It's funny how these exams now include R to keep up with technological needs, YET the exams are still sat using a pen and paper. Writing changes under stressed situations, leading to illegibility and students losing significant marks because the markers have a hard time reading. This situation could easily be avoided if these exams were simply computer based!
When exactly does any actuary/actuarial student nowadays write for over 3 hours at work that such a practice has not yet been chucked yet?! These exams should test knowledge and application only, not how pretty someone's writing is.
FYI - the IFoA have confirmed in an email correspondence to me earlier that legibility plays a huge part in scoring well on the exam. I quote from their email
"Marking any exam to a high quality requires two things, the marker to have sound knowledge of the marking process and scheme, which has been tested and proven, as well as a clear and legible script to mark. If either of these things are inadequate it could lead tobelow average marking. "