8G/8M - roll call

[Not Mike]

OK, it's pretty much down to crunch time.... I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really nervous... I don't want to have to do this again next year, but at this point I'm pretty concerned.... I've studied pretty hard to this point... read all of the material, understood a lot of it... reviewed it once (the student manual)... currently in the process of making notecards (~2/3 done) from the study guide to memorize over the last 8-10 days...

Since hardly anyone here posts on the subject, I'm curious as to where this puts me in preparation compared to others.... so, if you don't mind answering:

who else is taking it?
how do you feel?
what's your goal over the last two weeks?
what else should I be concentrating on?
from others that you've talked to, how do you think they're feeling?

8G and 8M are graded together, right (i.e. same grading curve pool)?

Good luck to all, and thanks to those that have been around helping to answer questions....

[Phil]

I don't know anyone who's taking 8M besides me - except on this forum.

My last weeks on this Earth will be spent trying to temporarily cram my 100's of mnemonics into my brain all at once - I feel like a juggler who barely manages to get all 15 balls into the air at once and break the world's record, even though he only had them up there for a fraction of a second.

My mnemonics are pretty good, though, I must say that. If I happen to pass 8M this sitting, I plan to sell my notes and mnemonics to the 8M-craving public next year.

Oh yeah, I have to learn how to do calculation questions. As of yet, I don't think I can answer a single math question on the exam. I'll have to look at old exams and learn how. There is definitely going to be a "compute the capitation" question on 8M, since it is specifically listed in the course objectives, so I must learn how to do that.

Good luck to you, Not Mike, and to all other takers,

-Phil

[Robin8G]

Hi,

I do feel like I know a lot and (and my mnemonics make me laugh, some of them are pretty vulgar and I can't imagine selling them as I might get hauled off to reform school), but I do worry about the calc questions.

Sometimes I feel like I have no clue how to approach a question. Then of course, I see the answer and can follow it. Don't know how to rectify this.

I am taking 8G. I know in Boston there are 2 people signed up
for 8G and 4 for 8M. Of course there are 151 taking Course 1.
Not sure if this helps us or hurts us.

I've never taken JAM before- so I used to going it on my own, and
hoping this gives me an ever so slight advantage. One can hope.

Plan of attack.
1)Reread case studies.
2)Keep memorizing.
3)Review past exams.
4) Keep memorizing.
5) Keep memorizing.

[Phil]

I figured if I sell mine, I'd change the vulgar ones into wingdings font. Then anyone who wants to uncover them can change the font back to a readable one.

[yunr]

I am taking 8G. I haven't studied much due to work, but I am planning to "JAM" during the final week. I have read everything once. I am used to having Carmody's notes so I am feeling discouraged after reading the ACTEX notes.
There are a lot of calc questions that they can ask on the exam. And unlike other courses, a lot of calc questions are hidden (e.g., the dental question they asked on the 2000 exam.)
I am more concerned about the nation specific topics than anything else. The taxation questions are simply confusing. I also find it hard to study when multiple study notes talk about similar topics but have different lists. For example, pupular "repeats" include the following;
o Trend (components of trend)
o Flex program
o Data source and adjustment
o Pricing/underwriting/rating/premium elements or considerations or requirements, etc, etc, etc
o LTC
o Morbidity
o Expense

My head hurts... :swear:

[Not Mike]

I feel EXACTLY the same about the lists from different SNs... I've been making notecards (almost done!) and there are TONS of repeat lists... I think to myself, well I know that I've already written this somewhere, but this one looks a little different, so I better write it again...

I haven't even looked over old exams yet, but will do that as soon as I'm done with notecards (don't want to get too discouraged)... I'm also concerned about calculation problems, as it's usually obvious which formulas to memorize, but this stuff seems so subjective -- i.e. if they ask you to develop a claim reserve using the development method using the case study, will that be open to interpretation as to what months to potentially "exclude" and how many months to use or will the question be more specific like:

"(a) Using the dev method using the last 12 months of claims and using an average of the age-to-age factors and 100% credibility for every completion factor. (b) What could you do differently to avoid the fluctuation in the last 3 months? (c) What other adjustments could you make to the data to come up with a better estimate?"

I'd hope that they specifically tell us how to answer questions (not that creative solutions aren't fun, but I can't imagine everyone's solution complying with the grading outline)...

[bambi]

I feel really unprepared. I just find these exams are super hard to pass on the 1st try.

Anyhow, are you guys going over the past exams in detail?

[yunr]

I also feel really unprepared. I just looked at a couple of questions from last year. To be honest, even if this is an open book exam, I still wouldn't know where the material comes from. For example, question #6 - about RBC and growth. I know it comes from the Blumh book about growth and profit, etc, but do I know how to answer the question WITH THE BOOK OPEN? No!
I am feeling very very stressed right now...

[gatinha]

I'm taking 8G, along with 2 friends. I have 2 other friends who are taking 8M. 3 of them are super-prepared, from my point of view. Read everything and reviewed it, probably at least twice, memorized flash cards, done sample exams, etc. The other friend and I are less prepared - I'm still finishing my review & flash card making process, and I think the other person is in the same boat.

From the odds of passing, I think the 3 who finished their review a long time ago will pass, and the other two of us. But I'm not stressed about it. From what I've seen of people taking the exam in previous years, this is a "two-sitter" exam. You either: a) take the exam more than once, b) study for more than one sitting (e.g., sat out in the spring), c) have no life, d) get really lucky the 1st time, or e) are a genius. Since I don't fit in most of these categories and never win lotteries, I assume I'll be whining about this exam again next year, but there's no reason to beat yourself up over the head about it. Life is short.

Good luck to those of you who have actually done what it takes to get thru this beast. And to those with better luck than me.

[llll]

It is my first time to take 8G. I did not finish reading everything one time. The best hope for this suitting is to get a 4.