Fall 2018 LTAM Progress Thread

[NovaNation]

Originally Posted by Art_Vandelay

you could also start modules if you feel like you'd be rushing it, and sit for LTAM in April. i'm not sure what your work schedule is like, though. i have QE these next couple of weeks and again in September so that will take up some of my study time.

Do we know that it will definitely be at the end of April as opposed to early May? Hoping that is the case, personally.

[magicjello]

If I find out in two weeks that I have failed MLC, I think my plan is to do PA in December and take this in the Spring. But, I'd like to go through the manual more thoroughly this time, so I think I may start that right away. UGH

[alwaysseamus]

I'm in! I studied a good deal for it a few years ago, I hope some of it stuck.

[Master_of_my_domain]

Ordering study materials within the week and getting started on this beast!

Anyone have any preference of materials so far? I was leaning towards getting the CA bundle since I really appreciated their support for Exam C. But, that said, I've also heard that the WA portion is make it/break it for a lot of students on this exam and the SOA WA style is quite different from the CA WA style of questions.

Any guidance appreciated!

[KarimZ]

Do we know when TIA will add the lecture videos of newly added topics?

[tkt]

Originally Posted by Master_of_my_domain

Ordering study materials within the week and getting started on this beast!

Anyone have any preference of materials so far? I was leaning towards getting the CA bundle since I really appreciated their support for Exam C. But, that said, I've also heard that the WA portion is make it/break it for a lot of students on this exam and the SOA WA style is quite different from the CA WA style of questions.

Any guidance appreciated!

We are in the midst of revamping the written-answer questions for the new LTAM exams. Dave (aka Coach K) is in the midst of creating video solutions covering all past written-answer questions that are still relevant to the LTAM syllabus (the previous video solutions were created by Dr. Weishaus). We will also be creating some videos providing guidance on how to tackle written-answer questions. In addition, for customers who purchase our study bundle, we will also be providing a one-time grading service for one written-answer sample exam; more details on this will be coming soon.

[Jim Daniel]

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

LTAM sample questions have now been posted on the SoA website. As of this writing, there are at least a couple of errors remaining in the MC questions/solutions that I hope will be corrected as were a few in earlier drafts:

10.13 has the trivial error of using "Kevin" once when it should be "Kira".

The solution to S4.2 uses a reasonable method but unfortunately NOT the method described by Hardy in her study note in the required reading; this produces an answer different from what the study-note method would produce.

I've not checked the WA questions or solutions for errors.

Note that the sample questions make clear that candidates are expected to have memorized the formulas for the mean and variance of a LogNormal random variable---odd, since for C and now STAM these are provided in the tables. Oh well.

[Abraham Weishaus]

Thank you Jim.


I just took a fast look at the questions. In WA 21, apparently a new question, I don't know why they're still using the Illustrative Life Table.


I chuckled a bit when I looked at WA.22(a). On my final last semester, I asked students to list three ADLs. I'll now have to tell them that the real LTAM will be harder than my final.

[Jim Daniel]

Originally Posted by Abraham Weishaus

Thank you Jim.


I just took a fast look at the questions. In WA 21, apparently a new question, I don't know why they're still using the Illustrative Life Table.


I chuckled a bit when I looked at WA.22(a). On my final last semester, I asked students to list three ADLs. I'll now have to tell them that the real LTAM will be harder than my final.

Yes, funny.

The sample contains a strange mix of questions---5 or 6 on mortality improvement, 0 on actuarial or exact exposure either grouped or individual, for example.

[Abraham Weishaus]

Originally Posted by Jim Daniel

Yes, funny.

The sample contains a strange mix of questions---5 or 6 on mortality improvement, 0 on actuarial or exact exposure either grouped or individual, for example.

Well, for that you can just refer to old C questions.


Instead, they provided LM.4, which would catch former C students who didn't bother to read the new study note and wouldn't know what b_i is. And LM.6 is another one not covered by the former C. I'm surprised they didn't provide a question on the Klein variance formula, or on variance of exponentially extrapolated Kaplan-Meier, other topics not covered on the former C.