Jan-Mar Progress Thread

[Scars]

Well, since I failed this in December, I'll be taking this sometime either in January or February. I'd like to get this off my shoulders early into the year so ican just concentrate on exam 5.

I'm going to be using a serious overkill method on this.
Step one: Go through online modules and take notes along the way.
Step two: Go through the quizzes a few times.
Step three: Go through the review notes and revise my original notes to be more concise.
Step four: Repeat step two.
Step five: Take the practice exam.
Step six: Take the exam.

If this doesn't work, I'll probably be looking for a new profession. /overreaction

[Scars]

My results from December just posted. 60-69% range.

[CASualty]

I think the worst thing you can do when preparing for a module is drag it out. The material is just a bunch of details to remember, and you want it to be fresh going into the exam. If someone drags the reading over, say, two months, that's a lot of time to forget stuff that you read near the beginning of your preparation. IMO, these modules are best tackled using a 2-to-4-week study plan. If you're disciplined, two weeks from start to finish is easily attainable.

Since you already wrote the exam, I presume that you've read the material once already. I suggest that you follow a study plan similar to the following:

a.) Quickly read the PDF review notes at the end of each chapter/assignement. They are not dense and you could easily read about 30 pages an hour. You could complete this in a single weekend.

b.) Redo the quiz problems. You can use the info in my post to know whether or not you've seen the majority of the available questions for each quiz.:
http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/showthread.php?t=229649

c.) Book an exam and write . . . you will probably be much more than adequately prepared at this point. The nice things about instant results is that, should you fail, you can brush up and write it again three days later. This is the advantage to writing earlier in the exam window, rather than waiting until one of the last three days.

Since you've already written, it should take you less than a week to brush up enough to turn your 60-69% grade into a 80-89% grade :)

[mathman527]

I think the worst thing you can do when preparing for a module is drag it out. The material is just a bunch of details to remember, and you want it to be fresh going into the exam. If someone drags the reading over, say, two months, that's a lot of time to forget stuff that you read near the beginning of your preparation. IMO, these modules are best tackled using a 2-to-4-week study plan. If you're disciplined, two weeks from start to finish is easily attainable.

Since you already wrote the exam, I presume that you've read the material once already. I suggest that you follow a study plan similar to the following:

a.) Quickly read the PDF review notes at the end of each chapter/assignement. They are not dense and you could easily read about 30 pages an hour. You could complete this in a single weekend.

b.) Redo the quiz problems. You can use the info in my post to know whether or not you've seen the majority of the available questions for each quiz.:
http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/showthread.php?t=229649

c.) Book an exam and write . . . you will probably be much more than adequately prepared at this point. The nice things about instant results is that, should you fail, you can brush up and write it again three days later. This is the advantage to writing earlier in the exam window, rather than waiting until one of the last three days.

Since you've already written, it should take you less than a week to brush up enough to turn your 60-69% grade into a 80-89% grade :)

I agree! I did a lot of procrastinating because of work and other stuff going on, so I covered about two thirds of the material in the last week. I was really worried about passing, but I think it actually worked out to my advantage because everything was so fresh.

Obviously everybody works differently so you gotta do whats best for you, but good luck and I hope you kill it!

[Scars]

Moving along at a good rate sinc January started. Contacted The Institutes to register for the exam, but couldn't get that done yesterday because Prometric didn't want to accept my candidate ID. I'll try again today.

[PR_Actuary]

When I tried registering, it wouldn't let me register through the SOA/CAS/CIA page of Prometric, so I had to go through this link:

http://www.prometric.com/TheInstitutes/default.htm

The candidate ID should work as soon as they give it to you.

[Scars]

Registered today. Jan 15 here we go!

[kawaiibh]

Sorry if this has been answered somewhere, but are we REQUIRED to click through everything in the online course? I'll definitely take the quizzes anyway, but I'd rather just read the outlines than go through their powerpoint things.

[Vorian Atreides]

Sorry if this has been answered somewhere, but are we REQUIRED to click through everything in the online course? I'll definitely take the quizzes anyway, but I'd rather just read the outlines than go through their powerpoint things.
No. The only thing that'll matter is your Exam score when you take it at a Prometric center.

[kawaiibh]

No. The only thing that'll matter is your Exam score when you take it at a Prometric center.

This makes my life so much better. Thank you!

[CASualty]

I suggest buying the textbook . . . the website/presentation method SUCKS.

[Scars]

Well, since I failed this in December, I'll be taking this sometime either in January or February. I'd like to get this off my shoulders early into the year so ican just concentrate on exam 5.

I'm going to be using a serious overkill method on this.
Step one: Go through online modules and take notes along the way.
Step two: Go through the quizzes a few times.
Step three: Go through the review notes and revise my original notes to be more concise.
Step four: Repeat step two.
Step five: Take the practice exam.
Step six: Take the exam.



The only thing I didn't do is take notes. I went through all of the online modules, read the review notes and then went through and did as many quizzes as I could stand. I wasn't able to find as many questions as some, but I found a lot. 860+ or so.

I didn't keep track of the questions by copy/pasting the actual question. I just kept track of the question ID and used CASualty's findings as a "okay, move on" metric.

I take the exam in 2 hours. I'm not sure what I'll do in the mean time. I feel a lot better about this stupid thing this time than I did last time. Last time I clearly didn't take this thing seriously enough.

Hopefully I pass and can start studying for CAS 5.

[Scars]

Went in a little early hoping that I would be able to start early.
I was the "last person for the day" and they were thrilled I was early because they had a spot for me.

I finished in 30 minutes. Passed.
I would say to anyone else who ends up taking this thing that the 2 ESSENTIAL things you MUST DO
1. Read the modules/textbook (they are supposedly the same thing)
2. Do as many quiz-problems as you can stand. That means you'll have to retake them 15 times or more. Follow CASualty's list: (see link in next post).


Good luck to everyone else.

[CASualty]

Went in a little early hoping that I would be able to start early.
I was the "last person for the day" and they were thrilled I was early because they had a spot for me.

I finished in 30 minutes. Passed.
I would say to anyone else who ends up taking this thing that the 2 ESSENTIAL things you MUST DO
1. Read the modules/textbook (they are supposedly the same thing)
2. Do as many quiz-problems as you can stand. That means you'll have to retake them 15 times or more. Follow CASualty's list:

Good luck to everyone else.

Congrats :)

You only posted a portion of the list (Assignments 4+). For people looking for the complete list, you can find it here:

http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/showthread.php?t=229649