Actex vs ASM

[psu602]

Originally Posted by hasanejaz

I saw the ASM book for FM and was genuinely shocked by the size of it since I had taken FM through Actex.

The ACTEX FM book had me believe that I would get no less than a 10 on the exam; I received at least 28 questions out of 30 on every practice exam. I ended up sweating it out with a 6. Hopefully they have made siginificant improvements to the FM book since August 2009.

ASM may be a tad long, but you can always skip sections or a portion of the problems.

[ItsATrap]

Originally Posted by psu602

The ACTEX FM book had me believe that I would get no less than a 10 on the exam; I received at least 28 questions out of 30 on every practice exam. I ended up sweating it out with a 6. Hopefully they have made siginificant improvements to the FM book since August 2009.

ASM may be a tad long, but you can always skip sections or a portion of the problems.

Dude, that is EXACTLY, to every last detail what happened to me for FM. I was getting 28 out of 30 on the practice exams, then got to the test and saw so many things on there that weren't even in the manual. I was shocked to find out I passed with a 6. I emailed them my frustration and they said that they had made improvements. I had sampled the Actex books for MLC and MFE. MLC wasn't in depth enough, and MFE was a total joke. I have never seen a more worthless pile of paper in my life. And then you get Actex people on here saying that they've improved the manuals. Why is it that they are only good manuals AFTER I try to use them??? Interesting. I don't care what changes they have made, if any. The fact that they had such terrible products out on the market for such a long time and thought that was acceptable tells me that they have very low integrity and the only reason that they feel like they need to improve their manuals is because nobody is buying their junk anymore. They could have the best manual in the world for C and I still wouldn't use it out of how much I disrespect that company.

[eagle714]

Originally Posted by psu602

ACTEX sucks after Exam P.

Use ASM for the other prelims, except MFE. Actuarial Brew (only available for MFE) is probably the top choice for MFE with ASM being a close second.

When I looked up Actuarial Brew it is listed as "Review notes".. Is this comprehensive enough to use alone or is it better used as a supplement to ASM? Thanks

[psu602]

Originally Posted by eagle714

When I looked up Actuarial Brew it is listed as "Review notes".. Is this comprehensive enough to use alone or is it better used as a supplement to ASM? Thanks

Actuarial Brew is just as comprehensive as ASM. I used Actuarial Brew exclusively except when I felt the notation was a little messy for my tastes; for those situations (probably about 5% of the material) I used ASM.

[psu602]

Although I should add the following which may be even more helpful than my first response:

Actuarial Brew is not one manual. You have to make 4 purchases (costing about $200ish) to equal an ASM or ACTEX manual. Here is what I remember:

1) Review Notes - Teaches the material (NEED)
2) Practice Problems - 600+ problems (NEED)
3) Solutions - Solutions to the Practice Problems. Save yourself some money and download them online. You can view as PDF or print them yourself. (DON'T NEED)
4) Practice Exams - Includes 4 really good PEs that are way harder than most of the ASM exams. (MAY NEED)

[jdoster]

I looked at the sample for the ASM Study manual on the actuarial bookstore website. I didn't see any section review pages in the preview. I really liked the reviews for FM and wanted to know if they just cut them out of the preview, if they are actually no section reviews, or if I'm just oblivious (which it very well may be)

[Abraham Weishaus]

Most of the lessons have formula summaries, but not lesson 1.

[kyleb822]

ASM was great for me, really explained the material well.

[Macroman]

I can't believe this question still gets asked.

[feanor]

Got to second this opinion. I have not used the Actuarial Brew material for MFE, but it would almost have to be better than ASM for MFE.

Originally Posted by psu602

ACTEX sucks after Exam P.

Use ASM for the other prelims, except MFE. Actuarial Brew (only available for MFE) is probably the top choice for MFE with ASM being a close second.