Thank you Jeremy Bill

[Chance123]

The last time I took a written exam was the old course 5 the last sitting it was offered and I failed, not miserably, but failed nonetheless. I think I failed because I spent too much time trying to read every single thing on the syllabus. I got caught up in trying to get through all the texts, but didn't really understand anything. Also, I didn't save enough time to memorize lists and work old exams. I used JAM as a study manual for this course, by the way.

This past fall was my second written exam. I decided to take a different approach. I purchased the TIA's online and live seminar. I used that as my primary (almost only) source for studying. Occasionally (and by occasionally I mean rarely), I would refer to the readings if something didn't make sense to me or I wanted more details. I knew this was a risky approach. I was basically putting all my eggs in one basket and relying almost solely on Jeremy's manual and lessons. Although it was risky, I knew I needed to try something new because reading all the texts obviously didn't work for me last time.

So I followed Jeremy's study schedule and got through all the videos by the time the live seminar rolled around. At the end of every week, I would spend time reviewing and trying to commit to memory what I had learned throughout the week. After the live seminar, I spent the weekdays memorizing and the weekends working old exams. By the time the exam rolled around, I knew almost every list from Jeremy's manual forwards and backwards. Going into the exam, I knew I didn't know all the details, but I had a pretty good understanding of the big picture and most of the major concepts and I knew most of the major points on most lists.

Sorry for the novel here, but I just wanted to acknowledge Jeremy. Your videos and manual helped me pass DP-IU. So thank you. I hope others benefit as much, if not more, from your material as I did.

[HLD]

Decided to study for DP exam in mid August and learnt about TIA in this forum, i registered after listening to a sample lesson. The on-line lectures helped me to finish the first round of syllabus in 5 weeks. Even though there were days that I was really tired after work, I still tried to listen to at least 1 lesson. Living in Asia, I was not able to attend the seminar but the on-line lectures were good enough, especially the "four-field" diagram.

Thanks Jeremy and Day :tup:

[leathercost]

I would like to thank Jeremy too. The TIA's online materials help me capture the picture of the syllabus more easily and help me pass the DP exam. I had tried written exam three times before redesign and this is the first time I pass written exam.

Thank you Jeremy and Day very much indeed.

[ShellBelle]

I found Jeremy Bill's summary of the material to be indispensable. I went to the live seminar and then purchased the online seminar after being so impressed by JB and TIA. And I had to pay for the online seminar myself (not company money) which shows the value I felt it had. JB offers a great "bigger picture" of what is going on in the material. I passed DP (also the first written exam I passed), and even if I hadn't, I would still reccommend The Infinite Actuary for exam DP. They seem to put alot of effort into their end product and it shows.

In contrast, I went to ACE CSP seminar in the Spring of 2007. That seminar left me stuck stuck in little details and thinking that ignoring the SOA study notes and Published References was completely OK since very few were even touched upon in the seminar. I failed that exam. But to be fair to ACE, I did use some of their flashcards for DP and considered that a crucial part of my preparation for the exam.

Thanks Day and Jeremy!

[RIC]

I agree as well. I read all of the materials once, but memorized Jeremy's manual and got a good score on the exam. Thanks Jeremy and TIA!

[bestforever]

Does TIA have downloadable study notes besides the live seminar you can watch online? Thanks.

[wat?]

Does TIA have downloadable study notes besides the live seminar you can watch online? Thanks.
With my experience with DP-IU, yes, there are. But as Jeremy Bill states, it's difficult to fully understand what the outlines and his handwritten notes are trying to get at w/out viewing the seminar.

I'd also like to say thanks to the guys at TIA, especially Jeremy Bill for their product. It was top-notch and came in very handy. I did not pass the exam, but I don't expect that many people studying for 200 and some odd hours can pass FSA exams often. If I've even come relatively close to passing (a 3 or better), it's all to the credit of TIA.

[TwoBits]

My company will only pay for the TIA course if I pass. This is my first attempt and I have never taken a written exam so I am not sure what to expect or how to approach this exam. Would you say this class is worth the risk/cost?

[Hachover]

I hope someone else can answer your question, but IMO it sounds like a bad policy by your company.

[wat?]

I hope someone else can answer your question, but IMO it sounds like a bad policy by your company.

I have the same policy. Except I get reimbursed for only 1/2 the cost if I pass. Right about here is where someone goes, "Better start drafting that resumé." But assuming I won't, I'll just have to deal with the study program, which I figure TwoBits is also doing.

My company will only pay for the TIA course if I pass. This is my first attempt and I have never taken a written exam so I am not sure what to expect or how to approach this exam. Would you say this class is worth the risk/cost?

I liked the way TIA was set-up - Jeremy Bill did a good job outlining the important parts of the syllabus, and I did watch a few videos - they were good quality, and Jeremy made sure to break the harder concepts down so that they were easily understood. Maybe if I'd watched more of the videos, I might have passed the exam. :shrug: But after only watching about 20% of the videos and reading through Jeremy's outline, I still managed to get myself a 4 on the exam last year. Not bad, considering. So, my failure is not due to TIA's or Jeremy's shortcomings - they are because I expected to put in about twice the amount of hours I actually did.

The only "complaint" I would have about TIA was that the DP-ILA syllabus did not have too many practice problems to work through. Working through problems is my personal preference, but it's understandable, though - this was the first time the syllabus was offered, so Jeremy had to create all the videos & outlines from scratch. And still, Jeremy came up with some problems that tested the understanding of the syllabus. Not quite to the extent that a 7702 calculation based on commutation functions does ( :swear: ) but still a little chalenging. Mo has already mentioned that since the videos are made, Jeremy can focus on maintaining the videos, making corrections/improvements, and focusing on practice problems/exams for customers.

So, if you want a seminar to bank your passing grades on, TIA is as good as any.

[Mo' 5!]

Thanks wat. I guess there is a tradeoff in working for a place with a not-so generous study program to living in balmy climates year-round. I know people have pointed to the lack of practice problems, but rest assured, there will be more than enough this time around. Jeremy won't be tied up creating his videos from scratch. We also have a team of very qualified FSAs willing to create exam-type questions for our users. Even with this so-called lack of problems, we had a very good success rate last year.

As for the types of study programs, I have seen the full gamut with our customers. Some even will pay for a seminar only on the second attempt of an exam. I guess they bring out the guns only if the first time didn't go well. Let me know if you have any more objective questions that I can answer. Thanks.

[TwoBits]

Thanks wat?, very helpful.

Mo' 5, did you track the pass rate of TIA students. If so what was it?

[Mo' 5!]

Thanks wat?, very helpful.

Mo' 5, did you track the pass rate of TIA students. If so what was it?
Off the top of my head, I recall it being "unofficially" near the 60% figure for everyone. Those taking both seminars had about a 5% greater pass rate. I say unofficial because many times people use different names to register for the exam than they do for our seminars. We always use the assumption that if we can't find the name then the person did not pass. So the actual pass rate might be higher. I won't give actual figures as to how many used our seminars as we prefer to keep that information confidential.

[shawle]

After reading the posts, I've decided to give TIA a shot.

My only doubt is that TIA doesn't seem to have a full-fledged study manual as ACE. I don't know how well it fits my study style, because I am more of a reading and memorizing kind of learner. Any suggestion?

[LifeAct]

What is the total time of the on-line seminar?

[BigDawg]

On the actex site, you can purchase a set of TIA notes. Would those notes work as a study guide without the lectures? Or do you need the online lectures to make sense of them? (I read wat's comment above, I was just wondering if they were different this year?)

[rekrap]

What is the total time of the on-line seminar?

IIRC, there were about 85 sections last year, ranging from ~5 minutes to ~45 minutes, or say about 20 minutes on average (a few big chapters, a lot of little study note summaries). So that is about 30 hours, which would equate to 4 days of 7 or 8 hours, much like the live seminar. Only there is more time spent on ideas, details in the online version and more time on examples and problems (and less on details) in the live version.

[rekrap]

On the actex site, you can purchase a set of TIA notes. Would those notes work as a study guide without the lectures? Or do you need the online lectures to make sense of them? (I read wat's comment above, I was just wondering if they were different this year?)

The notes are useful without the voice-over (like a large, detailed outline), but the examples are difficult to follow without it (much like figuring out a text example on your own). YMMV

[Mo' 5!]

On the actex site, you can purchase a set of TIA notes. Would those notes work as a study guide without the lectures? Or do you need the online lectures to make sense of them? (I read wat's comment above, I was just wondering if they were different this year?)
As rekrap described, the manual works better with the video guidance as would any manual or text. Whether you can use it as a first source to learn the material is dependent on your background and level of experience. The manual will be slightly different than last year's version with the inclusion of many exam-quality problems. In any case, let me know if you have any further questions. We plan to have the online seminar updated for 2008 by early July.