Dear Net Premium,
I did not miss the communication when it was first announced.
And this is exactly my point. According to the initial publication, I and no one should be "impacted".
I read the communication and it was full of contradictory statements. On one hand it clearly stated there would be:
A) no increase in exams
B) no increase in exam hours
C) no increase in study time
D) no increase in time to qualification
Then upon reading the details carefully it was also stated that I would have to pass CT4 and CT5 otherwise I would be encumbered with extra exams. I complained to the Institute and they gave me a similar tough luck response such as yourself hid behind unnecessary explanations about why the curriculum needed to be changed which is not what I am question. They acknowledged their communication was not clear since they had to write explanatory personal emails to all students who had passed only one of CT4 and CT6 and one of CT1 and CT5 and vice versa. This was only done in January 2017 and hence all students would have already started studying by then which is why I say the notification is only 3 sittings rather than 4.
They also started amending the Curriculum 2019 documentation without informing students a revision had been made after receiving no doubt many complaints. I believe they changed the document by highlighting the CT4/CT6 and CT1/CT5 transition arrangements in bold.
I then also noticed I would have to sit 2 exams for CT8 if I did not pass in the next three sittings. The Institute did not mention this in their personal email to me so I complained again. At this point the institute again modified the Curriculum 2019 document to remove the contradictions which I have highlighted and have now stated that "the average" student will not be impacted and that "new students" will not be subjected to increased study hours, exams, time to qualification etc. But they haven't made any additional notification to CT8 students which I am sure they will shortly!
The icing on the cake arrived a couple of weeks ago, the new PPD scheme was announced which then brought forward the deadline again giving me 2 sittings to qualify or suffer from additional workload.
I don't see how you think I should accept this.
Also, the new syallabus will unfortunately not help me at all in my job. I am an experienced professional and started the exams later than most of you. So for me it is an administrative burden as I have learned very little. And no I can't benefit from CT1 as I don't even remember what this exam was about as I did it so long ago.
On top of this, in 2014, ironically at the same time that they started thinking about the new curriculum, the institute published this "plan your route" through the exams document which clearly listed that the exams would be available from 2015 to 2020. I have used this document to plan my exams until 2020 as due to other comittments I can only take 1 exam per sitting. The Institute tells me that although they published a document for planning, It was only "illustrative" and I should not have used it for "detailed" planning whatever that is supposed to mean. They also claimed that there were sufficient "caveats" in the document to say that it was not a reliable document! AFTER I made my complaint about this contradiction, a further caveat was added to the document to mention the curriculum 2019. And after I have complained further the document has just been deleted from the website. However they haven't done a good job of covering their tracks as there is still mention in the title of exam planning till 2020 and if you can find it, the Swedish Actuarial Council still has the document up....
I took CT6 several times and paid the Institute and Acted several thousand pounds for sitting this exam. This exam will just be rendered worthless in the new curriculum even though the Institute has clearly stated that every exam will transfer into the new Curriculum. However it is not just the money invested it is the time I have wasted and I do not take this lightly.
I am not questioning the need to create a new Curriculum at all and you seem to misunderstand my point here. What I have taken offense to is the sudden imposition of the deadline, the unfair transition arrangements, the unprofessional and contradictory communication and this constant revision of documentation with no audit trail or notification to students.
So Net Premium, through no fault of your own as the Institure as not advised of any revisions, perhaps you've missed that there have been several alterations to the Curriculum 2019 document and perhaps you should read it again. Did you download a copy of the original? Even this Acted forum has a time stamp for modifications.
Thanks for the good luck but there is no flip side. Especially when the coin is biased...
Last edited by a moderator: Jun 3, 2017