Any reasons to give up?

[LifeIsAPoissonProcess]

Originally Posted by AppleSauce

Relevant major means something along the lines of math/cs/physics etc.

Also, when you mention critical thinking ability, do you mean at a higher level than the exams or maybe a different way of thinking? I've heard from some people that the exams are the hard part, but then again, I have no actuarial experience so I really have no idea.

I've had case-studies in interviews before. Some interviewers really want to see your thought process regardless of whether or not you can answer the question correctly.

There was one interview I went to where the allotted time for those interviewers was 45 minutes, and we were done after about 30 minutes, so they started half-jokingly asking me some quantitative riddles. After I got the job, I found out that me answering those riddles correctly was brought up in the decision process (though I'm not sure it had any weight in the decision making).

The thing to remember is, work is not school. You can't just memorize a book and become a good employee. They want to see if you can do your own analysis, and not just report on what other people have analyzed.

[AppleSauce]

Interesting. What type of case studies and riddles? I should start preparing as much as I can for them. Do they involve a lot of mathematical/logical thought?

[Colonel Smoothie]

How well you can answer the question sometimes depends on how interesting the questions are. Sometimes they give you really boring questions. For example, one time I had to tell this guy how I would help him set up a movie theatre and price tickets.

Instead of asking him why the hell he wanted to pursue a non-profitable business in a dying industry, I went along and did the best I could.

(Maybe I should of asked that question. Maybe he was the kind of guy who liked people who weren't donkeys. Who knows, man. )