Module 4 News

[Cauchemar]

"This is to alert candidates that we may not rollout Module 4 until Monday, June 5. We will keep you posted. "

... and commence with the moaning and groaning...

[twig93]

Who is actually surprised by this?

One point that I've made to coworkers, and possibly already in this forum somewhere, is that the SoA is new to making modules. They clearly don't know what they're doing. I worry a lot less about the exam than the modules because the SoA has a lot of experience making exams. They really ought to, at this point, know what goes into making a multiple-choice exam. They have no excuse for not being able to get the exam ready on time. I'm trying (and sometimes failing) to cut them some slack on the modules because this is uncharted territory.

I do, however, remain optimistic (perhaps foolishly?) that the exam will take place as scheduled on August 22. Even if Module 5 is roughly a week late like the others have been, I think the exam could still take place on time. Now if the Module 5 exercise isn't ready, that may be another story. In which case I would certainly hope that they would let someone who had completed the end-of-module[5] test take the exam and continue with the exam as scheduled. But who knows.

But I did sort of expect the Module 4 release to be delayed. From what I hear there can't be many folks finished with the Module 3 exercise anyway, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

[hershey220]

Originally Posted by Cauchemar

"This is to alert candidates that we may not rollout Module 4 until Monday, June 5. We will keep you posted. "

... and commence with the moaning and groaning...

What is up with the "may"...it's suppose to come out tomorrow, you think that they would know it wasn't coming out on time...so do they mean they hope it will be out on Monday or do they mean it may be earlier but probably not.

[almost actuary]

Yes, this was clearly expected. Regarding the exam, I am more doubtful now that it will be as "scheduled". In a recent post, Bruce said that the clearance time for end of module exercises was 4 to 6 weeks. Meaning, if you don't hear back in that time you can assume that it has been accepted. He also said, candidates must have completed all 5 exercises and had them accepted in order to take the exam. So how will the SOA do this? Back up 6 weeks from August 22 and you are at July 11. So if Mod 5 is released on time in late June, you have less than 2 weeks to complete it and the exercise.

[Kenny]

Originally Posted by almost actuary

Yes, this was clearly expected. Regarding the exam, I am more doubtful now that it will be as "scheduled". In a recent post, Bruce said that the clearance time for end of module exercises was 4 to 6 weeks. Meaning, if you don't hear back in that time you can assume that it has been accepted. He also said, candidates must have completed all 5 exercises and had them accepted in order to take the exam. So how will the SOA do this? Back up 6 weeks from August 22 and you are at July 11. So if Mod 5 is released on time in late June, you have less than 2 weeks to complete it and the exercise.

You seemed to have missed the point of his post

Originally Posted by bdschobel

They won't hold up the exam awaiting the review of Module 5 exercises. You will have to submit the exercise, of course, but unless you get a retake notice, you can take the exam.

Bruce

[almost actuary]

Perhaps it is me who missed the point, but the SOA needs 4 to 6 weeks to give you that re-take notice. So again, how will they verify that the exercise "meets minimum requirements"? If we give them 4 weeks to do that, then you will have had to submit the Module 5 exercise by July 25. I submit that this will be a tall order, being that Module 5 won't be released until July 10th at best (I'm sure they will have some sort of lag due to the July 4 holiday.....)

Originally Posted by bdschobel

The SOA's goal is to send out any retake notices within 4-6 weeks.

And then...

Originally Posted by bdschobel

They won't hold up the exam awaiting the review of Module 5 exercises. You will have to submit the exercise, of course, but unless you get a retake notice, you can take the exam.

(emphasis added)

Sounds to me like they need 4 to 6 weeks to approve your exercise.

[Kenny]

You seem to be missing/ignoring the obvious intent of his posts. He is saying as long as you have submitted the exercise you will likely be allowed to take the exam. However, if you submitted the exercise and have received a retake notice you will not be allowed to take the exam. If it has been 2 weeks and you haven't gotten anything, you can likely take the exam.

If you are that worried about it, why not email the SOA and get an official answer, rather than an unofficial answer from someone tangentially related to preparing the modules/rules.

[Lois Lane]

i don't understand why everyone is all stressed out about failing the exercises. the way i see it, 'no news is good news.' it's like when you do your taxes. once you're done, you can't just sit around wondering if they will audit you. do your best on the exercise, submit it, and then move on to the next module or exam.

anyway, i have very serious doubts that anyone is looking at any of these exercises, other than giving them a cursory glance. they are too busy trying to get the modules and exams ready.

[twig93]

Originally Posted by Lois Lane

i don't understand why everyone is all stressed out about failing the exercises. the way i see it, 'no news is good news.' it's like when you do your taxes. once you're done, you can't just sit around wondering if they will audit you. do your best on the exercise, submit it, and then move on to the next module or exam.

Exactly. Until you hear that you failed the exercise, assume that you passed it. If you haven't heard that you failed the Module 5 exercise by August 22, then you can take the exam (so long as you actually submitted the exercise). So if you finish the Module 5 exercise two weeks before the exam and you haven't heard back from the SoA that you failed it, you're fine. Nice analogy to the taxes Lois Lane!

Originally Posted by Lois Lane

anyway, i have very serious doubts that anyone is looking at any of these exercises, other than giving them a cursory glance. they are too busy trying to get the modules and exams ready.

My theory is that they probably look at the size of the files submitted (if you submit a couple of blank documents, I bet they'll catch that) and possibly have some automated stuff scanning the documents for keywords to make sure that you're not submitting jibberish. Beyond that, they probably just randomly pick out a few exercises and skim through them.

[almost actuary]

I feel the need to clarify some points here. I am not worried that my exercises will not be accepted and I don't sit around waiting to hear from the SOA that I failed. It's straight forward enough once you've finished the exercise to determine on your own if you met the requirements based on their model solution.

What I am submitting here is simply another post that the exam will not be held in August. Again, it's not the end of the world for me if the exam is postponed, that would actually work better for me personally. What I am saying is that the SOA as an organization does have some responsibility to verify that the people taking the exam have actually satisfied the requirements for taking said exam. If the SOA requires all exercises submitted and accepted, then I imagine that they will have to decide that the exercises are, in fact, acceptable before the exam is administered.

To me, this has a good possibility of pushing the exam date back.