Course 8 Exam Debacle

[Willie Mosconi]

Originally Posted by BucsFan

I took the 8M exam today, and maybe I passed, maybe I didn't. This morning, I got the case study for one of the other Exam 8's by mistake.

Yeah, it was for 8R. Luckily there was at least one 8G person in the room. His was right, so one of our proctors photocopied it for all of us 8M'ers. Talk about distraction!

[any_epsilon]

what did you think?

they skipped so many major topics (GAAP, valuation, etc.)
and what was that question with reinsurance in the afternoon about? Saturn life...I couldn't figure it out.

[E]

Originally Posted by any_epsilon

what did you think?

they skipped so many major topics (GAAP, valuation, etc.)
and what was that question with reinsurance in the afternoon about? Saturn life...I couldn't figure it out.

I couldn't work that one out either. It seemed like you somehow had to use numbers throughout the entire case study -- like some sort of twisted Easter egg hunt. That was one of the hardest things on the whole exam, and my brain was just out of gas. The rest of the afternoon was okay for me. I don't think I did well in the morning though. I think I wrote an outstanding 5 overall. Oh well.

[LouWorm]

We had 8M, 8V, and 8E candidates all in one room. No 8G. So no one in the room was given the correct case study for 8M. The 8V and 8E people had the right case study for their exams, but that didn't help us...

As it turned out, there was one person in the room (me) who does not usually mark up his study material, so the proctor made a copy of my case study and distributed it to everybody. Of course, between making the copies and, I presume, checking with the SOA to make sure he was doing the right thing, it was about 9:40 before we actually started the exam.

The people I really felt for were the 8V and 8E people who had to sit for the better part of an hour while we got this whole thing straightened out for 8M.

I found myself wondering if the people farther west would get some warning and have the proper case study on hand.

[oscar peterson]

So, if you're on the exam grading committee -- do you give, like, one 'bonus point' just to wiggle for the distraction factor?

[bones]

I had an hour delay in the morning waiting for the SOA to fax copies of the case study for 8M. Good thing I didn't study too hard or else I'd really be upset right now.

[twig93]

Originally Posted by LouWorm

We had 8M, 8V, and 8E candidates all in one room. No 8G. So no one in the room was given the correct case study for 8M. The 8V and 8E people had the right case study for their exams, but that didn't help us...

As it turned out, there was one person in the room (me) who does not usually mark up his study material, so the proctor made a copy of my case study and distributed it to everybody. Of course, between making the copies and, I presume, checking with the SOA to make sure he was doing the right thing, it was about 9:40 before we actually started the exam.

The people I really felt for were the 8V and 8E people who had to sit for the better part of an hour while we got this whole thing straightened out for 8M.

I found myself wondering if the people farther west would get some warning and have the proper case study on hand.

I'm a lowly Exam C peon, but I work at the test site and saw the guy who administers exams running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get the right stuff photocopied for the afternoon session. (I'm in the Pacific Time Zone if you can't guess by my avatar.) I guess the SoA must have called/emailed him. Anyway, I think he got the proper materials to the exam room just before it was time to start the afternoon session.

I wonder what impact that would have on grading. I mean if folks in the east didn't get the right stuff and it disrupted their exam, but people in the west had their exam session uninterrupted... well that doesn't seem quite fair. Unless the folks in the east got an extra 10 minutes or something...

[E]

Another guy at my center was taking 8V. After he read through his exam in the morning, he realized the SOA had thrown in an extra exam in his packet. . . in French. From reading the other comments in this thread, it sounds like the SOA likes to have some extra fun with the course 8 takers.

[asdfasdf]

This degree of competence doesn't bode well for the modules....

[Green Arrow]

Originally Posted by twig93

I wonder what impact that would have on grading. I mean if folks in the east didn't get the right stuff and it disrupted their exam, but people in the west had their exam session uninterrupted... well that doesn't seem quite fair.

Area adjustment factors!