How I Studied For Actuarial Exams (and passed every time) 

Thanks for the feedback. Have struggled to think of good topics that would be valuable to people - if you have any suggestions let me know :)

@Rolf Britten How to get employment in the industry. The types of specializations explain. What an actuary does on a day to day basis. How to choose which 3xams to start with. The changes that have been made to exams and the curriculum. Work based learning or whatever it's called. What each kind of exam is like. Actuarial salary. Which fields have higher prospects. Which places in England have higher prospects. How is work life balance. What you should know before you think of becoming an actuary. Can actuaries be replaced by robots. These are some topic examples

Hi David, some places to start off the top of my head: IFOA Blog, any papers from the recent GIRO events, papers and blogs from the FCA or other regulators.

Hey Rolf, anyway to direct message you and talk to you about exams?

Hi Kunal, I never took any of the new curriculum prelims so can't give any specific advice and take this with a grain of salt... I would say prioritise reading through and making sure you understand the chapter summaries (perhaps making recordings you can listen to while working as a time efficient way to learn them...?) Then as we're about a month from the exams I would recommend really focusing on past papers / Q&A bank and targetting any studying on areas that you've identified as weaknesses through those. Hopefully that should give an appropriate weighting for your study effort

Hi Fikile I got my job without any exams which isn't uncommon here in the UK. I got it by getting a role in a related support team first and then moving across.

was 4 years rather than 3 - a lot of my own time was spent studying, in the build up to the exams would be most of my spare time.

Masters programmes have equivalent all the UK core non applied in one year so I guess could be achievable if you treated it as a full time thing. Would probably not recommend trying to do beyond prelims without work experience

@@rolfbritten I've completed a batchelor's in mathematics (with a focus on statistics and OR) and I've had 7 weeks work experience at an actuarial firm. I have a gap of 1 year before I start work and am planning on passing some exams. I currently have 3 exemptions from my degree. The question is more, how many exams (of the 10 remaining) would you recommend trying to pass in this period?

Hi Benjamin, ActEd discontinued the app, apologies

Personal lines insurers, especially in pricing departments, might value a data science skill set. So that might be worth a try as a route in. (I have taken the reverse of this path)

@@rolfbritten yes, really appreciate that, im self studying the actuary modules on my own, its hard on mental health when you dont have a job at the same time

@@rolfbritten i was looking at pricing analyst roles. Did you suggest to your employer you wanted to persue the actuary exams whilst in that role?

@@thehardlife5588 The study scheme was offered as part of the role - rather than something I suggested. Try going through recruiters. Alexander Williams is one that I''ve worked with before that specialises in Pricing Data Science. LV= are recruiting lots of pricing analysts at the moment, although don't think they offer actuarial study in that role - in favour of MSc in DS

@@rolfbritten thanks ive applied to axa for a trainee underwriting position but i dont think ill hear back

Hi Josh, I think you are referring to an Exam from ths US syllabus? All my exams were for the UK based IFoA

​@@rolfbritten Oh, yes. Exam P is the probability exam. Thank you Rolf

Hi Tanisha, I took the actuarial qualification between the ages of 24 and 27