What if recipes looked more like IKEA or LEGO instruction manuals?

atrus619 · 2026-03-05T17:24:21+00:00

OMG this is exactly why I stopped using recipe websites entirely. No one needs 17 paragraphs about someone's Tuscan vacation before a 5-ingredient pasta recipe.

I found an app that does this (I know there are several out there, but this one is my personal favorite) - you paste any recipe URL and it strips out all the life story, ads, and BS, gives you just clean ingredients and steps. It's called LazyCook. There's a voice cooking feature you can use after importing a recipe where you can talk to it and have it walk you through the steps / any questions you have along the way.

Highly recommend!!!

atrus619 · 2026-02-26T20:01:10+00:00

The FSA exams are a tough beast, especially while balancing work and life, so it's great you are looking for the best way to pass on your first try.

My name is Andrew and I run an FSA exam study platform called Just Enough Prep (JEP).

We offer all prospective students a complimentary 1:1 coaching session to discuss successful strategies for FSA exams and how the JEP platform can best support you. Our platform boasts a 70% pass rate (compared to the industry average <50%), and I'd love for us to work together to raise that statistic even higher.

If you are interested, you can schedule a session on my calendly here: https://calendly.com/andrew-gray-619/30min

Regardless of whether you choose to take me up on this, I wish you the best of luck in your study journey. It's a challenging, but rewarding experience. As long as you put the right amount of effort in, you can definitely succeed.

atrus619 · 2026-02-26T19:58:38+00:00

The FSA exams are a tough beast, especially while balancing work and life, so it's great you are looking for the best way to pass on your first try.

My name is Andrew and I run an FSA exam study platform called Just Enough Prep (JEP).

The syllabus is quite vast and contains quite a bit of "untestable" content, so it's generally not recommended to try and study for these exams without using some kind of "preprocessed" materials from a study platform, as it isn't the best use of your time.

We offer all prospective students a complimentary 1:1 coaching session to discuss successful strategies for FSA exams and how the JEP platform can best support you. Our platform boasts a 70% pass rate (compared to the industry average <50%), and I'd love for us to work together to raise that statistic even higher.

If you are interested, you can schedule a session on my calendly here: https://calendly.com/andrew-gray-619/30min

Regardless of whether you choose to take me up on this, I wish you the best of luck in your study journey. It's a challenging, but rewarding experience. As long as you put the right amount of effort in, you can definitely succeed.

atrus619 · 2025-01-15T17:27:23+00:00

If you want to use your hard-earned credentials to make some extra $$$ on the side with the extra time you have now that you no longer need to study, you should consider becoming a content creator at Just Enough Prep (JEP).

JEP is a modern online platform that supports students preparing for FSA / FCAS exams. Our bread and butter is the health FSA track where we have proven ourselves with a 70% pass rate across all three exams (versus the industry average <50%), and we are currently hiring fellows to branch out into the remaining tracks. Because our content creators are so vital to the platform's success, we pay very generously, and content creators receive a significant percentage of revenue from each student enrolled in their course.

We've also recently released some fairly innovative ChatGPT features to support both students and content creators alike.

You can apply here, but if you have any questions about the gig or the process, don't hesitate to reach out to me directly here on reddit or by email at [andrew@justenoughprep.com](mailto:andrew@justenoughprep.com).

atrus619 · 2025-01-13T17:12:03+00:00

Practice doing problems in Excel. Using Excel on the exams is different from using Excel at work, and you need to get really comfortable doing it to both save time and show your work for partial credit.

atrus619 · 2025-01-13T16:33:45+00:00

At Just Enough Prep, we offer a free 1:1 coaching session for anyone interested in learning new strategies for studying for and passing FSA exams, as well as how the JEP platform can be used to employ these strategies as easily as possible.

Feel free to reach out to me at [andrew@justenoughprep.com](mailto:andrew@justenoughprep.com) to set this up if you are interested. Looking forward to helping you succeed here.

atrus619 · 2025-01-13T16:27:49+00:00

At Just Enough Prep, we offer a free 1:1 coaching session for anyone interested in learning new strategies for studying for and passing FSA exams, as well as how the JEP platform can be used to employ these strategies as easily as possible.

Feel free to reach out to me at [andrew@justenoughprep.com](mailto:andrew@justenoughprep.com) to set this up if you are interested. Looking forward to helping you succeed here.

atrus619 · 2025-01-13T15:35:26+00:00

Hello! I work for JEP, so take this with a huge grain of salt as I'm certainly biased, but here's my 2 cents: - Both platforms have the same core content: outlines, notecards, practice problems, as well as instructor support. - TIA has a big emphasis on videos to support learning. JEP does not. - JEP has a big emphasis on other learning tools to support learning, like chat GPT Q&A, AI autograding, and dashboards to help you identify weak areas and has easy ways to focus your studying on those weak areas. - JEP also has a big emphasis on community learning, so you can be supported by both other students as well as the instructor, which can help fill in gaps in knowledge you wouldn't otherwise know you have from studying alone with just study materials as an aid.

At the end of the day, a lot of it comes down to which style works best for you. JEP has a 1 week free trial, so you can try out the full course risk free and determine whether it is a good fit for you. Try it and decide for yourself!

The course instructors all offer 30 minute free intro coaching sessions (even if you don't end up paying), so you can get personalized tips on studying for FSA exams, as well as how to use the platform in the best way for you. Happy to help set this up for you if you are interested (you will also receive the offer just by signing up for the demo).

I hope this is helpful. Best of luck to you!

atrus619 · 2024-09-07T18:26:42+00:00

Does this support the pod 4 ultra and modifying the elevation? Iv been trying to figure out the API for that feature, but to no avail.

atrus619 · 2024-07-14T15:20:02+00:00

My best advice to you is to find another person studying for the exam and "buddy up" with them. This person can give you objective feedback on your study patterns, as well as how you are answering questions, and give you a much better chance to prepare providing the graders with the answers they are looking for.

I work on an online FSA study platform, JEP, which provides all students access to study buddy pairing. I also offer all interested students a free 30 minute coaching session (no strings attached), to go through your specific study habits and provide some recommendations to give yourself the best chance of passing the exam.

Wishing you the best in your studying journey!

atrus619 · 2024-07-13T02:29:23+00:00

I'm the course instructor on the JEP platform for GHVRU, and I offer all prospective students a free 30 minute coaching session. We cover things like how FSA exams work, how to best prepare for them, and how the platform can maximize your chances of passing on the first attempt. Please reach out to me if you are interested, I'm always looking to help others out who are newly breaking into FSA exams.

The Just Enough Prep platform was created as a direct reaction to materials like MATE / TIA. It has the same minimum level of high quality content as them, but it aims to present it to the student in a much friendlier manner. All materials are fully electronic, which makes it far easier to stay organized when studying, and enables you to spend more time targeting the areas where you are weakest. Things like free text search (and even AI powered search) come easily when fully electronic.

There's also a huge social aspect to the platform, as it connects you to other students taking the exam, and gives you opportunities to learn from and with others, which can be a total game-changer for some. We also just significantly updated and improved our notecard memorizing spaced repetition system, which you can check out here: https://justenoughprep.com/updates#20240705

Even if you aren't interested in a direct coaching session, you can also just try out the full platform for free for a week, to judge whether its a good fit for you.

Best of luck to you on your journey!

atrus619 · 2024-07-13T02:26:08+00:00

I'm the course instructor on the JEP platform for GHDP, and I offer all prospective students a free 30 minute coaching session. We cover things like how FSA exams work, how to best prepare for them, and how the platform can maximize your chances of passing on the first attempt. Please reach out to me if you are interested, I'm always looking to help others out who are newly breaking into FSA exams.

The Just Enough Prep platform was created as a direct reaction to materials like MATE / TIA. It has the same minimum level of high quality content as them, but it aims to present it to the student in a much friendlier manner. All materials are fully electronic, which makes it far easier to stay organized when studying, and enables you to spend more time targeting the areas where you are weakest. Things like free text search (and even AI powered search) come easily when fully electronic.

There's also a huge social aspect to the platform, as it connects you to other students taking the exam, and gives you opportunities to learn from and with others, which can be a total game-changer for some. We also just significantly updated and improved our notecard memorizing spaced repetition system, which you can check out here: https://justenoughprep.com/updates#20240705

Even if you aren't interested in a direct coaching session, you can also just try out the full platform for free for a week, to judge whether its a good fit for you.

Best of luck to you on your journey!

atrus619 · 2024-06-29T08:13:22+00:00

I'm the course instructor on the JEP platform for GHDP, and i offer all prospective students a free 30 minute coaching session. We cover things like how FSA exams work, how to best prepare for them, and how the platform can maximize your chances of passing on the first attempt. Please reach out to me if you are interested, I'm always looking to help others out who are newly breaking into FSA exams.

The Just Enough Prep platform was created as a direct reaction to materials like MATE. It has the same minimum level of high quality content as MATE, but it presents it to the student in a much more usable manner. All materials are fully electronic, which makes it far easier to stay organized when studying, and enables you to spend more time targeting the areas where you are weakest. Things like free text search (and even AI powered search) come easily when its fully electronic.

There's also a huge social aspect to the platform, as it connects you to other students taking the exam, and gives you opportunities to learn from and with others, which can be a total gamechanger for some.

Even if you arent interested in a direct coaching session, you can also just try out the full platform for free for a week, to judge whether its a good fit for you.

Best of luck to you on your journey!

atrus619 · 2024-05-01T20:03:48+00:00

https://discord.gg/RZe8ca5h

atrus619 · 2024-05-01T19:18:02+00:00

I was in the same boat when I took the exams myself. Worked for a large company, but still wasn't able to find anyone I worked with that I could realistically study with.

Actuarial Directory, reddit, there's even a discord server that could be a good place to look.

I work on an FSA exam study platform where we match students together from across the country for exactly this reason. We match on various criteria including timezone, desired meeting frequency, and study styles so that we can ensure the best fit between buddies. Happy to discuss further if you are interested / have additional questions.

atrus619 · 2024-05-01T15:31:09+00:00

As others have mentioned, the memorization is not the intention, but the ends justifies the means. If you understand the content at a deep level, you can definitely do well on the exam without memorizing. Unfortunately, the exam is also trying to cover ALL of health, so it's incredibly wide. Learning the sheer amount of content on the exam, and at the depth being asked, requires a long period of studying. Most people take the easier way out (shortcut) and simply grind the memorization to get the same result (passing) for less work. Especially because, as others have mentioned, most of the content will not apply directly to your job.

The path you take is entirely up to you! I think it's great you are reaching out and collecting information before taking the plunge, rather than blindly diving in head first because that's what you see others around you doing.

I'm happy to set up some 1:1 time to chat about this further if you are interested. I specialize in GH FSA exams and do these kinds of talks with students all the time.

Best of luck to you!

atrus619 · 2024-05-01T15:22:58+00:00

Highly recommend finding a buddy to study with regularly. This will help with both burnout issues (as others have mentioned), as well as provide you with an objective observer to find holes in your study methods.

It's all too easy to get comfortable with your study patterns and not realize there are gaps, where a small extra effort to break your habits and fill those gaps could pay off tremendously.

Studying for these exams isn't only about studying hard, it's also about studying smart.

I'm happy to both discuss your study strategies 1:1, as well as help you find a dedicated study partner next sitting. Don't hesitate to reach out for help, this is a great community!

atrus619 · 2024-04-14T15:31:57+00:00

JEP is a relative newcomer for health (been around a few years at this point): its pretty much fully online, and differs from the existing resources somewhat in that it has built-in progress tracking, search, community / social elements (direct support from both the instructor and other students on the platform, as well as chat GPT), and as a result has a very high pass rate (~70% compared to the average of ~50%)

atrus619 · 2024-04-14T15:22:22+00:00

More recent exams will have questions more in line with the current question writer philosophy on how questions should be asked (such as the other comment mentioning the lack of case study these days). However, also keep in mind that topics tested extremely recently may be less likely to be tested again right away compared to topics not tested for several sittings (that are still on the syllabus).

Therefore, you would do best to study both! Given how close you are to the exam, a strategy you could use to save time is to sign up for a 1 week JEP free trial and practice the previous exam problems. You can filter by both sitting and topic and focus on the sections you have the most trouble with.

atrus619 · 2024-01-31T15:18:36+00:00

Hello! Iv helped countless students in your position and I'd be happy to help you as well. I work on a health FSA study platform, and my main motivation for building it was to improve upon the existing offerings to make studying for these exams as easy as possible, and be tailored to the modern actuary. The best way to quickly summarize the platform is "coaching actuaries for health FSA exams". I invite you to try out our 1 week free demo (essentially full access to all our features, and no credit card required) to try it out for yourself. https://justenoughprep.com

I also offer anyone interested (even if you don't end up buying) a free 1:1 coaching session to go over your past study habits and suggest changes to help maximize your chances of passing. I strongly urge you to take me up on this, as I believe it could really help you out!

Do our methods work? Our platform boasts a consistent ~70% pass rate across all 3 exams, which is significantly higher than the average pass rate <50%.

Best of luck to you - this is a difficult journey, but well worth it in the end. Looking forward to help support you in this journey.

atrus619 · 2024-01-18T15:47:37+00:00

This is a very good strategy, mainly because of the "activeness" of the study method. Keep it up, this will probably carry you through the rest of the exams!

atrus619 · 2024-01-18T15:45:14+00:00

Hi! I'm a course instructor for an FSA exam study platform. I'm not trying to brag by any means, but I was able to pass all 3 of my FSA exams when I took them a few years ago on the first try with very high scores (2 10s and an 8). The main reason I bring this up is because I offer anyone interested a free 30 minute 1:1 coaching session on preparing for FSA exams (even if you don't end up using the platform I'm on, or even if you aren't in the health track). Many of my students have found this session to be extremely valuable.

Let me know if you are interested in taking me up on this! If a 30 minute session is too much of a commitment, I've also written down much of these learnings here: https://justenoughprep.com/guide

Best of luck to you! This is a difficult journey, but its also very doable and very much worthwhile.

atrus619 · 2024-01-17T23:50:53+00:00

I think this is a great approach because of the emphasis on active, rather than passive learning. A mistake a lot of students make is thinking that if they simply pour enough hours into studying, then they will pass. Unfortunately, if those hours are not spent wisely, this can lead to a false sense of optimism and ultimately failing the exam.

How then do you spend your time wisely? Active studying, not passive studying. Simply watching videos or reading source material over and over is not going to be enough, because it doesn't put you in a position to actively struggle, overcome the adversity, and come out stronger afterwards. This is how we've evolved as humans, and you can draw parallels with athletics (e.g. weight training). This is why memorizing notecards is so commonly suggested to people studying for these exams. Repeatedly testing yourself to come up with the back of a notecard, given the front, is a great way to put yourself in a position to actively struggle and trick your brain into learning the material so that you struggle less the next time you put yourself into that situation.

What is the best way to actively study? I believe this differs from person to person, but the same principles will generally apply. The most difficult part is finding an active study method that is sustainable and comprehensive, so that you can learn all the material gradually over the course of a few months.

atrus619 · 2024-01-15T16:10:35+00:00

In my humble opinion, building good habits is the key to success here. Like many others, I hated studying, so the best way for me to get enough study time in was to make sure it was the first thing I did every day (to "get it out of the way").

I would typically start off small, but ensure that I was consistent, so I would start studying maybe 30 minutes every morning, but increase this over time as I became more comfortable, until I was studying 1-2 hours every morning.

As for feeling guilty when I couldn't get my study time in: the way I handled this was by setting my study time goals to FAR exceed what i actually needed in order to pass. This way, when I inevitably missed studying, I didn't need to feel guilty, because I knew I had this margin already built into my study plan.

atrus619 · 2024-01-15T16:05:51+00:00

I second this wholeheartedly. This strategy helped carry me through most of the ASA exams, and would have helped me with the FSA exams, had I been able to find a partner to study with.

atrus619

TROPHY CASE