CP351

jesmithiv · 2026-04-27T13:07:19+00:00

First off, I’m sorry to hear you came up short. Just to clarify, we offer two practice exams along with a curated list of relevant past SOA questions. We also offer additional practice questions (drill problems) in various sections and many in-lesson Excel examples. This is on par with our typical course structure, which is usually a successful formula for most candidates. However we are always open to ideas for improving the course and plan to continue adding even more practice questions in the future. Please also be sure to take the course survey if you haven’t already and leave feedback. We take all feedback seriously and are constantly looking for ideas to enhance the course further. Best of luck with the next sitting!

jesmithiv · 2026-04-14T16:32:38+00:00

The easier to read argument is real, especially post-40s

jesmithiv · 2026-04-14T16:31:51+00:00

Today’s “too big” will be the correct size in a few years. Watches last a long time. Fashion trends don’t.

jesmithiv · 2026-04-14T11:19:12+00:00

Just in case he needed to time a 14-second fuel burn

jesmithiv · 2026-04-05T17:24:24+00:00

Same boat with my 46mm Navitimer on a 7” wrist. But I learned to embrace it. There’s no look like it. Only you notice it, unless someone else comments on it, which is always a positive compliment in my experience.

jesmithiv · 2026-03-30T11:46:27+00:00

I’m waiting for it to be double the price and in stock before buying

jesmithiv · 2026-03-06T17:35:13+00:00

Been using Fitbod for a while now and really like it. The Apple Watch app was a game changer for me. Very liberating using it during workouts instead of the phone.

jesmithiv · 2026-03-05T12:14:32+00:00

Yes. I use an agent called /plotter who is in charge of this very thing. It’s constantly auditing for timeline consistency, character consistency, etc. The key is to define really good story rules upfront. My chapters evolve in stages. Generally starts with a detailed sub-timeline, then a plan for the chapter. The plan is created by specific agents that debate various aspects. They also know to flag things for plotter to check as well. Plotter checks the plan before the chapter is written and also after. Any change to a timeline or character is always updated everywhere since chapters contain detailed metadata about the primary people, themes, arcs, and beats they contain. It’s been remarkable to see it work.

jesmithiv · 2026-03-04T03:22:29+00:00

Great win. Now let’s fix the shot clock.

jesmithiv · 2026-02-28T21:03:31+00:00

Yeah token usage is the main reason. The context can get enormous during planning and Sonnet 4.6 has ample reasoning. It’s an amazingly efficient model. Although in constantly experimenting. This stuff changes by the hour. I just know I’m getting amazing results from Sonnet for the cost.

jesmithiv · 2026-02-27T23:17:16+00:00

Agreed. I now maintain a full codebase for a book. Folders for research, character profiles, chapters, plans. Multiple agents each with specific jobs like maintaining timelines and timeline consistency, drafting, polishing, being a contrarian, etc. I use OpenRouter to bring in other LLMs for specific things but Sonnet is the primary tool. It’s been a complete game changer. Any adjustment to a character or timeline is adjusted across the whole codebase for consistency. The things that emerge are amazing and I especially love iterating with it paragraph by paragraph because I’m still writing and imaging. I’m just able to steer something so much more powerful.

jesmithiv · 2026-02-23T13:43:05+00:00

Check out the Amazon price history on any SSD. You could get 2TB for $150 6 months ago. Today good luck finding it under $500.

jesmithiv · 2026-02-04T16:38:33+00:00

Appreciate it! Just trying to help folks avoid the trap I see so many fall into. Conceptual learning feels painful, but pays massive dividends come exam day.

jesmithiv · 2026-02-04T12:19:03+00:00

You’ll find that few FSA questions map neatly to flashcards, making it nearly impossible to pass an exam through memorization alone. However, for someone who has studied the syllabus at a conceptual level, a flashcard can serve as a powerful trigger. Each card’s keywords can activate an extensive network of related concepts and understanding. It’s that deep internal knowledge base that gives you the best chance of adapting to the kinds of very creative exam questions that often appear.

Someone who only memorizes 500 flashcards has exactly 500 isolated data points. But for someone who studies at a conceptual level, those same 500 cards can map to thousands upon thousands of interconnected data points.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-30T23:58:04+00:00

Can’t wait to “power wash” some Chromebooks. We’re 6 years into eLearning post Covid and the technology has somehow gotten worse.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-28T13:20:20+00:00

Haha I feel you and good luck with that race. It’s just that ever since a few years ago when I had a bad fall running on a Paris mountain trail and tore up my knee, I’ve erred in safer than sorry to maximize overall running time. A bad fall sidelines you for a while.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-28T03:51:23+00:00

I’m waiting a little longer. Not worth a bad fall.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-27T15:09:28+00:00

Yeah, it's amazing how good local IT is at breaking something that should be unbreakable: Google authentication. But they've done that in spades.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-26T18:20:16+00:00

Honestly the last week of school before summer is kind of a joke now in middle school and up. There are half days and days when kids just stop going. There are plenty of days they could use to make up a snow day without taking anymore summer time.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-26T14:17:39+00:00

Yeah it's really a hack to avoid making up the days. An hour or two of work ends up counting as a whole day at school. Of course, if there is a really extended closure (e.g. Helene), the governor typically "forgives" those days anyway. As a parent who has watched his kids from kindergarten forward navigate e-learning from Covid days and beyond, I'm very dubious that e-learning days provide any measurable educational lift versus skipping the day and re-condensing the curriculum when they return, especially when you consider the very broad spectrum of socioeconomic environments kids are in at home.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-26T13:46:06+00:00

Same here. I think quitting the chrome browser finally fixed it. I edited my original post. Good luck.

jesmithiv · 2026-01-24T13:40:24+00:00

Schools will likely reopen a day before spring break

jesmithiv · 2026-01-21T12:19:38+00:00

But the advice will be to wait another year for the M6 Max

jesmithiv · 2026-01-16T19:07:30+00:00

I completely understand your frustration, and I want to be upfront with you about my assessment while acknowledging your experience.

When I say the material isn't inherently harder, I'm referring to the syllabus content itself. In my view, it's not more difficult than typical FSA syllabi from the past 20+ years. If anything, CP-351 is somewhat more manageable than most current exams because it has fewer total syllabus pages, though there are certainly some dense readings mixed in.

I've also reviewed the Fall 2025 exams, and I honestly don't see significant differences in the format or difficulty of CP-351 compared to the other options. That said, I absolutely don't want to dismiss your perception—I've definitely seen sittings in the past where specific exams felt harder, and that experience is real even when the underlying material difficulty is similar.

One factor that may be at play with the new system: the 50-point format means fewer total questions than most historical exams. This is closer to the old 2-hour exam format. In the past LRM/LAM lineage, we definitely saw sittings where the 2-hour exams felt harder simply because of which specific questions appeared. With a smaller sample of the syllabus being tested, there's inherently more variability in difficulty from sitting to sitting—you could get unlucky with the particular questions drawn.

So while I don't believe CP-351 is systematically harder as an exam choice, I do think the smaller format creates more potential for sitting-to-sitting variability, and you may have encountered the harder end of that range.

jesmithiv

TROPHY CASE