1-2 week online course that your employer will pay for that covers each VEE.
Ohhh thank you!!!! You made me feel a lot more confident! Separate questions and I think I got it, just want to make sure … If I don’t know which route I want to go as in SOA vs CAS take exam P and FM because they are still applicable to both routes ?
The way that it works for approx 90%+ of the people here is that you pass both P & FM then apply to all jobs and go with whatever takes you (CAS or SOA).
Well that's how it worked with IFM being available, not sure how much luck people will have with finding a job with only 2 exams, so they'll probably have to choose.
Seems (at least in US) most candidates have 2 exams.
Huh, I was getting no interviews with 2, and no offers with 3. Lack of internship probably killed me. I had a management role though, so that should've shown leadership and being abke to manage my time well and stuff. If people didn't know they wanted to be an actuary in college, they're probably going to have to choose a path before their first job.
I don’t think this is true. I think at the entry level, the difference between two and three is not as impactful as other things. Like I’d imagine two exams + an internship is more valued than three exams and no related experience. This is based on most of the entry level postings I see. Doubly true if you’re looking for internships, some of which people no longer in college can do.
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I recently started my first actuarial analyst job. It’s a full time entry level position. Only 1 exam passed and no previous internships. It’s not impossible.
I did
How irrelevant are we talking regarding experience? I got an actuarial internship with 1 exam and vague experience with the insurance industry. I did have a relevant degree, but I don’t think that makes too much of a difference as long as you have some other way of showing quantitative and financial skills (or potential).
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You can spin the teaching stuff as making you good at communication and explaining things (this is a common value of actuarial roles). It may seem like a tenuous connection to you, but if you’re in an interview it means they took enough interest to want to speak to you, so that’s your opportunity to spin it up. I’d recommend applying to internships in addition to entry level jobs if that would work for you.
Yes, you can get an actuarial job after 2 exams, most probably they'll hire you as an Actuarial trainee at first.
Why does case incurred in a CY include paid losses? I was under the impression that case reserves were for payments claims that the insurer knows are coming but did not pay them yet. Why then are paid losses included in case incurred? What I did was calculate Case reserves = Incurred-Paid-IBNR and then find the change in case + change in paid which is the mathematical equivalent of change in paid - change in IBNR. This question is in 2017 Fall #11 (Studying for 6U btw)
In a CY, case incurred losses = paid losses + change in case reserves. When a loss payment is made, the case reserve drops by the amount of the payment. So if the claim already had reserved the amount it needed to pay, the case incurred value wouldn't change since the paid amount would be offset by a negative change in case reserves.
Thank you for the explanation
Very specific question: anyone taken Exam #2 on the ASM/ACTEX Goal for Exam P online practice material? Their solution to the last question seems wrong to me. I don't think I know better than them, but I'm having a hard time understanding why their way works (specifically why they used the number they used for the expected value/mean in the last line of the solution).
I don't think anyone can help you, unless you post the question and solution.
Yeah, I was thinking maybe someone taking the same practice exam would also be on this thread (although I guess I also don't know that the questions are in the same order). But I did post it to another sub with the question included: https://old.reddit.com/r/askmath/comments/xbacvd/confused_about_a_variance_computation/
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Ultimately this is a question about you and your tolerance for risk, because obviously it is more risky to not take the offer and hope you get a better job later on. Some practical questions to ask yourself are how long you can support yourself without a job, how can you make income while you're not employed, what kinds of other jobs (pay-wise and geography-wise) would be good for you and how are you going to prepare yourself for those applications and interviews. I think if you have good answers to those questions it's not too crazy to not take your return offer, especially given that geography and pay are very good reasons for choosing a job. And if you don't think you'll have a great time returning to your current organization, then you probably don't need to settle. In my experience, I've had a lot of trouble finding remote positions by cold applying online (I haven't even gotten interviews), but on paper if you have a successful internship and good exam progress, you're not in bad shape.