Can we talk now?

[Car'a'carn]

.

[kickout]

Everyone finish it yet? If so, I think we can

[RY]

I just think that it is an amazing experience.....and ready to see the supervisior at the same place next year

[kickout]

Originally Posted by RY

I just think that it is an amazing experience.....and ready to see the supervisior at the same place next year

Feel hard or just do not do it right?

[knowles]

I thought the morning session was fair. But the afternoon? FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

I don't remember seeing anything like that SCDO question (calc return to leveraged mezzanine tranche).

Didn't get the hedging question calc done. I found it more complicated than expected.

Couldn't get the TWR quadratic factored.

For the Bond-CDS question, apparently I didn't pay enough attention to that study note, bc I was clueless on that one as well.

Ugh. I actually felt prepared for this going in. That notion was disabused in the afternoon.

[MiACt]

I totally agree with your opinion of morning versus afternoon session. After the morning session, which I thought was conspicuously lacking of calculation questions, I thought I had at least a 6 in the bag. I thought that the afternoon would not be that bad, cover the familiar calc territory and all would be alright. Couldn't have been more wrong. Whoever wrote that second part was a complete sadist.

Did anyone find the second part to be okay? I am really curious about this.

Did anyone understand that risk capital question? I was so confused that I calculated Return on Assets instead of ROE!

Whatever, I am starting to realize that the upper level exams (at least APMV and FETE) are kind of a joke and the testers have no interest in seeing if we understand the core material. Any thoughts, AO?

[hamstrman]

Originally Posted by MiACt

I totally agree with your opinion of morning versus afternoon session. After the morning session, which I thought was conspicuously lacking of calculation questions, I thought I had at least a 6 in the bag. I thought that the afternoon would not be that bad, cover the familiar calc territory and all would be alright. Couldn't have been more wrong. Whoever wrote that second part was a complete sadist.

Did anyone find the second part to be okay? I am really curious about this.

Did anyone understand that risk capital question? I was so confused that I calculated Return on Assets instead of ROE!

Well, interestingly enough I always find the sessions to be the opposite in difficulty from the rest of AO... I love the math mostly and HATE most of the lists. "Easy" questions, they say; only if you have it memorized, though!

Regarding the math, I didn't even get a chance to touch (and left for last) the ROE question. And the Mezzanine Tranche question I had no clue what to do besides draw a bar showing the tranche percentages. I realized immediately after talking to my friend that the formulas were in the formula sheet! It was the p(l,Ti)max{min[lA(1-R), H] - L,0} formula... It was so easy to at the very least write the formulas! Why didn't I put the pieces together!?

But I loved the Calls/Puts question, the Sharpe Ratio/Downside Deviation question, the Manager Skill Measures question and DEFINITELY the State Prices question - I was waiting for it last year and it never came.

I got a few of the items on CF CDO vs MV CDO and, all of the Valid Benchmark requirements and a few of the Constraints on Asset Sales. I think I got most of the way through the Basis Trade question - the math part... the definitions, not so much.

And SIX questions on the Case Study?? I know some didn't really apply at all, but just saying that is pushing our buttons.

Originally Posted by MiACt

Whatever, I am starting to realize that the upper level exams (at least APMV and FETE) are kind of a joke and the testers have no interest in seeing if we understand the core material. Any thoughts, AO?

And how many written exams have you sat for so far (you don't have to say)? But I realized on my first written exam that the exams do not test understanding, but mostly endurance, both physically and mentally - carpal tunnel, anyone? - and the ability to remember an unnecessarily and impossible amount of material to be tested on a small amount of it when it would be readily available to us, practically speaking.

If I see a question that I know so badly what answer they want, but I can't remember it, must I not understand it? Was reading a list 50 times beforehand giving me an understanding? Was my inability to recall it showing a lack of understanding what I could not remember?

I just bitterly hope this time that a little over half of my colleagues were as ill-prepared as they sound. Sorry, competition. Failing builds character - I'm full up, thanks.

[MiACt]

I agree with most of what you're saying, hamstrman.

I've now taken 3 FSA Exams (FETE and AMPV x2) and have completed all other requirements with the exception of the DMAC and FAC. So this exam is the last real obstacle I have before earning the FSA designation.

That being said, I've studied this material thoroughly for a total of 10 months (averaging over 2-3 hours a day, everyday). I can speak intelligently about every topic on the syllabus. But when it comes to the exams I only pass if others do badly, not if I do well. I thought last years APMV was a much fairer test, but i wasn't well prepared due to a move and new job. But this time, I was very well prepared and couldn't intelligently answer close to half the questions.

Of course, I did answer every part of every question. Mostly with semi-related garbage, but I think that is how you play the game. Which is what this is, a stupid game that doesn't really test our understanding. I think we (ie, the SOA) need to take a look at how these exams are developed.

I do want to give props to all the volunteers and employees at the SOA, I know your jobs can't be easy. A sincere thank you for your work.

[volsfan]

I definitely did worse than I had hoped to do. One thing that was strange, when I read the afternoon during the 15 minute read through I felt good about the questions. It wasn't until I started digging into the questions was when I realized I had no clue how to answer them.

[Boots]

I read through the first two afternoon questions and was like, wow, I have a chance of knowing everything on the afternoon section. Then I got to the ROE question It took me 15 minutes to recall what part of the syllabus that even referenced, and I can't say I'm certain anyway.

From my perspective, the writers had their shit together when they wrote the afternoon. The calc questions evolved beyond standard plug-and-chug (and stumped me in the process).

But yeah, the only real metric to whether you liked a test is whether you passed it or not. So in 8 weeks, you'll see me bitching about how unfair it was if the grading dice didn't go my way.