CAS 9 Countdown

[3tac]

4 weeks from today! Let the pounding stress and wicked dreams begin.

How's everyone coming along?

[USTC]

Dude, you scared me.

Need to speed up.

[GefilteFish144]

Not as much studying as I would have liked this week, so gotta get moving.

[NeedaBreak]

I've never felt such panic. The light at the end of the tunnel is strong today but I was too distracted to see it until recently. In short, so much time, so little to do. Strike that, reverse it!

[jk]

I've taken two practice exams so far. The first was a disaster, the worst I've ever done on any old version of any exam. The second went much better--I understand retro rating a lot better now, and that's a huge deal for this course.

Next week, on to 2003.

[3tac]

Dude, you scared me.

Need to speed up.

So, I am guessing this won't help much?

Countdown To
Thursday November 2, 2006
08:30
26Days
640Hours

[Sew Lining]

Crap, crap, crappity crap, crap, crap!

[glad]

ugh. You guys are making me feel so unprepared (which I fear, I am). I don't have that nervous feeling. (of course, lack of the nervous feeling is making me feel extrememly nervous). ok, thanks guys. I'm off to study.

[Sew Lining]

Remember in college when the coutdown to an exam was a day or two, then you started feeling a little nervous if you hadn't studied the material at all.

[3tac]

Just your friendly weekly reminder...

Thursday November 2, 2006
08:30 EST
20Days
497Hours

[frank_exams]

Remember in college when the coutdown to an exam was a day or two, then you started feeling a little nervous if you hadn't studied the material at all.

I think I started getting nervous this time around on June 5th. It'll all be over soon.

[Purple Princess]

I have a countdown on the wall of my cubicle. Some of my coworkers hate me I think :D

[glad]

UGH. I hate taking practice exams. It is such torture. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this, but it sure seems like it's getting harder for me to sit still for that long and concentrate. I keep getting up to stretch or whatever. And this exam is one numerical problem after the other. This is supposed to be what I'm good at (I also hate those "list" questions) so I should be happy. Plus, i find it frustrating when I know that I have the wrong NCCI plan or whatever, so I know that I'm going to have to spend time making sure I did an analogous calculation, instead of just skimming to make sure I got the right answer. anyway, just venting.

9 more days. How's everyone else doing?

Just want to say a big Thanks to Sew Lining. I have a few of your posts printed out as part of my list of formulas.

[3tac]

Thursday November 2, 2006 08:30
8Days
209Hours

Actually, it's only 8 days...what is that the new math your using? :smile:

I am feeling ok at best. Took the 2003 exam last weekend for practice and made a 4 with conservatively grading myself. Made some totally DUMB mistakes that would've easily gotten me over the pass mark. Also a couple of topics I knew going in were a weakness. Am guessing the 2004 and 2005 exams will be a bit harder though, just from glancing over them.

I agree the 4 hours is brutal, especially when you add in the 15 minute reading period to start. That's just 15 more minutes of anxiety if you ask me.

Good luck!

[frank_exams]

UGH. I hate taking practice exams. It is such torture. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this, but it sure seems like it's getting harder for me to sit still for that long and concentrate. I keep getting up to stretch or whatever. And this exam is one numerical problem after the other. This is supposed to be what I'm good at (I also hate those "list" questions) so I should be happy. Plus, i find it frustrating when I know that I have the wrong NCCI plan or whatever, so I know that I'm going to have to spend time making sure I did an analogous calculation, instead of just skimming to make sure I got the right answer. anyway, just venting.

9 more days. How's everyone else doing?

Just want to say a big Thanks to Sew Lining. I have a few of your posts printed out as part of my list of formulas.

Add my shout out to Sew, Pack Fan, and anyone else I missed for the helpful posts. I feel pretty good for 9, but that's only because I haven't started my review yet. I'm sure that opinion will change quickly this weekend.

Frank

[glad]

Thursday November 2, 2006 08:30
8Days
209Hours

Actually, it's only 8 days...what is that the new math your using? :smile:

I am feeling ok at best. Took the 2003 exam last weekend for practice and made a 4 with conservatively grading myself. Made some totally DUMB mistakes that would've easily gotten me over the pass mark. Also a couple of topics I knew going in were a weakness. Am guessing the 2004 and 2005 exams will be a bit harder though, just from glancing over them.

I agree the 4 hours is brutal, especially when you add in the 15 minute reading period to start. That's just 15 more minutes of anxiety if you ask me.

Good luck!


yeah, I was still counting today. I'm not getting into hours, too much stress!

Good luck to you and everyone. My weaknesses are the GLM, and Min Bias stuff. Yuck. possible 8 - 10 points right there. UGH!

[GefilteFish144]

UGH. I hate taking practice exams. It is such torture. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this, but it sure seems like it's getting harder for me to sit still for that long and concentrate. I keep getting up to stretch or whatever. And this exam is one numerical problem after the other. This is supposed to be what I'm good at (I also hate those "list" questions) so I should be happy. Plus, i find it frustrating when I know that I have the wrong NCCI plan or whatever, so I know that I'm going to have to spend time making sure I did an analogous calculation, instead of just skimming to make sure I got the right answer. anyway, just venting.

9 more days. How's everyone else doing?

Just want to say a big Thanks to Sew Lining. I have a few of your posts printed out as part of my list of formulas.

Yes it's torture but I find it's a much better way to cram than going through individual readings. If they administer an exam even remotely like 2001 I'm a dead man. Had a better time with 2000 but the pass mark was really low. Give an exam like that today and we're talking at least 65%.

[glad]

I am dead. Crap. I am so $#%^ed. I know that this attitude is only going to hurt, but I can't get it out of my head. This stuff is not difficult, I just am going to run out of time, I'm not fast enough. :sad:

[Purple Princess]

I am dead. Crap. I am so $#%^ed. I know that this attitude is only going to hurt, but I can't get it out of my head. This stuff is not difficult, I just am going to run out of time, I'm not fast enough. :sad:

I am pretty sure that the majority of people taking this exam will run out of time. I know I will. What is more important is making sure that the questions you have time to do are the ones that will get you the most points.

[frank_exams]

I am dead. Crap. I am so $#%^ed. I know that this attitude is only going to hurt, but I can't get it out of my head. This stuff is not difficult, I just am going to run out of time, I'm not fast enough. :sad:

What an appropriate avatar! Hang in there.
Frank

[jk]

I am pretty sure that the majority of people taking this exam will run out of time. I know I will.It's horrible. Time hasn't been a problem for me in the past. Either I knew the material or I didn't, but either way I never ran out of time.

No longer. Now I can't finish the practice exams in four hours. And since I know that I can't finish, the pressure of trying to work faster forces me into stupid mistakes, even on material that I understand. Plus, like glad says, it gets harder and harder to maintain the necessary level of concentration.

Then I look at last year's pass mark of 67.75, and I think, somebody must think this stuff is easy. But alas, for me, this has failure written all over it.

[glad]

I am pretty sure that the majority of people taking this exam will run out of time. I know I will.It's horrible. Time hasn't been a problem for me in the past. Either I knew the material or I didn't, but either way I never ran out of time.

No longer. Now I can't finish the practice exams in four hours. And since I know that I can't finish, the pressure of trying to work faster forces me into stupid mistakes, even on material that I understand. Plus, like glad says, it gets harder and harder to maintain the necessary level of concentration.

Then I look at last year's pass mark of 67.75, and I think, somebody must think this stuff is easy. But alas, for me, this has failure written all over it.

JK, you sound exactly how I feel. For the past three exams I've taken I've had extra time at the end of the exam. I don't see that happening at all this time. Plus, I took the 2005 exam yesterday. I've purposely not looked at any of the 2005 questions so far. What a disaster. I certainly did not get a 67.75. I came across 2 questions from Miccolis (Miccolis! what an easy paper, right?) that I did not get right. 6 & 10. #6 was a simple trend the ILF. But the trick was that they did not give you the trended pure premium (as they've done in the past, i believe), so i messed that up. #10 was the question with 2 bills and you had to figure out the impact. So I went back to the actual paper, and lo and behold, there was a bunch of stuff that I have no recollection of reading. I feel so overwhelmed that I have no idea what he is talking about when he is talking about increases in the excess losses with fixed upper limits vs with no upper limit. He just gives a few formulas and that's it. This was one paper that I didn't even need the formulas, just did what made sense, and now I'm totally confused. I went to bed at 9 o'clock last night because i was so wiped out. UGH! I can't wait til next week is over.

[jk]

I can top that--I screwed up Question 33, the one where you draw a Lee diagram for a uniform loss distribution. This was a morale booster, a tap-in, a chance to put one's brain in idle for a couple of minutes and pick up freebie points.

So what did I do? I misread "savings" as "charge", and drew the graph and did the calculations for the Table M charge. If I do that on the exam, the grader will point at my paper and laugh and think that I really don't know the difference.

[chic squirrel]

Do you guys think that the pass marks for the 2004 and 2005 years were an anamoly or do you think this is here to stay? 67.75% is HIGH and thats putting it mildly-I passed 7 in the Spring and thought that the passmark of 65 was high.67.75% and thereabouts is in a league of its own

[3tac]

Looking at the trend from 2003 thru 2005, I would consider 67.75% the new passmark. My prediction this sitting is 68%.

[GefilteFish144]

Do you guys think that the pass marks for the 2004 and 2005 years were an anamoly or do you think this is here to stay? 67.75% is HIGH and thats putting it mildly-I passed 7 in the Spring and thought that the passmark of 65 was high.67.75% and thereabouts is in a league of its own

Depends on the quality of the exam. Last 2 years exams were fairly straightforward so got high pass marks. Last year nearly half the candidates passed; I've rarely seen them set a pass mark where >50% pass. Looking at Exam 8 last 3 years, 2004 had a 70% pass mark, 2005 was much lower but we all agreed it was of extremely poor quality, and last spring's hasn't been released but I'd bet it was close to 70%. A few posters who know members of the Exam Committee say that the trend will be towards less difficult exams with higher pass marks, but I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility that the exam committee will try to get cute with their questions and end up giving a monster exam with a lower pass mark.

[chic squirrel]

we certainly have our task set out then I guess :(

I have yet to take the 2004 and 2005-I hope I am in the vicinity.

[Avi]

It's horrible. Time hasn't been a problem for me in the past. Either I knew the material or I didn't, but either way I never ran out of time.

No longer. Now I can't finish the practice exams in four hours. And since I know that I can't finish, the pressure of trying to work faster forces me into stupid mistakes, even on material that I understand. Plus, like glad says, it gets harder and harder to maintain the necessary level of concentration.

Then I look at last year's pass mark of 67.75, and I think, somebody must think this stuff is easy. But alas, for me, this has failure written all over it.

JK, you sound exactly how I feel. For the past three exams I've taken I've had extra time at the end of the exam. I don't see that happening at all this time. Plus, I took the 2005 exam yesterday. I've purposely not looked at any of the 2005 questions so far. What a disaster. I certainly did not get a 67.75. I came across 2 questions from Miccolis (Miccolis! what an easy paper, right?) that I did not get right. 6 & 10. #6 was a simple trend the ILF. But the trick was that they did not give you the trended pure premium (as they've done in the past, i believe), so i messed that up. #10 was the question with 2 bills and you had to figure out the impact. So I went back to the actual paper, and lo and behold, there was a bunch of stuff that I have no recollection of reading. I feel so overwhelmed that I have no idea what he is talking about when he is talking about increases in the excess losses with fixed upper limits vs with no upper limit. He just gives a few formulas and that's it. This was one paper that I didn't even need the formulas, just did what made sense, and now I'm totally confused. I went to bed at 9 o'clock last night because i was so wiped out. UGH! I can't wait til next week is over.

I think I felt that way last fall, which is why I am here now. :(

Only this exam left, so I should be pumped, but....

:yikes:

[glad]

Good luck to you Avi, I hope you pass. First try for me on this one. I guess we'll see. Looks like I have some cramming to do (which is usually not my style).

[tommie frazier]

higher passmark is here to stay as the exam writers are given more guidance on staying on point via the knowledge statements and the learning objectives, and not necessarily playing the "what hasn't been asked in a while" game.

[3tac]

Just a friendly reminder to all those affected by daylight savings time...we get 1 extra study hour this weekend! Woohoo!!!

[Purple Princess]

Just a friendly reminder to all those affected by daylight savings time...we get 1 extra study hour this weekend! Woohoo!!!

OMG that is the best news I have heard in ages! I hadn't even realised!!!!

[3tac]

Just wanted to wish everyone GOOD LUCK tomorrow! I plan to put in few more hours today and then try and get a decent night's sleep.

Thanks to all who posted questions, answers and helpful hints. I hope the exam gods are good to us all!

Best of luck!

[GefilteFish144]

Just a friendly reminder to all those affected by daylight savings time...we get 1 extra study hour this weekend! Woohoo!!!

OMG that is the best news I have heard in ages! I hadn't even realised!!!!

Better pass this year; next year standard time doesn't begin till November.

[GefilteFish144]

Just wanted to wish everyone GOOD LUCK tomorrow! I plan to put in few more hours today and then try and get a decent night's sleep.

Thanks to all who posted questions, answers and helpful hints. I hope the exam gods are good to us all!

Best of luck!

TY, gl2u2, I always try to sleep but I'm always too wound up. Never have to worry about trying to stay awake during the exam, though....

[Avi]

Then I look at last year's pass mark of 67.75, and I think, somebody must think this stuff is easy. But alas, for me, this has failure written all over it.

I am truly kicking myself now. I got a 4 last sitting, and per usual, I save the most recent exam for the day before the actual exam. So today was the first time I saw the 2005 Part 9 exam in about a year. I got 82.25 points (not counting the missing 3 from #15, a Darcy/Dyer).

I am SO angry with myself for failing last time. Of course, what will happen now is that it will have 25 points from GLM's, MinBias Chi Square, and Gillam/Snader XS Loss factors and ex-Medical deductibles that I'l get ANOTHER four.

ARRRGGGGHHHH

:crying:

[GefilteFish144]

Then I look at last year's pass mark of 67.75, and I think, somebody must think this stuff is easy. But alas, for me, this has failure written all over it.

I am truly kicking myself now. I got a 4 last sitting, and per usual, I save the most recent exam for the day before the actual exam. So today was the first time I saw the 2005 Part 9 exam in about a year. I got 82.25 points (not counting the missing 3 from #15, a Darcy/Dyer).

I am SO angry with myself for failing last time. Of course, what will happen now is that it will have 25 points from GLM's, MinBias Chi Square, and Gillam/Snader XS Loss factors and ex-Medical deductibles that I'l get ANOTHER four.

ARRRGGGGHHHH

:crying:

I hear you. I made a lot of careless errors but still got somewhere around 75th percentile. I think we're both about as ready as we'll ever be. GL.

[tommie frazier]

that's the sprit avi!

I am in a similar boat-should have passed last time and just missed. i know a lot more now than before, and still feel like the few gaps that remain will be tested for like 127% of the test points.

good luck all.