CAS President on Exam Results

[limabeanactuary]

Originally Posted by Bobby

Right, and I would think that most of the people that are in high ranking positions within the exam committee are exam superstars and didn't struggle much with the exam system.

I wouldn't necessarily assume this.

[Hero3128]

Originally Posted by Bobby

Right, and I would think that most of the people that are in high ranking positions within the exam committee are exam superstars and didn't struggle much with the exam system.

Yeah, smart people with no common sense. I had a boss like that once.

[Darkness Falls]

Originally Posted by limabeanactuary

I wouldn't necessarily assume this.

[Doctor Who]

Originally Posted by Bobby

Right, and I would think that most of the people that are in high ranking positions within the exam committee are exam superstars and didn't struggle much with the exam system.

This would be interesting to look into.

[campbell]

Originally Posted by Doctor Who

This would be interesting to look into.

...and I'm going to say no on that one, as well.

It wouldn't be that interesting, you'll find, mainly because you have people spanning decades over which they got their credentials. I have no idea how much the exam systems have changed on the CAS side, but on the SOA side, they've changed so much, I wouldn't assume that exam performance 30 years before would tell me anything.

It would be as illuminating as looking at people's college transcripts.

[nonactuarialactuary]

Originally Posted by Darkness Falls

Weren't you an FCAS before graduating college or something? If that’s not an exam superstar, I don’t know what is. Having exam superstars do the initial pass-through to determine the MQC standard is a bit like having a PhD mathematician determine how fast a third grader can reasonably be expected get through a multiplication facts quiz. This whole MQC standard debacle just sounds like something that’s great in theory, but absolutely atrocious in practice.

[bdschobel]

I have to agree with this concern. In my 30+ years on exam committees, I saw far more exam super-stars than average performers. And I saw too many of those super-stars declare proposed problems to be "easy" that were clearly not. I was constantly fighting against that, and I've written about it here for years.

Bruce

[Bobby]

Originally Posted by bdschobel

I have to agree with this concern. In my 30+ years on exam committees, I saw far more exam super-stars than average performers. And I saw too many of those super-stars declare proposed problems to be "easy" that were clearly not. I was constantly fighting against that, and I've written about it here for years.

Bruce

Says the FSA '76 from MIT '74.

[Daniel Roth]

FWIW, I took 13 years to get through the exams, with a pass rate a little better than 50% (10 exams / 19 sittings).

[Cymru]

Originally Posted by Daniel Roth

FWIW, I took 13 years to get through the exams, with a pass rate a little better than 50% (10 exams / 19 sittings).

I am on my 13th year right now. At this point I feel like the one exam I have left doesn't relate to my work yet is stopping me from having the time to research in the areas of the profession that I do want to focus on for my career.

Now having gone through your time as a candidate all the way through to being exam chair, do you think the current education process is the best process for qualifying actuaries?