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How important is CA1 for SA6?

M

mseng

Member
Hi

The syllabus states that:

"Subjects ST5 — Finance and Investment Specialist Technical A and CA1 — Actuarial Risk Management: provide the underlying principles upon which this subject is based.

Candidates can expect to be examined in aspects of general principles developed in these subjects as well as the United Kingdom specific aspects developed in this subject."

Is the material in CA1 really important? I have only passed 301, which i found out that is very different from CA1. Do you believe i have to spend a considerable amount of time studying CA1 notes, before attempting SA6?

Thanks in advance.
 
Firstly, don't put yourself or past papers down. You passed 301 which is the CA1 fore-runner. If the Institute had any qualms they'd be making you do CA1 too.

When CA1 arrived they brought in some of the 'investmenty' kind of stuff from later subjects hence creating an 'assets and liability' paper which has now again changed title to Actuarial Risks. There are new bits to the syllabus eg more discussion of derivatives and stochastic methods and other latest concepts but don't let that concern you in starting the st.

My suggestion is you put your emphasis into your ST subject but don't go revisiting CA1 in full. It won't be productive. If need-be, buy the core reading but only if you struggle with questions in your ST that require cross-referencing, or you want a general refresher on topics you did for 301 but aren't quite so hot on now. ST is intended be to be satnd-alone.

Hope this is some reassurance/good advice.
 
CA1 and 301

Hi

there is little difference between the asset stuffin 301 and the asset stuff in CA1. So if you have passed 301 I would say you are relatively well prepared for SA6. there are a few things that may be important which have been added to ST5 (rather than CA1) you could read up on: private equity, securitisation, credit derivatives and ALM modeling. Some of ST5 was also taken from 301 but these topics were added to ST5 when it appeared on the scene. Hope this helps.
 
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