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 trent216904 02-12-2019 04:42 PM

LTAM prerequisites

On the LTAM page of SOA's website, it states, "A thorough knowledge of calculus, probability (as covered in Exam P), mathematical statistics (as covered in VEE Mathematical Statistics) and interest theory (as covered in Exam FM) is assumed." I've already passed P and FM (and am taking IFM next month), but I haven't taken the MS VEE yet. I was planning on taking LTAM in October, and I'm not sure I can fit in the MS course before then - I'm starting work in June, so I don't want to pay for VEE course now since if I wait a few months, my employer will pay for it. However, if I start the VEE in June, I don't think that will give me enough time to study for LTAM.

Anyways, all that to ask: will I be ok studying for LTAM without the MS VEE, or is it something that would be really beneficial to have under my belt before LTAM?

 Abraham Weishaus 02-12-2019 04:50 PM

The only use of statistics is in the part of the course discussing mortality rate estimation. You can probably get by without it, since the statistical methods used to derive the formulas (like MLE and its variance) are not directly tested on.

 DyalDragon 02-12-2019 05:09 PM

Quote:
 Originally Posted by trent216904 (Post 9542219) On the LTAM page of SOA's website, it states, "A thorough knowledge of calculus, probability (as covered in Exam P), mathematical statistics (as covered in VEE Mathematical Statistics) and interest theory (as covered in Exam FM) is assumed." I've already passed P and FM (and am taking IFM next month), but I haven't taken the MS VEE yet. I was planning on taking LTAM in October, and I'm not sure I can fit in the MS course before then - I'm starting work in June, so I don't want to pay for VEE course now since if I wait a few months, my employer will pay for it. However, if I start the VEE in June, I don't think that will give me enough time to study for LTAM. Anyways, all that to ask: will I be ok studying for LTAM without the MS VEE, or is it something that would be really beneficial to have under my belt before LTAM?
In my experience, any study manual worth the paper it's printed on (or online study lecture course) will include review of the necessary basics.

If you prefer to use the recommended textbooks from the syllabus you may need to track down some online resources for any topics you might need a refresher on.

 gaudettj 02-25-2019 03:28 PM

If you had the skills to pass P and FM, you should have the knowledge required to understand the material. Anything new will be developed as you progress through the course, and from what I remember, it had very little overlap with mathematical statistics other than the stuff already covered in the first two exams.

 NchooseK 03-02-2019 11:24 AM

Pre-reqs and potentially familiar topics. Everything is covered in a good manual, such as CA.

Calculus:
• The integral ${\normal \int} \, te^{-kt} \, \mathrm{d}t$
• Finite and infinite geometric sums
• Basic "u" substitution and appropriately adjusting limits of integration.
• VERY basic differentiation.
• Limits only as they apply to improper integrals.

Math:
• Rules of logs and exponents.
• Rules of inequalities; flipping sign when multiplying a negative.
• Recursion.
• Counting--I'm not kidding. Use your fingers if it helps!
• Matrix multiplication.
• Linear Interpolation.
• Cubic Splines.

Probability/Statistics:
• Expectation, Variance and Covariance operators (including linear combinations)
• Compute Variance from first two moments
• Independence, Mutual Exclusivity.
• Normal Approximation
• Double Expectation and Conditional Variance
• Bernoulli Shortcut for Variance
• Distribution and density/mass functions.
• Be prepared to answer a (short response) question in the context of the Central Limit Theorem or the Law of Large Numbers. Cursory understanding fine.
• Sums and products of Standard Normal RVs. Moments. Independence.
• Relationship and conversion between Normal and Log Normal. Means and Variances.
• Empirical Distr, Histogram (function), Ogive
• Exponential Distr. Recognize its form and know its mean.
• Confidence Intervals.
• Logit Function.
• Compute Correlation $\rho$ from Covariance and Variances/Standard Deviations.

Financial Math / Other:
• Though the section on spot and forward rates has been removed, know these since a few problems require it.
• Interest rates, compounding, 1/m-thly payments, annualization, discount rate,