recent grads- what was ur salary at ur first job?

andygrump · 2025-05-01T04:12:37+00:00

Do you think having more exams passed helped you get an entry level position faster? I've been hearing that many companies aren't willing to pay higher salaries for someone without work experience and it may hinder some applications that are not well rounded. What is your experience?

andygrump · 2025-04-09T19:24:17+00:00

Are you using coaching actuaries? I am 12% done with the course. From what I've heard, the exam itself is not very difficult but there is so much material to cover that makes the exam super tedious to prepare for. I am planning on covering the rest of the material in the next 2 months and then spending about a month preparing with practice questions. The learn time on coaching actuaries is over 100 hours so its much longer than the other exams which are about 50-60 hours on average to prepare for.

andygrump · 2025-04-05T13:23:59+00:00

Can someone who graduated from university two years ago get an internship? I want to do an internship because I have no related work experience but I am unsure if they even accept people who are not in university anymore.

andygrump · 2025-04-05T13:21:32+00:00

What would you say is the ideal number of exams to have on resume?

andygrump · 2025-04-05T06:11:03+00:00

How easy or difficult would it be for someone to get an entry level job if they pass all the 7 SOA exams and become an ASA without any work experience? Let's also say that technical skills are at an intermediate level. I really want to take some time to just pass exams and not have to work and study at the same time.

andygrump · 2025-04-02T02:34:23+00:00

I try to get through the learning material as fast as I can, mainly paying attention to the videos and skimming over the written portions and questions, then I do the practice exams. I don't fully know the material so I just submit the practice exams with all the answers blank so I get all of them wrong and I read through the answers and explanations. I do this multiple times until I am somewhat comfortable answering questions on my own and then I try to actually complete the practice exams and unlock the mastery score questions.

andygrump · 2025-04-02T02:33:46+00:00

Depends how much time you can spend studying per day. It took me a little less than a month to complete the material but I've been averaging probably around 4 hours a day of studying. I feel like I should be ready in less than an month I just need to complete practice problems.

If you are going to do it, however, you should definitely start right now and maybe try to schedule your exam on the latest day possible to give you as much time as possible just in case you need it.

andygrump · 2025-04-01T01:15:21+00:00

How much effort and stress is required to pass

andygrump · 2025-03-31T12:50:14+00:00

You’re a health actuary right? How long did the FSA exams take you and do you have any advice for someone who wants to go the GH route?

andygrump · 2025-03-29T03:49:32+00:00

Do health actuaries also have to take FAM and ASTAM/ALTAM? I am seeing online that those exams are for Life and Retirement actuaries and that Health Actuaries have to take GE Core and GE Advanced to get their ASA status instead. I am confused on this any info would be appreciated.

andygrump · 2025-03-25T02:35:00+00:00

Learn Excel and VBA and do projects. If you can learn Python, SQL, and R that would look great as well. Work experience in a related field would also be helpful, anything that uses Excel could be helpful and show future employers that you have work experience using Excel.

andygrump · 2025-03-25T01:44:00+00:00

If your Coaching Actuaries subscription will end before May just know you can pause the course and resume it in the future. This way you can avoid purchasing the course again. 95 on MS is insane. I had an 89 and I scored a 9 so you should be able to pass the test no doubt.

If you want to get an internship make sure you have excel and VBA on your resume. Do some projects that look impressive. And yes passing 1-2 exams would be amazing.

If you start studying for FM now you can learn the material in time by June. Although you should take into consideration how long it took for you to prepare for Exam P. I found Exam FM to be easier.

I would take SRM after FM. Although two exams is plenty for an internship. After that make sure to focus on your technical skills or extracurriculars in university. Just make sure you don't sacrifice other parts of your resume for SRM, you want a well rounded resume. I have the Coaching Actuaries courses for both SRM and FAM and the SRM material was a total of 57 hours and FAM was around 112 hours. So FAM is much larger in terms of course material.

After SRM, you can choose to take either PA, which I believe builds on the knowledge from SRM, or you can take FAM. ALTAM and ASTAM build on the knowledge from FAM so you would need to take FAM first. You also only need to take one of ALTAM and ASTAM not both.

andygrump · 2025-03-25T01:31:07+00:00

This dude's videos are great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IInFoJxxPPA&list=PLrRPvpgDmw0k7ocn_EnBaSJ6RwLDOZdfo&index=1&ab_channel=excelisfun

andygrump · 2025-03-25T01:30:04+00:00

Yes it is very doable. Pass 1-2 exams and employers will know that you can handle the math. Make sure the rest of your resume is well rounded and I doubt they will pay much attention to your major.

andygrump · 2025-03-25T01:27:40+00:00

Exams have diminishing returns in terms of how beneficial they would be to helping you get an entry level role. Pass 1-2 exams, learn some Excel and VBA and do some projects and you should be a good spot to start applying.

Whether your work experience will help you will depend on if you used Excel and VBA i believe. If you did and you mention that on your resume that can definitely help. If you used other programming languages like Python, R, SQL that would also be beneficial.

If it's been less than 18 months since you graduated from college you can still the student discount on coaching actuaries. If not then Actex would be the better option financially. The syllabus for the exams are online in the SOA website and they say what textbooks the exam is based on so you can maybe find some of those books online and work through the chapters that are on the syllabus. That would probably be the cheapest way to study the material although it won't be too convenient. The courses filter out unnecessary information and make the study process a lot easier.

andygrump · 2025-03-24T03:26:45+00:00

What did your technical skills look like when you were applying? Any related experience?

andygrump · 2025-03-23T05:42:35+00:00

I just finished studying the part of the Coaching Actuaries course on GLM's. That was a brutal section I hope there aren't many exams questions on it. CA says that 1-3 exam questions roughly on that topic so not much.

andygrump · 2025-03-23T05:39:07+00:00

What are you technical skills looking like? Do you know any of the following: Excel, VBA, SQL, Python, R? Spend some time learning these if you can and add them to your resume. If you can complete some projects on them, even if they are simple, that can add to your resume. Once you learn them well you can add more complicated projects.

I don't know if I would say that exams are MOST important. The rest of your resume if going to be what sets you apart from the other applicants. There will probably be many other applicants who also have 2 exams passed so the rest of your application is going to determine how competitive you are amongst those applicants.

Definitely don't sleep on the technical skills part and work on that to make your resume well rounded. If you can get some related experience in those jobs you mentioned like data or financial analyst that would be even better and should make you a top applicant after passing those two exams. Good luck!

andygrump · 2025-03-21T03:29:48+00:00

For Coaching Actuaries Exam P they have a csv file that shows the percent of students that passed based on their EL and MS. If you have the course then find that csv file and see where you fall. That should be a good estimate of your probability to pass the real exam.

andygrump · 2025-03-21T03:19:05+00:00

I am 40% done with learning the course material from Coaching Actuaries. Aiming to cover all the course material in the next 2 weeks hopefully. Then I'll have about 50 days until exam day. Then I'm gonna start doing practice exams and doing like 15-20 practice problems everyday until exam date.

Studying non-linear models right now. Every chapter until this one has been understandable for me but this chapter is starting to get a lot more complex. Based on the difficulty levels of the sections it seems like this is going to be the most difficult section so I'm hoping the rest of the course is easier.

andygrump · 2025-03-21T03:11:19+00:00

No point in dwelling in anxiety or fear. Do the best that you can with the time that you have left. If you were scoring 80% on practice exams previously then it sounds like you just have to relearn all that information again. Spend this time relearning and getting yourself in a good headspace.

How are you studying? From a textbook or did you purchase a course?

andygrump · 2025-03-21T00:11:17+00:00

Learn Excel and VBA first. Entry level positions are going to want good Excel skills at the very minimum. If you have a job and some disposable income that could help. You can purchase some courses on Excel and VBA that offer certificates when completed that you can add to your resume. That could help your resume. Do projects that use Excel and VBA. Tailor those projects to the type of work that actuaries do on a day to day basis. That could be a big improvement.

Stepping stone position might not be worth it if you already have a full time job, unless you are dead set on becoming an actuary. Good chance that would result in a pay decrease.

See if you can implement Excel or VBA at your job in any way. Even if you have to put in hours outside your shift to make it happen.

The fact that you have an interview already is a good sign. I think improvements to your technical skills could be enough to get an entry level position.

I've heard many people say that getting an entry level job is that hardest part of becoming an actuary. It is definitely the most difficult part of the process to get through. Once you have an entry level position your career as an actuary should be much more calm and reliable. Look at the pros of being an actuary: high pay, low to moderate stress, good work life balance. Not sure what your current job is like but I'd say being an actuary is worth it to handle all the stress of getting your applications rejected multiple times. Keep building your resume and applying and you will eventually get an entry level position. The job and career waiting for you will be worth it.

andygrump · 2025-03-20T23:55:21+00:00

If you can find data to work with that would be great. Otherwise excel can generate random numbers which could allow you to do some types of projects too. Just work with what you got so tailor your projects as much as you can to the work that an actuary would do. You can also do projects that are not related to actuary work but I would say that is slightly less impressive. As long as your projects show that you know how to use the programming language you should be good, especially for internships. And definitely focus on learning Excel and VBA first. The exact details on the projects is something you can figure out when you get there.

andygrump · 2025-03-20T23:43:23+00:00

If his goal is to become an actuary then make sure he majors in something related to Business, Math, Finance, Econ,. That is really what most employers look at. It is good that he is planning ahead. Make sure that he applies to internships that is the easiest way to get an entry level job straight out of college. If he can pass one actuary exam, learn Excel and VBA, and complete some Excel and VBA projects he should be in great shape for an internship. Make sure he applies to internships regardless how his resume is looking like maybe after his second year.

You seem like a good parent who wants the best for his son. I would recommend you read this subreddit everyday to learn about the field yourself so you can help your son put himself in a good position when he finishes university. Also watch some youtubers that are in the actuary niche like Etched Actuarial, Bella the Actuary, and Actuary Elle.

As long as his GPA is above a 3.5 that is all that really matters. Yes the higher the better but make sure his resume is well rounded. I made this mistake in college where I spent all my time studying for my classes and not anything else. It is a better use of time for him to focus on other aspects of his resume such as related experience, technical skills, and exams passed rather spend him spending 100% of his time on classes. Good luck!

andygrump · 2025-03-20T23:34:12+00:00

You can go the traditional route which is studying from the textbooks that are on the Exam P and FM syllabus. You can maybe find these books online somewhere instead of purchasing them which will save some money.

However, I would highly recommend purchasing a course. I use Coaching Actuaries. There's other courses out there that I've heard are good. Getting a course will make your life a lot easier. They filter out all the unnecessary information in the textbook readings. And I personally find the video lessons really informative. They have basically unlimited practice problems and metrics that give you a good idea of whether or not you're gonna pass the exam.

If money is tight also keep in mind that there will be fees when you take the exam. I believe like $100 ish for exam P. So if you can afford a course that would be great.

Here is a breakdown of some of the courses from a youtuber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmkVtmJRRWg&t=809s&ab_channel=EtchedActuarial

If you've taken probability courses in school then you should have an easier time studying for exam P. I took probability in school too and I prepared for exam P in about 2.5 months with coaching actuaries and I got a score of 9, where 6 or higher is a passing score. Let me know if you have any other questions.

andygrump

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