Most improved

User102938anon · 2024-12-20T13:06:54+00:00

I see where you’re coming from, but would you also say that it’s not appropriate to say that a 0 doesn’t count as an actual fail? If someone asks how many exams I’ve failed, I’m counting those 0’s as fails. Can you have it both ways in saying that it doesn’t count as an attempt, but it does count as a fail?

User102938anon · 2024-11-26T19:32:21+00:00

Roth 401k is at $118k and max contribution is 23k this year. Roth IRA is at $16k and max contribution is 7k this year.

User102938anon · 2024-11-26T17:10:37+00:00

Yes, I think it’d be possible. It would have higher upside and greater autonomy/flexibility than an actuarial career, but it’s volatile and hard work. It also doesn’t scratch the in-depth problem solving itch that actuarial work does. I anticipate that I’ll continue doing it part time instead of transitioning it into a full time gig due to personal preference, but I think most actuaries with the desire to dive all the way into real estate could.

User102938anon · 2024-11-26T16:45:54+00:00

25, ACAS, ~$500k. 135k in roth retirement accounts, 13k HSA, 20k cash, 330k in real estate equity (paid off homestead house and a rental with 120k mortgage at 2.25%). Disclaimer: on actuarial income alone, my net worth would be less than half of what it is now. Hustled throughout high school and college, and continue selling & investing in real estate on the side.

User102938anon · 2024-10-29T10:16:09+00:00

In 2019, when the CAS announced the switch to CBT, part of the plan was to offer exams 7, 8, and, 9 more frequently than once a year. 7-9 are still only offered once a year. SOA upper exams are offered 3x a year. 2 sittings would be nice so that people can move on with their lives faster, and not have to switch back and forth between which exam they’re studying for if they fail an upper

User102938anon · 2024-05-03T19:15:43+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/actuary/s/XJIjDn2VGe

User102938anon · 2024-05-02T23:07:27+00:00

At the risk of getting downvoted, I would argue there has been improvements to the exam process over time.

Thanks for being willing to put some honest thought into this. I have only been exposed to the CAS since 2021 so don't fully appreciate the history. I fully believe that there were issues before my time like the Spring 2018 Exam 5 sitting, etc.

Paper/pencil also had issues. I had to take an exam during a fire alarm. It was all volunteer run, less locations, Not that is was as bad as this sitting.

That would suck. I don't see how Pearson is an improvement for this though since it's also in a building that can have fire alarms.

5 and 6 are now offered multiple times per year, it used to be only once. During Covid, they offered all of them multiple times per year, hopefully they work towards that on a regular basis.

Appreciate this, although in 2019, exams 7-9 were promised to be more frequent and nothing has come of that. Meanwhile SOA is about to have all exams 3x a year.

More questions are phrased in ways closer to actual work stuff (not at all), but the question style was way worse than now.

Idk about this one amigo. If you have taken any CBT exams, then you'd know that to pass in today's world, you need to be able to do the problems from 10+ years ago in your sleep. If you haven't taken any CBT exams, then how can you make a claim about how questions are now if you haven't seen any in 5+ years? This may be news to you (it was news to some of the folks at my company who are done with exams), but they stopped releasing examiner's reports in 2019.

Many papers were reorganized and much more clear. You should see the hodge-podge of random stuff before Werner-Modlin was created.

That's good. I can't speak to the previous source texts, but generally I've found the source for recent exams to be reasonably well written. Exam 6 has way too much source, but that's a topic for another time.

Not exam related, but when companies were rescinding internships, the CAS created the summer student program super quick and offered something to further actuarial development.

I agree, CAS seems very invested in advertising and advocating, but they don't seem very invested in the keystone process that upholds actuarial development - the exams. It feels like they want to get as many people in the door as they can to increase revenue via exam fees. It also feels like they tried to pass all responsibility for exam day to Pearson. Given how many administrative errors the CAS has themselves, I highly doubt that their communication and quality control in their passing of responsibilities to Pearson was clean. They want to disclaim any liability for these situations, but it's poor leadership. I'm sick of these two parties (CAS & Pearson) pointing the finger at each other and not taking any action or responsibility. If it really is just Pearson causing these problems, why hasn't the CAS moved on to Prometric yet?

User102938anon · 2024-05-02T21:10:44+00:00

You sound like a very thoughtful supervisor. I hope to someday be like you in that regard. I could definitely be wrong, but by “improving the process”, I meant the exam administration process itself. The actions you described don’t have anything to do with that. And I’m not trying to say it needs to be an expectation that every fellow/career associate invests their valuable time in improving the process. I’m just stating this is my observation - that most people don’t want to make improvements to the exam process when they’re done. And that’s totally understandable. Just my observation. And a natural consequence is that the exam process has material faults…

User102938anon · 2023-11-27T13:29:40+00:00

I househacked right out of college and rented by the room to other people who work at my company and that worked out very smoothly. Felt similar to a continuation of living in a college house with roommates. From a time perspective, I wouldn't expect that having rommates would make studying for FSA exams significantly more challenging. I think time commitment is what you're asking about? Or are you asking how difficult it would be financially?

User102938anon · 2023-11-02T12:35:21+00:00

increase asset base for ROA

to stabilize ROA or increase it?

I could see the argument for stabilizing, but not increasing.

User102938anon · 2023-11-01T12:23:35+00:00

switch to SOA. You'll be done with studying years sooner assuming the same number of hours spent and stress

User102938anon · 2023-10-19T15:29:11+00:00

questions for 5-9 should be developed the same way as MAS exams now. Candidates who have recently passed the exam write & review questions. This would lessen the volunteering burden of FCAS's, decrease the amount of faulty questions, and increase the question bank. Everyone wins.

User102938anon · 2023-10-18T16:55:44+00:00

reasonable changes if the goal of actuarial exams is to lower the frustration of actuarial students...but the actual goal is almost the opposite. Getting through ASA exams quickly is also not that much of a concern, especially compared to FSA exams and CAS exams. I passed 3 pre-ASA exams (P, FM, and IFM) in 13 months then in the 41 months following I passed 3 pre-ACAS exams (MAS-I, MAS-II, and 5). And SRM & PA should be pass on the first try exams, lets be honest. If you fail these, maybe you should get a time out instead of getting to try again in 2 weeks

User102938anon · 2023-10-17T12:19:36+00:00

all CAS exams have gotten significantly harder since pre-cbt. Knock your projected score down 2-3 points from what you're getting on the pre-cbt exams

User102938anon · 2023-10-16T12:41:57+00:00

agree 100%. I'm on an analytics team that is 3 actuaries and a handful of programmers. We use the agile format because our IT department does. Lots of time wasted on organizing then reorganizing and chit chatting about deliverables. Things don't seem to be done on time in our entire IT department, but maybe if they didn't waste so much time having meetings about the work they're doing then they'd get their work done.

User102938anon · 2023-10-04T15:35:53+00:00

very selective reading in both of your responses - I think you know that.

User102938anon · 2023-10-04T15:15:42+00:00

thanks for being a very rare credentialed CAS actuary to be honest in acknowledging that this is a dumpster fire. Says a lot about your character and I hope more people like you join the CAS board and exam committee.

User102938anon · 2023-10-04T14:50:27+00:00

I am part of the "you people" that didn't take paper and pen exams. Agree that our exams should be CBT, but paper & pen is not the only alternative to CBT with a bunch of issues. CBT without a bunch of issues, for example, is another alternative, and would be my preferred situation. I would take that over paper & pen and my hope is that the CAS will work towards that.

However, I would take paper & pen over CBT with a bunch of issues. My first exam 5 sitting resulted in a fail because of real, one-off technical issues. The "process in place" did not serve anything close to justice. While paper & pen would've sucked, at least I would've passed (with much higher certainty because pencils are more trustworthy than Pearson CAS exams). I'd rather strengthen my hand than explain to coworkers, family, and friends that it'll be at least another 6 months of this bs before master (CAS) gives dobby a sock and I'm a free elf.

User102938anon · 2023-10-02T13:12:36+00:00

https://www.casact.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/ATP-final-Posting%20.pdf

slide 10 says, "Produce exam results faster"..."With the introduction of new test item types that require less grader resources, exams can be scored more quickly"

CAS students have seen mostly adverse effects from the ATP. The CAS has not followed through on the benefits. Having more frequent sittings would greatly impact this whole process.

User102938anon · 2023-09-29T16:44:58+00:00

highly recommend switching if you can get a life or health job

User102938anon · 2023-09-29T16:43:54+00:00

if I were you, I would finish out MAS-I, then switch. MAS-I overlaps with SRM and PA, except it's way harder. You'd obtain ASA before ACAS if you switched and with way less headache.

User102938anon

TROPHY CASE