Results

[Mary Frances]

Yeah - and Avi's on it! But not me.

[Rioch]

Does it give the number of CAS members that took it, to get a pass rate (the non-CAS pass rate was 45%)

[Avi]

Originally Posted by Mary Frances

Yeah - and Avi's on it! But not me.

I'm sorry, Mary Frances. But hopefully you'll get to study with Jane and knock the cover off the next one.

Only six passers, actually. I wonder how many of us in the CAS sat for the exam. There must have been around 20 in New York alone.

I am so happy that I don't have to sit for it again.

[campbell]

Okay, congrats and condolences now, then

[DOT]

Where is the CAS pass list posted?

[Avi]

Originally Posted by DOT

Where is the CAS pass list posted?

It will be posted tomorrow. Those who took the exam got an e-mail with a private link today.

[Mary Frances]

I heard around 25 when I was at the annual meeting, so we as a whole did dismally.

[Avi]

I think the 24% effective pass rate (and yes, it was 25 takers) is due to the fact that most of us are already fellows, which means that we "grew up" under an older CAS exam structure, where there were detailed questions about a wide variety of topics in the syllabus, but each question was, in and of itself, testing one, or maybe a few, highly related topics and had specific answers.

The UK test had many fewer questions with many more parts; the parts could be very disparate—estimate capital [calculation], outline risks that are faced, and another list of those to be monitered [enumerate], an open ended discussion, and a three year analysis—all in the same question (q 7), open ended discussions that have no direct analogue in the texts but require the candidate to synthesize what they have learned and make an argument (q 6), the very fact that open-ended discussion questions exist, and "case study" type questions (on our exam, q 8 required the candidate to pretty much act as analyst, regulator and government -- turns out this was a real life situation (Parmalat)).

So the test is rather different, and the test taking skills honed over the CAS exams are less helpful for the UK exam.

JMO, of course. YMMV

[campbell]

Originally Posted by Avi

I think the 24% effective pass rate (and yes, it was 25 takers) is due to the fact that most of us are already fellows, which means that we "grew up" under an older CAS exam structure, where there were detailed questions about a wide variety of topics in the syllabus, but each question was, in and of itself, testing one, or maybe a few, highly related topics and had specific answers.

The UK test had many fewer questions with many more parts; the parts could be very disparate—estimate capital [calculation], outline risks that are faced, and another list of those to be monitered [enumerate], an open ended discussion, and a three year analysis—all in the same question (q 7), open ended discussions that have no direct analogue in the texts but require the candidate to synthesize what they have learned and make an argument (q 6), the very fact that open-ended discussion questions exist, and "case study" type questions (on our exam, q 8 required the candidate to pretty much act as analyst, regulator and government -- turns out this was a real life situation (Parmalat)).

So the test is rather different, and the test taking skills honed over the CAS exams are less helpful for the UK exam.

JMO, of course. YMMV

Hmmm, sounds like the SOA ERM exam

[Avi]

Originally Posted by campbell

Hmmm, sounds like the SOA ERM exam

Perhaps, but with a stronger emphasis on general insurance.