What is going on?? - PRACTICE PROBLEM BLUES

[DevanG]

I took the ASM practice exams 4 and 5 the last 2 days --
27 (without counting guesses) and then a 28 the next day

today i took the first TIA exam -- 13!!!

ehm?? thoughts? My exam is WEDNESDAY

[smwentum]

I took the ASM practice exams 4 and 5 the last 2 days --
27 (without counting guesses) and then a 28 the next day

today i took the first TIA exam -- 13!!!

ehm?? thoughts? My exam is WEDNESDAY

types of problems? redo tia problems

[DevanG]

types of problems? redo tia problems

yea they didn't seem SO much different.. i just really struggled.. are the TIA harder than the real exam?

[Jonnyboy]

From what I've observed from others, the TIA exams are indeed more difficult than the ASM exams, but not to the extent which would cause a drop as significant as yours. Did you go over the problems to see where you messed up and why?

On the second TIA exam I got a 28: 5 of the questions I missed because of blatant, extremely stupid mistakes (not reading the questions), and the other 2 questions dealt with things I needed to study.

[DevanG]

From what I've observed from others, the TIA exams are indeed more difficult than the ASM exams, but not to the extent which would cause a drop as significant as yours. Did you go over the problems to see where you messed up and why?

On the second TIA exam I got a 28: 5 of the questions I missed because of blatant, extremely stupid mistakes (not reading the questions), and the other 2 questions dealt with things I needed to study.

just looking at the answers... made lots of stupid mistakes..

[DevanG]

got a 20 on second TIA exam... still much harder than the ASM ones i took :( just not encouraging.. but if i got nearly 30's on ASM.. thinking i should be ready?

[Jonnyboy]

I would say assess why you got the problems wrong, and work on correcting those issues. For me, reading questions thoroughly, and making sure to note whether they are asking for nominal or effective annual rates are important.

From what I've seen, those who have passed the exam got at least a 25 on the second TIA exam; but that isn't to say that there is any certain threshold. It is odd that you scored so much higher on the ASM.

I wish you luck... and if you need to take it again in August, don't sweat it. This is a long hard road, and a few bumps now and then are no big deal. :)

[alexcrewe]

got a 20 on second TIA exam... still much harder than the ASM ones i took :( just not encouraging.. but if i got nearly 30's on ASM.. thinking i should be ready?

I really only used ASM and the SOA probs. I got ~90% of the SOA problems right, around 30 on most of the ASM practice exams, and I passed last Saturday. I did not use TIA. I found the wording of the exam questions to be closer to that of the SOA samples, so be sure to look at those.

[TheMJ]

I would say assess why you got the problems wrong, and work on correcting those issues. For me, reading questions thoroughly, and making sure to note whether they are asking for nominal or effective annual rates are important.

:iatp: This is one of the best pieces of advice I heard so far.

From what I've seen, those who have passed the exam got at least a 25 on the second TIA exam; but that isn't to say that there is any certain threshold.


I scored 21 & 23 on TIA exams and I passed, but only because I did exactly what Jonnyboy is advising you to do. Practice exams to me were the last refining element in my study.