exams - sickening waste of life

ok, so i spent my summer inside once again, missed the sun and sand, all for a pointless exam that bears no relevence to day to day work.

now, not that i'm a bitter type, but it seems since leaving university, my life has consisted of work, studying and exams... and worse than uni, the exams are twice a year...

Feels like a waste of time looking back retrospectively, all the best years spent inside, whilst my sensible friends who went into successful careers not requiring exams enjoy themselves.

So what now...well i've dug my hole, i guess i lie in it until April and moan some more then.

 

You could say 'f*** it' and only sit once a year! Also see note below

 

heh yeah, your signature says it all really. for me it's just a question of being able to know whether it's worth me finishing off the exams, or if I would be better off going to work for some investment bank who don't care less about actuaries.

 

hey Gareth!!

Look at it this way. If you know why you are doing it you will still write the exams. I think you knew that it was going to be a long road to freedom. It's never easy!! Remember if you have a goal and you want to achieve that, you'll aim for that!!

Don't get tired now, maybe you are almost there, even if you're not you'll definitely get it. You need determination, dedication and perseverance. I have not even started my exams I will be sitting for my first in April next year. I am glad you feel this way, which shows that there are people out there who get fustrated by this, at the end of the day when you know what you want you will get it.

Do not ever compare yourself to friends, you are different you are not like them. That's why you are called an indivudual. Look at it this way, who will benefit from the fruits! YOU! Only YOU!! and it's YOU who wants to achieve such a GOAL!

I get tired as well and scared as h*ll because people are failing when they have studied hard!! So don't give!!

There is a song by Mary-Mary that goes like this: "I just can't give up now!Gone to far from where I'm coming me from! Nobody told me the road will be easy! I don't believe in walking this far to leave now!"

 

i wouldnt despair old man , I was lucky this time , you're not far off seeing as you're thinking of doing SA3 & CA1 (and you're right that is absolute madness) . ST3 is never easy , I was sure I failed it myself - skin of teeth trick I'm sure but take heart - I spent many a year failing and honestly saw some incredibly good people fail as well (one even with encyclopaedic knowledge of pensions failed it 9 times). My best tip would be to organise your support group well - friends , lovers etc etc - this has made a world of difference both to me as a person and to me as a professional. Take it 'aisy man.

 

well looks like i will have to do SA3 and ST3 instead now, which sort of makes sense as they are very similar.

i just can't help but think it will be the same story again in April, the exam felt like it had gone very well in Sept, and i spent so much time learning for it (i.e. every night after work until 12am for half the session - being scared of the subject having failed it the time before).

It does seem like an terrible waste of time, all for some piece of paper at the end of the day. Will it make me better in my job when i finally pass these? No.

It's weird how the CT's were so easy compared to the ST's. I'd happily sit all the CT's again in place of the ones i've got left.

 

Gareth, sounds like you need a break.

Take a session without doing any exams. Yeah, it'll put your career back by 6 months, but it'll bring yur life forward by a lot more. You'll have a bit of space to remember what the world looks like outside.

N.B. best to do this in a) summer or b) southern hemisphere.

Alternatively, maybe these forums are just a great way to blow off some steam. ;-)

 

yeah, but taking a break just prolongs the pain. what really p*sses me off is the fact that had i just gone to work for a bank, i'd be paid a lot more by now and my free time would actually be free.

now, if i stopped i would forever have the label "given up exams", which would be a real low point in my career.

so i guess no option but to carry on and watch my twenties disappear.

anyone thinking of joining this profession, think twice. it's really not worth it unless you are one of the fortunate few who can qualify in a few years (i hoped to be one of them, as i came top of my year at university, but being good at maths doesnt necessarily translate into being good at remembering folders full of written notes and being able to recall them in an exam).

 

Gareth, I feel your pain.

That's exactly how I feel. I turned a shocking 28 there last month and boy do I feel it. I feel as though I've spent my entire 20's studying while my friends have partied and lived it up. They now all have impressive titles like "Assistant Manager", "Senior Team Leader", etc etc and I'm still stuck with bloody "Student Actuary". Makes me sound about 12.

But I've only 2 left to go now and the thought of giving up is pretty depressing. Everyone would remember you as the nearly person.

I feel better in this forum where at least I know there are other people in the same boat as me.

I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Take a deep breath, disconnect the phone, unplug the tv and put my life on hold (again). There's no other way to do it. I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end.

Don't give up everybody
LouiseF

 

Heh gareth,

Let me just say, I have been through exactly the same thing as what you are feeling now.

In april 2005, after having constant success on the 100 series (CTs) and getting the 301 subject, I hit a wall with the ST3 subject. I sat it twice and failed it twice in that year, after having come out of the exams feeling that I had done quite well. What made it worse was that I couldn't get over the FA mark each time (at least if it was a FC or FD I could say that I well and truly didn't know my stuff and needed to try harder). In addition, I was studying my A$$ of for this exam on both exams to the point where I was emotionally drained from it.

So when I tried to study again for the april 2006 session I had a mini (actuarial) breakdown where I hated the job, the studying, couldn't understand why I was in this industry, wanted to quit it all to do something alot more simple. As a result I decided to quit studying and didn't do anything over the april session.

I started to look at jobs in the finance industry (i.e. investment banking etc) and it appeared to me that I would be giving up one form of slavery (i.e studying for infinite hours) for another (working all hours God sent) and decided I couldn't do that either.

Anyway, cutting long story short, having not sat a sitting I decided to take another exam in Sept and change jobs, and low and behold I passed this sitting.

Basically what I am trying to say is maybe you need a break from studying (not necessarily a new job), cause it helped me. You dont want to go on feeling this way and studying for the next session cause you will burn out....as I almost did.

Also, maybe it's also a good idea to take one exam and concerntrate on that exam only so you increase chance to pass it, in order to grow your confidence again.

 

Gareth,

I feel your pain as well. I've got a 1st in Maths (and a MSc as well) and I've been doing these bl**dy exams for 12 years now.

I just need SA2 to qualify and I will be sitting it for the 5th time in April!!

I took the summer off to get married (the first exam sesssion I've missed since starting) and I do feel refreshed now.

I really hate exams now, but hopefully I can pull myself together and make the SA2 in April the very last exam I'll ever have to sit. I think I must have sat over 100 exams in my life so far (GCSE, A-Level, BSc, MSc, Actuarial ....)!

4EverStudent

 

I know how you guys feel but the trouble is we think that once we qualify we will happy. But a lot of the qualified actuaries I know are the most miserable and bitter **** I have ever met in my life.

What I have learnt is that we (and people in general) look for happiness in the wrong places i.e. material things but these things are temporary. We should look for this happiness from within and once we can do this then things like failing exams won't effect us...life is full of ups and downs however we keep contemplating on the downs that have happend and end up feeling miserable.

Anyway enough of my ramblings we should always have a cheerful outlook on life. I remember when I went to India - the poor people there didn't have much but they were the happiest people in the world (always had a smile on their face) which is when I came to this realisation. I have learned to appreciate what I have rather dwell on things that I don't have...

Peace

Om Shanti

 

i wonder if that is a side effect of losing their best years to these pointless exams...

Wow 4EverStudent, you've stuck it out for 6 years longer than me. That kind of puts my disgruntled feelings into perspective.

-------------------------

What really amazes me is that outside of the UK in Europe, there are no stupid exams. My french collegues find my struggles amusing, as they just had to go to uni and then get 3 years work experience to be an actuary...maybe i should move abroad to escape from this hell...

or perhaps build up a slush fund to buy FIA from a friendly examiner...

 

Gareth,

I have been through all of this as well. I failed the first actuarial exams I ever took, and this was the most depressing thing that ever happened to me - the first time that I actually failed something in my life. At first, you blame the examiner for being bl*oody ********, enjoying failing people. Then you blame yourself, for perhaps not doing enough...and then you come to the point where you realise that, well, what has been done cannot be undone, the best thing to do is to move on. Use my failure as a motivation to pass the exam next time.

I was also even thinking of stopping the exams altogether, and do CFA instead. With some hardwork, you could complete the exams in 1.5 years...or even move into IB. Met some people, but found out that, well we work pretty much the same hours - I mean, work + study would amount to around 50 hours per week, and that would be the same in a bank, isnt it?

I know that you are a very hard working person (having seen your threads in ST6, which helped me in passing as well!), and it must be gutting to having failed an exam. But that's, sadly, part and parcel of the process of qualifying as an actuary. See it as a character building exercise! And giving up now would mean that you would have wasted those past years of your life.

So hang in there man!

 

El Gringo,

But you get some people that never fail an exam...that **** used to really depress me

 

These are the people who really think that exams are a waste of life. That's why they studied very hard to minimise the wastage.

On the other hand, I do not envy them. Everyone needs to decide for themselves what is the suitable work/study/others balance. I passed my exams slowly, but I am happy with that.

 

Then I look like a chump then. I work hard fail and these people appear to be chillin' and go on to kane the exams - that is what i used to get peed off about. But I now realise everyone is different and we all have different strenghts and weaknesses

 

You can give up the exams and even your actuarial job then return at some point in the future. I did this. I am more motivated with exams now than I was after Uni & postgrad as it's more fresh to me. I felt the same as you if not worse when I gave it all up first time round. Now I am back in Actuary and taking the exams at a pace that suits me and my life.

Let me recommend you have another goal to run in parallel with your studies. There are enough hours in the day- if you don't believe me calculate how much time you spend in front of TV each night.
This year as well as doing actuary exams I was determined to really kick start my piano playing. I gave up at age 14 having gone up to grade 4. I now play some grade 7 and 8 pieces without music in front of me very well. When I failed one CT exam in September I was very disappointed considering I had put in a good effort to prepare and had put in a good attempt I thought. On results night I was fortunate to express my emotions by playing some sad Chopin pieces real nice. I realised... well perhaps I failed one actuary exam but compared to 6 months ago I am a much better piano player now. So as an individual I feel that I have progressed overall. Diversify... !

We all know what a stupid lottery these exams are. Also some employers should be ashamed of themselves for being so pushy and yet so disinterested to offer real support. But what is the rush to qualify anyway- someone has already noted how miserable and disillusioned many qualified actuaries seem. You can make a good career from actuary without passing all the exams. You can still find interesting work in actuary without being qualified. I'm sure there are many part-qualifieds out there who make better money than qualifieds anyway...

 

Deniese,

When you re-did ST3 this September, did you do anything different to your first 2 sittings in terms of exam prep/strategy in the exam? Or do you reckon it was the break from the exams that did the trick rather than any change in study/exam strategy?

 

The reality is that all the main actuarial designations (UK, US and Australia) take a sickening amount of study. Even if you're bright and never fail a sitting. This is a given. If it was easy, then actuaries would cost less.

The question is - is it worth it? Is it worth the pay and the type of work? If you can earn more elsewhere and find more interesting work for the same amount of working hours and study time, then probably not.

 

i didn't take ST3 in sept i decided to do the ca1 exam...will be trying st3 again in april...my success in this sitting may have been down to the break or the study strategy (which I changed completely).