Exam Score

[Cauchemar]

5. Of course. I'll just add that to my collection of them. I love the SOA.

[qwyjiboChu]

I got a 6. Sorry Cauchemar, I guess you got the standard kick in the groin from the SOA...

[kpkoolk]

Also a 5.
pass rates for Canada are really low. 26/66 (I got a headcount of 66 from some one who graded the exams). that's about 39% for those who have a tough time at math - far below the typical average of 50% for Course 8 ... or 52% for 8RC.

I wonder if the fact that Canadians had to study 33% more material while being graded at the same par level as the US folks on 90/120 marks had anything to do with it?!! Anyone else wonder? .... could that help explain it?hmmmm .... maybe I'm just bitter.

[Kenny]

I wonder if the fact that Canadians had to study 33% more material while being graded at the same par level as the US folks on 90/120 marks had anything to do with it?!! Anyone else wonder? .... could that help explain it?hmmmm .... maybe I'm just bitter.
So you are saying the US exam had the same number of points, just less time to complete them? And that puts you at a disadvantage how?

Tell you what, I'll trade you my 2 extra exams for your couple extra hours of exam time. :) Sorry to hear about the score, I've had enough to know it sucks.

[qwyjiboChu]

actually I asked the SOA if the shorter length of the US exams indicated a smaller curriculum. The answer was that for CSP, they expected the curriculum to be mostly comparable (with a little extra regulatory curriculum on the Canadian version), but that for DP, the US version might actually have a proportionately smaller curriculum. So maybe that bodes well for me and Kenny this fall...?

[Newf]

So you are saying the US exam had the same number of points, just less time to complete them? And that puts you at a disadvantage how?

Tell you what, I'll trade you my 2 extra exams for your couple extra hours of exam time. :) Sorry to hear about the score, I've had enough to know it sucks.

Actually, I think kpkoolk was saying that the Canadian exam had 120 points and was 6 hours, whereas the US exam had 90 points and was (I think) 4.5 hours. The only disadvantage there is that a 6-hour exam is more of a grind than a 4.5-hour exam.

I'm not sure the SOA lumped the US and Canadian exams together in setting a pass mark anyway - I'd find that hard to believe since they were essentially two different exams.

[Roy Hobbs]

Actually, I think kpkoolk was saying that the Canadian exam had 120 points and was 6 hours, whereas the US exam had 90 points and was (I think) 4.5 hours. The only disadvantage there is that a 6-hour exam is more of a grind than a 4.5-hour exam.

I'm not sure the SOA lumped the US and Canadian exams together in setting a pass mark anyway - I'd find that hard to believe since they were essentially two different exams.

The exams were basically the same except that the Canadian exam had 3 extra questions in the afternoon.

Remember also that the US exam was 4.5 hours straight while the Canadian exam was 3 hours in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, not sure which is more of a grind.

Wouldn't be surprised if the pass mark was set separate, but I also wouldn't be surprised if the questions that were the same were given some credibility in setting the pass mark for both exams.

[Kenny]

actually I asked the SOA if the shorter length of the US exams indicated a smaller curriculum. The answer was that for CSP, they expected the curriculum to be mostly comparable (with a little extra regulatory curriculum on the Canadian version), but that for DP, the US version might actually have a proportionately smaller curriculum. So maybe that bodes well for me and Kenny this fall...?
Not me. I'm taking it easy and doing FAP instead. :tup: I have really enjoyed not doing or thinking about anyhting exam related for the past 2+ months. Maybe one of these days I'l actually get my rear moving on those things.

[kpkoolk]

actually saying that the Canadian exam is longer and covers more material, but when marked, the Canadian exam is marked just has hard as the US exam despite there being more material.

e.g. the US folks only need to master FAS, while the Canadian folks need master FAS AND CICA - we're at a big disadvantage if we're marked to perform an exam question at the same level just because we have to study so much more. Think of it reversed: Say the US folks need to know both IAS and FAS, while Canadians only needed to know IAS and the exam question was IAS ... obviously the Canadians should do better just becauase they only need to study 1 accounting standard, not both.

This should be extended to all questions. If I told you to memorize 100 pages and told another person to memorize 150 pages and gave you test on the 100 pages, I'm sure the person who had to memorize less pages would do significantly better.

I know for a fact this was not taken into consideration in the preliminary grading. I don't know how this was factored in the central grading.

I'm not arguing about time of conditions or anything. It's just not fair to grade 2 different exams at the same level of difficulty just because the exams look the same.

[Brak99]

I do not believe the Canadian syllabus for this exam was substantially longer than the US syllabus. Certainly not 33% longer (as the relative exam lengths would seem to imply).

On the other hand, the Canadian students at my firm did get 33% more study time for this exam and a 33% larger raise if they passed. So there are several reasons to argue that the Canadian students actually got the better end of the deal.

[asdfasdf]

I do not believe the Canadian syllabus for this exam was substantially longer than the US syllabus. Certainly not 33% longer (as the relative exam lengths would seem to imply).

On the other hand, the Canadian students at my firm did get 33% more study time for this exam and a 33% larger raise if they passed. So there are several reasons to argue that the Canadian students actually got the better end of the deal.

The Canadian Syllabus is ATLEAST 33% longer, there is a tonne of legislative material that could potentially have been tested, picture adding all the EA material to your syllabus. (I know people who wrote the American exam)

[qwyjiboChu]

fight! fight! fight!

seriously guys, chill out. Exams suck.

[kpkoolk]

Congrats asdfasdf ... did you get your grade? You know ZV passed, but not GJ? .. i.e. out of 3 people with 8R, only 1 passed.

[kpkoolk]

fight! fight! fight!

seriously guys, chill out. Exams suck.

not upset with anyone here or their comments. everyone here is entitled to their opinions no matter how wrong or correct to the truth it may be.

just makes me very annoyed that the SOA takes such an arrogant posture on this exam system and how it's so great and how it reduces travel time and emphasizes practical learning. They think they are professional and that "actuaries [are] the best kept secret in the business" ... when it's clear this exam system is obviously flawed with far too many problems to list here, with exam committee members who can even acknowledge the flaws and problems with the transition but refuse to do anything about it.

If they make mistakes, fine, everyone makes mistakes and no organization can be perfect ... but acknowledge your mistakes and rectify the problem asap without making it worse. It's just not professional otherwise and it's just plain embarrassing.

[asdfasdf]

ok, calmed down now, I don't necessarilly think it is any easier to do the American exam, because you end up having to do the EA exams as well. I passed the Canadian exam, one of the lucky 26, my friends and family found it hard to believe that the pass rates for the final exams could be so lost, in many other professions by this point in the process they have stopped trying to weed people out.

[wooHoo]

just makes me very annoyed that the SOA takes such an arrogant posture on this exam system and how it's so great and how it reduces travel time and emphasizes practical learning. They think they are professional and that "actuaries [are] the best kept secret in the business" ... when it's clear this exam system is obviously flawed with far too many problems to list here, with exam committee members who can even acknowledge the flaws and problems with the transition but refuse to do anything about it.

I will once again emphasize that one way not to reduce travel time is to offer fellowship exams only once a year.

[Newf]

Sorry... this is a little off topic... has anyone NOT received their grade slips yet? At this point, I suppose it shouldn't matter, but I'd like to know if I completely bombed the exam, or was reasonably close. Might affect my studying tactics for DP.

[campbell]

You can get the results at the soa website:
https://store.soa.org/default.aspx?tabid=189&Newacc=N&RedirectTabId=184

If you don't know your login, contact the Customer Service email given on that page. I did that a few weeks ago, and you can look not only at the last exam grade slip, but grade slips from all your exam sittings back to... I don't know which date (at least 2002, as that's my first exams.)

[wooHoo]

Sorry... this is a little off topic... has anyone NOT received their grade slips yet? At this point, I suppose it shouldn't matter, but I'd like to know if I completely bombed the exam, or was reasonably close. Might affect my studying tactics for DP.

I have not and would normally be worried but I can now check my score online.

(note I live in the UK and sometimes the grade slip comes early and other times only after requesting a duplicate one)

[Cauchemar]

ok, calmed down now, I don't necessarilly think it is any easier to do the American exam, because you end up having to do the EA exams as well. I passed the Canadian exam, one of the lucky 26, my friends and family found it hard to believe that the pass rates for the final exams could be so lost, in many other professions by this point in the process they have stopped trying to weed people out.

I have been withholding judgement until I see the official passing percentages. Rest assured, if I do see a 30-something% slapped up there, I will be LIVID!

[Brak99]

I forget how long we should expect to wait before seeing the passing %s. Anyone have a guess (or know for sure)?

[geeky]

Passing % are out. 44.1% CSP RC. 48.3% CSP RU

[Cauchemar]

Passing % are out. 44.1% CSP RC. 48.3% CSP RU

And there it is. I can't argue with a 48% pass percentage. I'll just have to do better next time. ugh.