International profiles of actuarial profession

[Darkness Falls]

Originally Posted by campbell

Heck, when I was in my physics majors classes, 60% was an A. Hardly surprising as the top score tended to be around 70%.

On the other hand you have some courses where if you got an A- you did very badly

[campbell]

Originally Posted by Darkness Falls

On the other hand you have some courses where if you got an A- you did very badly

Yeah, that was grad school.

A = you get to stay in doctoral program
B = fine, you can do a masters
C = FAIL

There were classes, both grad and undergrad, where you got an A for just showing up. That was kind of odd, given that these were math classes.

[Darkness Falls]

Grading such an arcane and mysterious concept ...

[JMO]

Originally Posted by wooHoo

The merger was of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland and the Institute of Actuaries.

This is not like the US with the many organizations.

Well, there are fewer actuaries there than in North America (NA). Still, if they manage to cut the number of organizations in half (maybe on their next try?) we in NA should at least consider reducing the number we have.

[bdschobel]

We came very close in 2008. Failed by a whisker.

Bruce

[JMO]

Originally Posted by Darkness Falls

Grading such an arcane and mysterious concept ...

Sort of like actuarial science.

[whui]

Originally Posted by campbell

From the UK:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/27c6e3ae-6...44feabdc0.html

The actuarial profession – one of the UK’s smallest and best paid – has been engaged in a process of collective soul-searching."

If the statement is still true now, then may be flying across the Altantic Ocean to the UK would be a solution for entry-level job seekers who are UK/EU citizens, or eligible for UK/EU work visas.

Ideas such as options pricing theory and financial economics were simply not part of the training, ...

OMG, not part of their training, really? These topics are supposed to be part of undergraduate corporate finance courses, VEE CF, Exam MFE/3F, and then again in financial math courses at undergrad and grad levels and probably in higher exams.

[wooHoo]

Actuaries in the UK are generally not as well paid as actuaries in the US (In real money terms).

(Individual experience may vary)

[whui]

Originally Posted by campbell

I remember a particularly horrendous final for Complex Analysis in grad school, where, while we were taking the exam, the prof kept coming into the room trying to justify why it was perfectly reasonable for him to make the whole exam on Bessel functions, though we had never covered them in class. Yes, we were to reformulate Bessel function results during a final exam. I don't even want to know the raw scores on that one.

I am feeling lucky and blessed that we only have gamma function in Exam C/4, and don't have to mess with Bessel functions and other stuff like ODE, PDE, and even hypergeometric function/series. I don't even want to read beyond the second paragraph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessel_function

Thank God! "God Keep Our Land", "God Save The Queen", and "In God We Trust".


P.S.
There is an advanced complex analysis course in an university consists of both senior-year undergrads, and grads in their Master's and Ph.D. The final exam worths 65% of the grade. Grads have an extra project to do, and extra questions in final exam. Usually, enrollment is only approx. 20 people combined, and class average is barely 60% to 70% ( C- to B- ).

It was once that a lousy, tenured lunatic (native English speaker, Ivy League Ph.D) taught that course which no one understood his disorganized notes, handwritting, assignments, midterm test, or past final exams. After the midterm, students, who scared of losing scholarships and their GPA, petitioned to the Dean, who grabbed the Department Chair together and spoke to the lunatic, who said he did not care and "Students were not up to the standard".

Half of the class withdrew before the final exam and, with signed assurance from the Dean, all academic penalties were waived and course enrollment record removed from transcript. Folded and walked off safely. The other half held their tickets-to-death, wrote the impossible final exam and had a raw class final average of 40% ( F- ??). To everyone's surprise, the class average curved up to 70% ( B- ). The lunatic was later reassigned to engage in his own research activities only.