My review of various MFE study guides/seminars:

[actoutpost44]

Guides/Seminars used (in order):
TIA Online Videos
ASM MFE Study Guide
Mahler Live Seminar
Actuarial Brew Sample Questions (650) and 4x Exams + Brew Study Note as a Reference
Coaching Actuaries ADAPT Exams


TIA Videos:
Started off with these and spent maybe about a week or two just plowing through the videos. I found they were a great introduction and the concepts that it covered were explained well, but it was absolutely not enough to pass the exam. It didn’t go into enough detail to understand concepts well enough to pass the exam and some topics were just nowhere to be found.

Although the video walkthroughs of questions at the end of each section were good, the additional questions at the end of each section were pretty bad in my opinion – the Brew questions were infinitely better.


ASM:
After going through the TIA videos, I started reading the entire ASM manual. I found this reinforced the topics that TIA covered and added the level of detail necessary to pass the exam + filled in the holes that TIA left. I started off doing a majority of the end of section questions, but this diminished as I progressed through the manual. Still, I think that the Brew questions were superior to ASM.

Bottom line, ASM was a great, comprehensive review of the material and I think that you can’t go wrong by using it as your primary resource.


Mahler Live Seminar – AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE.
I was torn as to which live seminar to take: TIA or Mahler. Although I couldn’t find any reviews online of Mahler’s seminar, I figured it would be better to get a different take on the material as opposed to watching the TIA videos and attending the TIA live seminar. BIG MISTAKE. In addition, I also got a recommendation from Batten for Mahler’s seminar.

The Mahler seminar was without a doubt the worst seminar I’ve ever attended for any exam and I was furious with myself that I wasted so many of my study hours on it. You need to know the material absolutely inside and out prior to attending, at which point it will just be a super-fast review. If you think this will teach you about any concepts you’re not familiar with/unclear on, you will be sadly mistaken.

He does not give you any of the 700+ slides he is going through. He expects you to buy his manual in addition to paying for his seminar. This was actually a recurring theme of this seminar: pitching his other products that you can buy…extremely irritating in my opinion. When going through problems, you spend a lot of the time writing the problem down before attempting it – a complete waste of time. The seminar was 3 days – and he went SUPER fast through the material, making it impossible to go into anything in to much detail. In addition, I was one of only 5 people that attended – not sure if that adds anything about his seminar.

At the time I attended, I had been through all the TIA videos and about 2/3rds of the ASM manual. This seminar shattered any confidence I had. Only positive was that the seminar was in Chicago – a cool city.

Bottom line, save yourself/your company $500+ bucks and buy the Brew problems and ADAPT online exams. You will get infinitely more out of them.


Actuarial Brew MFE Materials (study note, 650 questions and exams):

These materials were as effective as ASM, and in some situations, even better. Having completed ASM, I went through the entire 650 question set and found this to be the most useful part of my study regime. You just need to do as many questions as possible to pass the exam in my opinion. The answer explanations were very clear. I found that there were some topics that you could only really ‘get’ by just doing questions and learning the tricks to answer them – Brew helped massively for this.

I also got a copy of the study note towards the end of my study regime – I found it to be a great reference tool and it explained some topics slightly different from ASM. If I’d have got it earlier in my study time, I would have tried to go through the entire guide as I did the questions.

The 4 practice exams were also great – nothing much to really add here.


Coaching Actuaries ADAPT:

I only bought this about 2 weeks before my exam at the recommendation of a friend once I’d finished the Brew 650 and 4 practice exams. Turned out to be a great purchase and confidence builder. It starts you off at it’s a level 3 and recommends that you need to be at a level 6 or better to be in good shape to pass the exam. Every time you take a practice exam and get better than 70%, it increases your level.

The analysis on your test taking abilities are pretty good. Once you’ve taken a few exams, it can highlight weak spots, at which point you can take small quizzes to improve on certain topics.

By the end of my study regime, I’d taken maybe 8-10 exams and got to level 7.44. The solutions were pretty clear for the most part, although there is some room for improvement for the site. Customer service is also very quick to respond to any questions/problems you may have which I found to be a real positive.



If there’s one thing I hope you take from this, it’s that the Mahler live seminar was TERRIBLE. He’s a very awkward individual who is pretty terrible at educating people that don’t have a deep, intimate knowledge of a subject. A stereotypical actuary I guess.

[Henry Hattendorf]

I took a similar approach, TIA+ASM+ADAPT, and was happy w/ my preparation.

Only thing I might have changed was using the BREW online videos, as a few co-workers swear by the Brew online seminar; yet I'll still use TIA/ASM/ADAPT for the rest of my prelims.

[waterborne]

I used ASM, AB, and ADAPT and thought all of them were great. AB and ADAPT are by far my favorites.

[BLBarK]

I'm trying to be as efficient as possible. I'm using the TIA seminar, working the TIA and the corresponding ASM problem sets after each lesson. If I see a problem in ASM that involves material not covered in TIA, I will study only that from ASM.

After I cover the material, I will slam on the AB question bank/ADAPT!

[psp-fifa-fan]

I have TIA, ASM, and AB problems/notes/exams. How should I work with them efficiently in the next 2 months?

Should I just use TIA for learning the materials, and ASM and AB for the problems?

Also, do you guys know which topics that are not covered by TIA but are covered by ASM?

[wailoon]

Originally Posted by psp-fifa-fan

I have TIA, ASM, and AB problems/notes/exams. How should I work with them efficiently in the next 2 months?

Should I just use TIA for learning the materials, and ASM and AB for the problems?

Also, do you guys know which topics that are not covered by TIA but are covered by ASM?

ADAPT subscription is STRONGLY recommended!

[the_integral_actuary]

Honestly ASM teaches you everything you need to pass the exam, and the questions are very good at showing you shortcuts and the most efficient methods to solve problems. It also gives better solutions to the old exams and sample questions. I think ADAPT is a good supplement for practice tests and to build confidence as well.

[bermyluv]

Originally Posted by the_integral_actuary

Honestly ASM teaches you everything you need to pass the exam, and the questions are very good at showing you shortcuts and the most efficient methods to solve problems. It also gives better solutions to the old exams and sample questions. I think ADAPT is a good supplement for practice tests and to build confidence as well.

Do you think I can forgo reading the text if I have ASM and coaching actuaries online package?

[boringCatwoman]

Originally Posted by bermyluv

Do you think I can forgo reading the text if I have ASM and coaching actuaries online package?

From my perspective, an older credentialed manager doesn't agree with this, but seeing as you already passed two exams, I am surprised you are still reading texts. I am quite certain very few preliminary actuaries read texts due to efficiency, laziness, and fear of burning themselves out. Especially when you get to C, the ASM manual is 1000+ pages.

[MathandBikes]

I like the finish TIA then use the ASM manual to supplement and finish with a 15 to 30 day ADAPT subscription approach.

Of course I've only passed the first two exams so just hoping this works for MFE as well.