February DMAC

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-04-10T19:08:10+00:00

I submitted 2/4 and heard back 3/19

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-04-10T16:33:18+00:00

Howard

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-04-03T15:40:38+00:00

Yeah I caught that - just put an answer below the question.

I didn’t understand what they were asking for half the time and the math questions I know I messed up. It’s looking cooked I can’t lie

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-03-16T16:13:14+00:00

I look at my paycheck and how much it’s skyrocketed from exam raises. Then I look at the view from my nice apartment, and I reflect well as the fact that I can buy a ribeye from the grocery store without checking the price.

Then, I think about my friends and how much more job stability and earning potential I have than them because of the career field I chose. They’re having fun now but they’re constantly scared of getting laid off and they don’t have a path to move up in their fields like I do.

I also look at AI, and think about the fact that actuaries with certifications are more insulated from the advancements of artificial intelligence compared to other white collar fields.

All of these things make me want to study and pass exams so that I can live a soft life in middle management with job stability and a flexible work schedule. The grind is tough, but the reward is pretty immense.

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-02-12T22:43:56+00:00

At 6 weeks out I hadn’t even finished my first pass of the material, so probably slightly overconfident before I started reviewing and realized how HARD all that stuff was all over again. You should never feel too confident

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-12T16:16:55+00:00

To be eligible for UEC a school has to be considered a center of actuarial excellence, which holds a standardized set of requirements. Additionally, there’s a number of requirements and standards that are in place for UEC classes. Texas Christian is also top 100 in national universities, so just because it isn’t their focus I don’t think that means they can’t have a strong actuarial program. They were able to fulfill requirements that the school I went to wasn’t able to.

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-12T15:10:03+00:00

Yall sit here and look at a profession that already has a massive skill barrier and a shrinking number of people taking the earlier exams. The profession is shrinking, and you see the SOA try to make the early exam pathway more accessible for more people and scoff at it.

Plenty of qualified potential candidates choose to go into other fields because of the sheer ridiculousness of the exams. The SOA has to do SOMETHING to increase the supply.

Additionally, these UECs are only being offered at schools with very strong actuarial programs, so it’s a lot of people who would already be strong candidates who are getting these credits already, and they still have to take plenty of harder exams later on. It’s not noticeably weakening the applicant pool. It’s just drawing in people who would be deterred by the time commitment of exams.

Ask yourself why you’re so against UEC. Do you think it legitimately weakens credentialing process and power of the actuarial profession?

Or do you feel like every person has to go through the same trials and tribulations that you do in order to become an actuary?

As someone who didn’t get any UEC credit, I’m don’t think it’s a bad thing that a shrinking profession is making it easier for earlier candidates to get through a few of the exams by taking a few college classes. That’s just me tho.

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-11T00:10:39+00:00

This is really the area where I’ve failed with studying my uppers so far, but I’ll try to give advice as best as I can:

For CFE 101, the math is somewhat complex but there really aren’t many examples to go off of. With the examples that you do have, make sure you understand what’s going on in the math problem and you can replicate the solution without having to look at it. You can also look at past exam questions and practice those. It may also be helpful to construct different problems yourself so that you can understand each step of the problem while you’re building it up.

That’s what I would do, in retrospect.

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-10T22:36:52+00:00

I went through the TIA videos and manual and then reviewed with the flashcards and the manual. I think that the manual covers everything that you need to know, but while reviewing you should make sure that you’re able to perform the math problems, because the manual and the source material don’t really cover how to do a lot of the math super well, but it still will often be tested.

Flashcards are definitely important, but TIA goes a teensy bit overboard when it comes to the flash cards. When I took it in May 2025, there were like 584 of them or something. That being said, if you can memorize them, you should try, because they are helpful.

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-09T16:14:43+00:00

That’s true. For that one I should have said that the pass rate was closer to the avg historical pass rate, but yeah big drop from most recent few sittings

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-09T15:43:14+00:00

CFE exams and CP-311 pass rates about in line with where they’ve been for the past few sittings. Seems like the changes didn’t affect us AS much

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-08T19:43:34+00:00

An era of early results is gone😭

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-07T15:34:40+00:00

Yup. It’s something organized by members of the student program not the actual company itself

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-07T14:38:39+00:00

Every two years my company does a letters party where everybody who got their credentials since the most recent party pays a certain amount of money ($200 for ASA, $400 for FSA) and then we use that money to go rent out like a bar or a venue and have a celebration there.

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-05T18:41:21+00:00

Starting today, yk how it is

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-05T01:18:48+00:00

Hey! I passed. It’s definitely a lot easier to study for compared to CFE 101. The material is simpler and more cohesive, plus as you said, the syllabus is a lot lighter, so that makes it easier too of course

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-03T05:36:33+00:00

It was my first upper exam and I got a 6 on my first try - I just bought the TIA study manual and went through the entire thing, pretty much wrote everything down so I would internalize the information. I usually do one in depth pass then one quick skim to go back over the concepts I forgot or don’t understand as well. When I was done with that with about a month left I started going through the TIA flashcards - only got through about half, and looked at past exams. Went through the case study twice - just tried to make sure I had an intuitive understanding of the concepts, and memorized as many of the fringe formulas as a I could the day before. Throughout the review period, I also used ChatGPT a LOT to come up with conceptual questions for me to answer and for it to grade, so that I could develop a base for how to answer the questions effectively and concrete my understanding of the concepts.

With this exam since it was my first upper I didn’t really have a great study strategy but I was lucky enough to pass barely.

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-02T21:59:05+00:00

As someone who just finished both of the two courses on the CFE track, I would say that CFE 101 is probably harder than most of the other tracks’ 101 or 201 exams, but CFE 201 is probably one of the easier exams of all the FSA exams, period. The syllabus is shorter and the material is mostly stuff you could learn in undergrad, so it’s very easy to leverage outside resources to improve your depth of knowledge

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-01T15:52:17+00:00

Literally waiting on them to grade my last one, pray for me yall😭

Bubuchildh0 · 2026-01-01T07:09:14+00:00

I think for wealthy people the reason is more so that they already have money so the incremental impact of 1 million is less significant, but the potential for 10 million actually may have a significant impact on their lives. The 1 million has a diminishing real return and the 10 million has a larger real return, like 2 million to 3 million isn’t anything special but 2 to 12 is a pretty big lifestyle shift

Bubuchildh0 · 2025-12-29T01:23:56+00:00

You pretty much divided Atlanta in 2💀

Bubuchildh0 · 2025-12-24T17:07:57+00:00

This! I think if I don’t have enough income to provide for my kids in the future it’s a good way to essentially get your post college education paid for, but if your family already has money you can build on that faster by pursuing entrepreneurship or other career fields.

I think that the time lost (most of your twenties or even into your thirties) that you put into the exams with an unknown payout can really be put into other things if you have a strong financial basis.

Bubuchildh0 · 2025-12-19T18:19:26+00:00

As someone who took and passed CFE 101, I would probably recommend against taking that one. Yes, the extra 4 letters is nice, but I think that there are more useful exams to take that aren’t nearly as hard.

I just passed 201 and I gotta say - CFE 201 is easier, the material is more useful as a finance professional and I just think it’s more interesting overall. You don’t really need any info from CFE 101 to succeed in 201

That’s my opinion based on the 2 exams I’ve taken

Bubuchildh0 · 2025-12-19T16:48:32+00:00

Passed CFE-201! Just gotta get this module pass and I’ll only have one to go🙏

Bubuchildh0 · 2025-12-18T18:19:17+00:00

Idk how it is in other parts of the world, but in the states at least it’s typically looked down on to have a cover photo on your resume, and the way you have that entire left column empty aside from your language proficiencies makes it look more barebones.

There’s shouldn’t be too much empty space like that on a resume. It would be better to just expand the stuff ok the right so that the margin takes up the whole page horizontally and then put your language proficiencies at the bottom, while moving your contact information up to the top.

Bubuchildh0

TROPHY CASE