Done with the exam? Share your Exam 1/P study notes here!

[takis1983]

Originally Posted by Trapnel

Here is the formula sheet I developed while studying for Exam P. I am a career changer and passed the exam in May. Possibly some typos but hopefully it might help others.

De Morgan's Laws are wrong,
it is
Thank you for the notes though!

[Actuarialsuck]

Also the ind. (one of them is wrong).

[nipun]

Course notes from Intro to Probability. Plus problem solving techniques derived from the type of problems asked in the exam.

[wuwei]

9. if you failed, you can re-take the course FOREVER.
10. if you passed, it’s possible you are not going to remember the course FOREVER…

[Squeenasaurus]

So I just passed P my first sitting ever!
Here's what I did:

1) College Probability Course
This course taught me 95% of the material on the test. The only major topic that wasn't covered was the section on risk management. I had to teach myself it which wasn't too difficult. If you don't have access to a probability class, I recommend buying a manual and doing some heavy calculus review.

2) Coaching Actuaries
I used Adapt, and it was instrumental in my success! I recommend it to everyone. In general, I took a practice exam one day and reviewed it the next. I cannot emphasize this next part enough. YOU MUST LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES! However long it takes, you must go through each problem (even the ones you got correct) and learn the most efficient way to solve it. If it takes you two or three days to review the exam, that's okay. You will score poorly at first and it will take longer to review. Persevere. Also, I would occasionally take the custom quizzes and focus on topics I was struggling with. This allows you to pinpoint your weak areas and master them!

3) The Infinite Actuary
Dave, the director of TIA, is a great instructor and on his site, he provides four free exams. These were the most similar tests I took to the real thing. Even the interface was spot on. During the final two weeks, I took these under strict "real exam" conditions (no phone, no snacks, no pausing, ...). Again, an excellent tool. Again again, REVIEW!!!


Notes that I used:

1) CA Formula Sheet
I printed out a copy and threw it in my backpack while I was taking the probability course at school. It helped me do the homework and get the A but more importantly I used...

2) *see attached files*
As you can probably figure out, the filled out copy is the answer key and the blank copy is the practice sheet. I printed out a poop ton at the beginning of the summer. Every day I filled it out as much as possible until I was consistently filling it out with 100% accuracy. For the discrete distributions, I would also take the time to remind myself what each distribution is trying to illustrate and what each parameter actually means.

3) Note cards
Unfortunately I can't virtually share these with you because these were another daily tool that I used. On these, I pretty much just put definitions and major concepts.



All in all, it took me about 2 months to prepare. *work, study, bed* on repeat until I got that magic piece of paper that starts off "Congratulations!" Discipline is key, but don't be afraid to take the weekend off and let your battery recharge. Work hard, study hard, and play hard. And best of luck!



Summary of Probability Distributions.doc
Blank Summary of Probability Distributions.doc

[cartaozinho]

I took Dave Revelle’s excellent online course at TIA to study for exam P. The following Dropbox link contains two sets of files that I developed during my studies.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r7ovpt1u6...fl1FSdBVa?dl=0

The first file is a set of flashcard “decks” (file extension .apkg)

The second file is a directory containing a bunch of “grids” I used to physically reinforce details for many distributions and random formulae. These could, for example, be printed and completed. I personally used an iPad with Apple Pencil and PDF Expert.



Some notes:

The flashcard decks are in Anki format. Anki is software for flashcards. The Win/Mac/Linux version of Anki is available for free at https://apps.ankiweb.net. The mobile version is available via the Android/Apple app store. The Android version is free. The iOS version is $25. Everything can be synced between the PC and mobile platforms via Anki’s free web server. It’s a great software suite.

The notecard decks are organized following Dave’s course outline: P.A.1 - Fundamentals, P.A.2 - Conditionals, Sequences, and Bayes’ Theorem,…,P.B.4 - Transformations,…P.C.5 - Order Statistics.

A few of the notecards have images of Venn diagrams. I have never shared an Anki deck. My hope is the images come along in the sharing.

The notecard contents and grids were written in LaTeX. Before cursing me personally for any sloppy code please keep in mind that I am a LaTeX novice.




For me, these notecards and grids were valuable complements to all of the problems and practice exams that are part of Dave’s excellent TIA exam P course. I hope you find value in them too.


cartaozinho

[Michael Mastroianni]

I posted about this in another thread but I figured I'd add it here too. I created a video course for sale, but provide free formula sheets in full that you can download here: http://formulas.probabilityexam.com