Statistics

[NewTubaBoy]

So who thinks the stats material is the most difficult concept on this exam to pin down? I can pretty much understand basically what they're going to ask on Loss Distributions, Frequency Distrubtions, Aggs, Ruin Theory, Poisson Process, Markov Chains. I can approximate it for LC, but the Stats is just so much harder for me. Does anyone else agree?

It's the one part of this exam I'm still unsteady about.

[Lex]

I'd agree. I don't really understand why Stats is even on this exam. For example, some of the questions asked on the Spring CAS3 exam that fall under Stats is either from VEE or Course 4.

[6=Pass]

I am about to take FM in three weeks and am pretty sure i will pass and have a question about course 3. I have not taken any statistics since AP in HS. Is it necessary to take the stats VEE prior to sitting for this exam? Are there any other VEE subjects that are NECESSARY prerequisites for this exam?

[NewTubaBoy]

The Statistics VEE exam covers separate material. You don't need to take it until after 3.

Be careful about being overly confident about passing exams though. You may be able to get away with it on 2 but definitely not on 3.

[MrsFrog]

I'd agree. I don't really understand why Stats is even on this exam. For example, some of the questions asked on the Spring CAS3 exam that fall under Stats is either from VEE or Course 4.

yeah, but they are listed in the syllabus. It doesn't really fit with the rest of the stat section but maybe they are trying to test some of this material, and bridge any learning gap lest by VEE.

I really don't get order statistics, I can't seem to figure out how to answer any of the problems

[NewTubaBoy]

There is a small overlap with the regression part from course 3 and the VEE, but the entire second part of the VEE (time series) is not covered on 3 at all. The regression on VEE is also very more indepth.

As far as why they have stats on our exam...

I believe that they wanted to help us with exam 4. There is a lot of stuff on exam 4 dealing with stats that they assume that we already know. By testing it on 3, I think it builds our foundation and will help us with 4. I think that was the hope at least.

[azaremba]

I agree with the notion that VEE Applied Stat is not a must have prior to the exam. However if you can squeeze it in (as I did w/ NEAS this summer) it is definitely a plus. It goes slightly into T-test/ F-test/ and the Regression portion may have a question or two on the CAS 3 exam. You need to get the VEE credit anyways, so if there is a way to get in before the crunch time for spring study I say do it.

As far as what will be tested next week it is hard to say. They only recently added Stat so we only have one exam worth of questions. I think those from the last test are do-able and some even gimmees, like the solve for B = (N*sum(Xi*Yi) -(sumXi*sumYi) / ... it's plug and chug into an equation.

I have the Mahler notes and I feel they do a good job covering all the material that could be tested. Not sure about any other study guides.

[hzhang]

So who thinks the stats material is the most difficult concept on this exam to pin down? I can pretty much understand basically what they're going to ask on Loss Distributions, Frequency Distrubtions, Aggs, Ruin Theory, Poisson Process, Markov Chains. I can approximate it for LC, but the Stats is just so much harder for me. Does anyone else agree?

It's the one part of this exam I'm still unsteady about.
Strongly agree. Even I passed Course 4 prior to taking this one, there are just some many "little" pieces in Statistics that are not "logical" or intuitive to me. With only one set of exam in that topic, I am still very nervous about what topics would be covered in the exam in 8 days...