Most Difficult Preliminary Exam

[EaglesFan]

Originally Posted by ckjy

Here's how I rate difficulty of the exams, in terms of the number of hours of preparation I invested before passing.

<<<<<FM<<<<<P<<MFE<<<<<<<<<<C<<MLC

I passed M when it was one exam (including the MLC syllabus but longer and 4 hours) on the FIRST try. This Spring I'll be sitting for C for the FIFTH Time. I think that says it all.

[banpeikun]

C was pretty hard this past sitting. The pass mark was the lowest it's ever been (22/40), yet the pass rate was still the second lowest since 2001.

[Claus75]

Perhaps C will no longer be the hardest exam after it goes to CBT this fall. It is going to be a 3.5hrs exam.

[nonactuarialactuary]

Doubtful. Supposedly, the only material to be removed from C is some of the easiest content on the test.

[Nonpareil]

Ruin theory, the Cox model and GLM, the lognormal stuff, including simulating stock jumps, efficient simulation, and some of the more obscure risk measures stuff (the stuff that's in the study note but not in the Loss Models, like the Wang transform) are all being removed from the syllabus for C/4. That's two fewer chapters in Loss Models and two less chapters in McDonald, or about 8 lessons in ASM. That's relatively small, but any reduction is a welcome change. It puts it more in line with MLC in terms of number of ASM lessons.

Ruin theory is considered easy, but some people find the Cox model takes a while to master, and the stock jump questions can be tricky. In my opinion it makes it a little more streamlined and cohesive. Should make it a little easier in terms of how much stuff to know, and it seems like there will be fewer obscure topics.

[ElDucky]

Everytime I pass an exam they make it shorter.

[ADoubleDot]

Anybody wanna mess with the mighty mighty C this time?

[tanjinee]

Hopefully, I'll get through MLC. Then I'll be taking this beast on. Shouldn't be too bad, I think they removed my problem topics save for ruin theory but which should be covered in MFE anyway.

Here's to hoping

[success_will_write]

If all goes to plan then I will vote Course 42 in May 2010

[Macroman]

You should list 120. That was a bear.