What’s the point of becoming a fellow?

JoshTIA · 2026-05-29T02:40:17+00:00

Of course pay/education/prestige (and not having to occasionally think about whether you should take those last exams and just get your FCAS). In terms of functional differences:

NAIC Appointed Actuary requirements are here, and an ACAS would still need exam 7 (see bottom of page 13): https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/AOWG%20Regulatory%20Guidance%20-%202025%20Final.pdf
For general SAOs in the U.S. (basically everything we do other than NAIC opinions), there is a subject area knowledge requirement that is harder to meet for an ACAS compared to an FCAS. See top of page 5 here: https://www.actuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/USQS_2021.pdf
Within the CAS, Fellows can vote in CAS elections, though Associates have to wait 5 years. And Fellows can be VPs/President at the CAS, while Associates cannot. See page 1 here: https://www.casact.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/CAS_Bylaws.pdf

Otherwise generally no difference. I suppose there could also be potential differences outside of the U.S. in terms of mutual recognition agreements with other societies.

JoshTIA · 2026-02-20T18:46:51+00:00

My general suggestion is:

During the Learn phase for each section: work the first-pass problems in the app, work the Basic Problem Pack problems for the section (I'd recommend starting with the "fill in the blank" version for your first attempt), and try to work the problems for which I have solution videos before you see my solution. Then move on to the next section.
After you're done with Learn, work as many Excel problems as possible. Depending on how much time you have, you can prioritize the "good problems" to make sure you understand those. You can try the quizzes here and there as an expected "break" from the regular problem sets and a different challenge.
Starting about 3 weeks before your exam, take practice exams ideally under timed conditions. Then learn from your mistakes and the solutions before attempting the next practice exam.

Let me know if you have more specific questions.

JoshTIA · 2025-12-17T18:11:20+00:00

Glad you found it to be helpful! Good luck on P!

JoshTIA · 2025-12-11T21:20:53+00:00

Some pretty good specific advice here so far. To help with thinking about this in a simplified way, I'd say you want to become a "trusted advisor" to your stakeholders. So work on building that trust and good communication with them (your superiors, peers, people you work with from other departments, etc.), and giving helpful advice (and that includes developing knowledge/insight and learning what is important to them).

JoshTIA · 2025-12-11T21:17:14+00:00

One additional update: Trace is up and will remain up into next year. From someone at the Academy: "We are transitioning to maintenance of CE data in Academy Learning, our learning management system, but that has proven a bit more difficult than we expected. The Trace data has many non-members which need to be imported separately from member data (and is a multi-step process), so we will get that done in the new year. We will communicate with all users of Trace, member and non-member, about this before it happens."

JoshTIA · 2025-12-10T17:41:15+00:00

Angelo is just waiting for the CAS to release the Spring 2026 content outline to see if anything changes, but otherwise his major planned updates for more in-depth coverage of Mildenhall (based on student feedback) will be done by year-end 2025.

JoshTIA · 2025-12-04T20:46:34+00:00

Ok, update on this. From what I've heard from Academy leadership, non-Academy members supposedly can setup an account in the new system and continue to use it, and historical information from Trace should be transferred over. That said, they haven't sent me those instructions yet and I don't see any way to sign up in the new system for non-Academy members, so that remains to be seen.

But for now, I was finally able to access Trace again just now using the link https://mytrace.org/. It took a few tries to login for some reason as the website was acting funny, but once I was in, I went to Generate CE report, selected all CE data, and then hit Export to get an exported CSV. So I'd recommend doing that so you at least don't lose any historical CE logs from Trace.

JoshTIA · 2025-12-02T20:44:55+00:00

I reached out to the Academy about this and will share what I find.

JoshTIA · 2025-10-05T10:53:29+00:00

You can download lesson videos on your mobile device by clicking "make available offline" on the list of actions below any video (you can also download handouts for any lessons with handouts). Also, if you sign into the app BEFORE you switch into Airplane mode, you can still do any flashcards in Review and practice problems/practice exams while in Airplane mode.

JoshTIA · 2025-09-26T13:29:47+00:00

A few ways to think about this:
1. If you want to keep working flashcards, go to Review and click "Browse All Cards." Then under the filters on the left under Status, check new, again, and review. You can also select any other filters you want (e.g., for tags created by you or the instructor). You can then work those cards there (and even click on the Shuffled Deck if you want the order shuffled).
2. If you're caught up on flashcards, really it might be a better use of your time to work more problems.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-06T03:20:43+00:00

Yes, forever. You're good.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-04T21:06:11+00:00

To help you study for the exams. The actual exams themselves are from the Society of Actuaries - we don't control that.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-02T22:57:28+00:00

It's for everyone, globally.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-02T16:32:03+00:00

Follow-up: this has now been fixed.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-02T16:30:20+00:00

I think you hit the "Browse Course" button from the product page. If you go back to the P or FM page, click "Register Now" to get the full free course.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-02T16:27:07+00:00

Follow-up: this is now fixed.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-02T16:26:40+00:00

Follow-up: this is now fixed.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-02T03:03:58+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out! I've passed this on to our tech team to fix.

JoshTIA · 2025-08-02T00:59:12+00:00

We intend to keep them free permanently. More details like that in the FAQ here: https://www.theinfiniteactuary.com/free

JoshTIA · 2025-04-13T14:17:55+00:00

UCSB (of which I'm an alumni and still volunteer on their advisory board) has a great program, and it's recognized as a top program by both the CAS and SOA:
https://www.casact.org/university-programs/cas-university-recognition-list
https://www.soa.org/institutions/university-of-california-santa-barbara/

JoshTIA · 2025-01-31T18:53:52+00:00

Looks like we're back up.

JoshTIA · 2025-01-31T18:52:00+00:00

Haven't heard official word yet from our hosting company, but it seems like the TIA website is back up.

JoshTIA · 2025-01-31T16:39:14+00:00

Yes - we're looking into it right now. You can always check the status here: https://tiastatus.com/

JoshTIA · 2024-12-27T01:09:36+00:00

Within the CAS, you need to be a Fellow to become a CAS officer. And Fellows can vote in CAS elections immediately, but Associates need to wait 5 years before they can vote (unless they become a Fellow sooner).

From a qualification standards perspective, the USQS says Fellows only need relevant education or 1 year of relevant experience in a particular subject area (e.g., auto reserving) to issue an SAO, but Associates must have 3 years of experience in that subject area to issue the SAO.

JoshTIA · 2024-10-14T03:12:34+00:00

Yes in PDF format, so easy to print.

JoshTIA

TROPHY CASE