November 2012 MFE Progress Thread

[IVMathGirl]

I just bought the Coaching Actuaries eCourse. I wish I had waited on purchasing the ASM study manual...it comes with one of the CA eCourse options. Thank goodness my company is paying for this!

[Andreas]

On board for duty, captain... I didn't contribute to the April thread and I on test day I couldn't get past the 76% pass mark, so this time I'm getting my act together...

I'm still using the ASM manual, and that's about it because the DM text is appauling... I'm also considering buying access to ActuarialBrew/Adapt for practice problems...

Good luck to everyone...

[Phenomenamena]

I'm in for November. Not sure on materials but it seems everyone is using Derivitives Markets to start. I figured I'd buy the ASM manual, too, and use Adapt towards the end for problems. Adapt helped me go from a 5 to an (expected) 7 or 8 the second time I took the exam.

[Mike Donald]

I debated down to the wire but ultimately decided not to write MFE in August so I am officially joining the November thread. I felt like 7 weeks of study would be too difficult to really learn and grasp the material. I am only planning to use ASM which I like so far. Note: I used Actex for P and FM but heeded the general opinion on this website and did not use Actex for MFE. Just finished the binomial pricing sections and started Black-Scholes this morning so I am about 35% into my first loop through the material.

[boyds01]

Was originally going to write in August but my internship this summer has so many activities planned that it just didn't make sense. I think I'll start skimming the material in July. I plan on using ASM and TIA, possibly ADAPT towards the end.

[mawul4j]

count me in for November.i would like to use finnan and ASM.hope it is a good combination for this exam.

[djdadude]

Anyone using an old version of the ASM manual? There was a 7th ed. lying around at work and according to Weishaus's website it should be up to date. Can anyone confirm this?

Progress: working on the examples at the end of the Greeks chapter. Some of that stuff is pretty confusing but it seems like the actual questions that get tested on are much easier, with the more complex theoretical stuff rarely coming up on exams. Black-Scholes was less complicated than I had imagined it would be, since such importance is ascribed to it.

So far the material hasn't been too bad. I've gathered this is pretty much the case until Brownian Motion. I was kind of hoping to gain some insight in to the derivative trading you hear about in the news from the material in this exam but that is all so far removed from what we're learning...

An aside: good luck to anyone hearing about results in the next few days. Waiting on 3L results myself.

[ronaldy27]

Hi everybody, I am planning on studying for MFE starting August to take it in November. That gives me about 3 months. I passed FM and I am registered to take P this July. How hard is the MFE material? Do you guys think I'll be ok with just 3 month prep time?

[penguin01]

Originally Posted by ronaldy27

Hi everybody, I am planning on studying for MFE starting August to take it in November. That gives me about 3 months. I passed FM and I am registered to take P this July. How hard is the MFE material? Do you guys think I'll be ok with just 3 month prep time?

If you want about a month for just doing problems/practice exams, you'd have to get through the material in about 8 weeks. It's doable, but it would mean 3 chapters a week if using ASM, which is kinda a fast pace in my opinion. Perhaps using a seminar like TIA or the Coaching Actuaries package could help you learn the material more quickly.

[ebeebs]

I would start studying the day after your P exam.

Do you work? Go to school? If you do niether you'll have plenty of time.