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 Long-Term Actuarial Math Old Exam MLC Forum

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#1
02-12-2019, 04:42 PM
 trent216904 SOA Join Date: Jun 2018 College: IUSB Posts: 10
LTAM prerequisites

On the LTAM page of SOA's website, it states, "A thorough knowledge of calculus, probability (as covered in Exam P), mathematical statistics (as covered in VEE Mathematical Statistics) and interest theory (as covered in Exam FM) is assumed." I've already passed P and FM (and am taking IFM next month), but I haven't taken the MS VEE yet. I was planning on taking LTAM in October, and I'm not sure I can fit in the MS course before then - I'm starting work in June, so I don't want to pay for VEE course now since if I wait a few months, my employer will pay for it. However, if I start the VEE in June, I don't think that will give me enough time to study for LTAM.

Anyways, all that to ask: will I be ok studying for LTAM without the MS VEE, or is it something that would be really beneficial to have under my belt before LTAM?
#2
02-12-2019, 04:50 PM
 Abraham Weishaus Member SOA AAA Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 7,233

The only use of statistics is in the part of the course discussing mortality rate estimation. You can probably get by without it, since the statistical methods used to derive the formulas (like MLE and its variance) are not directly tested on.
#3
02-12-2019, 05:09 PM
 DyalDragon Member SOA Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Here Studying for the hell of it... College: AASU Favorite beer: This one... Posts: 32,489

Quote:
 Originally Posted by trent216904 On the LTAM page of SOA's website, it states, "A thorough knowledge of calculus, probability (as covered in Exam P), mathematical statistics (as covered in VEE Mathematical Statistics) and interest theory (as covered in Exam FM) is assumed." I've already passed P and FM (and am taking IFM next month), but I haven't taken the MS VEE yet. I was planning on taking LTAM in October, and I'm not sure I can fit in the MS course before then - I'm starting work in June, so I don't want to pay for VEE course now since if I wait a few months, my employer will pay for it. However, if I start the VEE in June, I don't think that will give me enough time to study for LTAM. Anyways, all that to ask: will I be ok studying for LTAM without the MS VEE, or is it something that would be really beneficial to have under my belt before LTAM?
In my experience, any study manual worth the paper it's printed on (or online study lecture course) will include review of the necessary basics.

If you prefer to use the recommended textbooks from the syllabus you may need to track down some online resources for any topics you might need a refresher on.
__________________
P FM MFE MLC C Predictive Analytics
VEE FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP APC

Last edited by DyalDragon; 02-12-2019 at 05:13 PM..
#4
02-25-2019, 03:28 PM
 gaudettj Member SOA Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Canada Studying for FAP / C Favorite beer: All of the Above Posts: 246

If you had the skills to pass P and FM, you should have the knowledge required to understand the material. Anything new will be developed as you progress through the course, and from what I remember, it had very little overlap with mathematical statistics other than the stuff already covered in the first two exams.
__________________
________________________
VEE's P FM IFM SRM LTAM FAP PA STAM APC
#5
03-02-2019, 11:24 AM
 NchooseK Member SOA Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Philly area Studying for PA, LTAM, FA (FAP) College: Swarthmore College (BA Mathematics), Villanova University (MS Applied Stat) Favorite beer: I don't drink beer, but I love the Dos Equis commercials. Posts: 353

Pre-reqs and potentially familiar topics. Everything is covered in a good manual, such as CA.

Calculus:
• The integral ${\normal \int} \, te^{-kt} \, \mathrm{d}t$
• Finite and infinite geometric sums
• Basic "u" substitution and appropriately adjusting limits of integration.
• VERY basic differentiation.
• Limits only as they apply to improper integrals.

Math:
• Rules of logs and exponents.
• Rules of inequalities; flipping sign when multiplying a negative.
• Recursion.
• Quadratic Formula.
• Counting--I'm not kidding. Use your fingers if it helps!
• Matrix multiplication.
• Linear Interpolation.
• Cubic Splines.

Probability/Statistics:
• Expectation, Variance and Covariance operators (including linear combinations)
• Compute Variance from first two moments
• Independence, Mutual Exclusivity.
• Normal Approximation
• Double Expectation and Conditional Variance
• Bernoulli Shortcut for Variance
• Distribution and density/mass functions.
• Be prepared to answer a (short response) question in the context of the Central Limit Theorem or the Law of Large Numbers. Cursory understanding fine.
• Sums and products of Standard Normal RVs. Moments. Independence.
• Relationship and conversion between Normal and Log Normal. Means and Variances.
• Empirical Distr, Histogram (function), Ogive
• Exponential Distr. Recognize its form and know its mean.
• Confidence Intervals.
• Logit Function.
• Compute Correlation $\rho$ from Covariance and Variances/Standard Deviations.

Financial Math / Other:
• Though the section on spot and forward rates has been removed, know these since a few problems require it.
• Interest rates, compounding, 1/m-thly payments, annualization, discount rate,
• Reading really small tables.
__________________
Exams: P | FM | C | MFE | LTAM | SRM Credit | PA

VEE: Statistics | Finance | Economics

FAP: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | IA | 6 | 7 | FA

Conferences: APC

Last edited by NchooseK; 03-02-2019 at 11:28 AM..

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