2019 changes to exams

Discussion in 'General study / exams' started by Pede, Oct 13, 2016.

  1. Pede

    Pede Member

  2. John Lee

    John Lee ActEd Tutor Staff Member

    I think it's surprising how few comments you've had... ;)
     
  3. Harashima Senju

    Harashima Senju Ton up Member

  4. jlstroh

    jlstroh Member

    Will the CERA curriculum also change? I don't see any mention of that.
     
  5. Infinity

    Infinity Member

    Yes I'll tell you what I think: this change is absolutely absurd. The Institute has left me in an extremely precarious position.

    On one hand the Institute has printed on their website in black and white:

    "For students studying under the current curriculum, please note that there will be no change to you in terms of additional exam hours. Every exam that you are currently required to sit transfers to the new curriculum, and it will not take you any longer to qualify than under the current curriculum.”

    In the introduction to the Curriculum 2019 document published in October 2016:

    "The recommended number of study hours will not change, and the number of examination hours will not increase either. The curriculum has also been developed so that the length of time it should take you to qualify will not increase."

    The Curriculum 2019 document goes on to mention:

    "General Principles.

    In preparing these transfer arrangements a number of general principles have been taken into consideration.

    These include the following:

    • All subjects in the current curriculum transfer onto a subject in the new curriculum.
    • The IFoA aims to achieve a situation where there will be no increase in the number of examination hours.
    • All passes and exemptions that you already have will be transferred over to the new curriculum. "


    They have also made several references to state that their intention is not increase:

    A) number of exams
    B) exam hours
    C) study time
    D) time to qualify

    On top of this, in 2013 the Institute has published exam dates and names of the exams until 2020 under a section of website designed to give students advice on how to plan their route through the exams. While there is a disclaimer to say the dates of exams might change it doesn't warn that exams students have previously taken might be rendered completely worthless.

    You won't find this document anymore though, as since I've made a complaint the Institute has started shredding documents, but you might recall looking at this document to plan your exams as I have done.

    If you read the Curriculum 2019 document, which I encourage you all to do, you will find in the pages of the poorly written and confusing document a number of contradictions to the numerous statements quoted above with regards to the transfer arrangements.
    Most notably:

    - You have to pass CT1 and CT5 to get an exemption from CM1
    - You also have to pass CT4 and CT6 to get an exemption from CS2
    - CT8 is changing from one exam to two, which you only realise after some careful thought

    Incidentally, I don't know why CM1 has the abbreviation CM as is entitled Actuarial Mathematics. And similarly, CS is Actuarial Statistics. Maybe the M and the S stand for mathematics and statistics? Also, I am not sure why Core Practices needs a full stop on page 2 of the Curriculum 2019 document. I think these exams are driving me nuts.

    Due to personal circumstances, I've taken quite some time to get to where I am but I only have CT4, CT5 and CT8 left.

    Therefore in my particular case, if I don't pass my remaining CT exams in the next three sittings, instead of having to take 3 x 3 hour exams, I will have to take double the number of exams, endure a 50% increase in exam hours to 13.5 hours, suffer from having to lose countless weekends, early mornings, lunchtimes, late evenings, sleepless nights, Easter and Christmas holidays due to increased study hours. My time to qualify is tending towards infinity.

    I complained to the Institute about this late last year. I was basically told that it was my problem and the Curriculum 2019 would be introduced as planned (or not planned as per the Exams which will not take place till 2020 document).

    I am not sure if it was because of my bitter complaint, but I believe that the Institute sent out personal notification emails advising students who had either CT1, CT4, CT5 or CT6 to complete these exams in the next four sittings. However the email was sent out in January 2017 and I think this was a little late since most people would have already started to study then. No mention was made of CT8 even though the transition arrangements imply that number of exams, exam hours, study time and ultimately time to qualify will also increase if you have to take 2 exams for CT8 rather than the current 1.

    This is far too little notice as I don’t think I can pass all of these exams in this time. In addition, upon further consultation with the Institute, they advised that the last time they changed things round, they gave students 4 sittings notice and there were many students who were negatively impacted.

    From the exam results page published on the internet, if you count the number of student failures of CT1, CT4, CT5, CT6 and CT8 last sitting. There were well over 2000 instances. Making the crude assumption that students take 2 CTs per sitting (which I don’t personally have time for anymore) this means that perhaps over 1000 students will be impacted in some shape or form. I am pretty sure that having planned to take 1 CT per sitting as I was under the impression that the exams would be available as per the published Institute document until 2020, there is a high chance that I will not end up completing my remaining exams and have to endure more years of suffering.

    In summary, I find it very unprofessional to suddenly impose a time limit on examinations which will cause many of us undue stress and inconvenience.

    The Curriculum 2019 is being introduced prematurely with little consideration for student welfare. The Institute is admitting they have made a gross error by removing published content regarding exam planning on it’s website and covertly changing other small pieces of information which ultimately have a big impact on students.

    The communication surrounding the new proposal is rather miscommunication as it is full of contradictions and causes confusion. As a result errata emails were issued by the Institute, but these have failed to address CT8 and were also issued too late.

    The Institute is serving students a great dishonour by imposing demands which rob us of the recognition we should receive for passing these awful exams.

    What do other people think? I know that there must be a lot of people who are impacted? But even those that are not, please share what you think of the Curriculum 2019 document.

    Robin Hood
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2017
  6. almost_there

    almost_there Member

    I think the matter ought to be referred to the FRC. The Memorandum of Understanding they have with the IFoA is here:
    https://frc.org.uk/Our-Work/Publications/Actuarial-Policy-Team/Memorandum-of-Understanding.pdf

    Page 1, it states:
    " [The FRC]... also oversees the regulatory activities of the Institute and Faculty. The Institute and Faculty has the primary responsibility for the regulation of its members in their professional capacity."

    The footnote for regulation states:
    "Primarily setting ethical standards, administering the education systems...."

    I'm quoting this for you to use, should the FRC get back to you with a "nothing to do with us, not in our remit" type of response.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2017
  7. Infinity

    Infinity Member

    Yes I will be taking further action if I don't get a reasonable response. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the FRC.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2017
    almost_there likes this.
  8. shdh

    shdh Ton up Member

    Could someone share the 2019 Syllabus PDF here. It isn't downloading from the institute website!

    Thanks!
    Regards,
    Shyam
     
  9. Infinity

    Infinity Member

    Works fine for me.

    https://www.actuaries.org.uk/system/files/field/document/Syllabus 2019 17 May 2017.pdf

    However I have noted that the Institute seems to have been chopping and changing some documents like the Curriculum 2019 recently. They still have the clear statement that every exam from the old syllabus will transfer to the new one and that it will not take any longer to qualify. This is just not true. I've now been informed that unless I want to suffer the increased PPD requirements, I have to qualify in the next two sittings. Just last month the institute was claiming I had three sittings.
     
  10. almost_there

    almost_there Member

    Exactly infinity, those of us not subject to WBS will be caught by PPD from Sept 2018, which increases the requirements. It appears the IFoA are pushing the Fellowship goalpost further away and for no good reason. I consider there to be age discrimination going on here.
     
  11. Does anyone have a one to one matching of the current subjects with the new syllabus for 2019?
     
  12. slayedit

    slayedit Member

    You can find the one to one syllabus matching in the following document uploaded on the institute's website. The link is:

    https://www.actuaries.org.uk/documents/curriculum-2019

    Have a good day!
    Regards,
    Shyam
     
  13. Debbie Nal

    Debbie Nal Member

    Will the notes change? Say I am preparing for CT4&6 will you guys provide new notes?? Also on the practicals...Will you provide revision materials :(
     
  14. Admin

    Admin Administrator Staff Member

    There will be new courses for the new exams available from Sept/Oct this year. The new CS2 course will contain some new online material to help students prepare for the new Practical (R) Exam. We will roll out Revision Material as quickly as we can, prioritising the most popular products like ASET, Flashcards and Revision Notes.
     
  15. Infinity

    Infinity Member

    Acted I wouldn’t count your chickens... the IFoA have appended this disclaimer to their c2019 guide recently...

    Changes to the Curriculum
    ... IFoA may make necessary changes to
    the curriculum in order to comply with any law or anything we are required to do by any governmental authority, regulator or other agency, or for quality assurance and enhancement reasons. This may include the introduction of new or different modules, exams or content... We will let you know of any such change in advance and how you can transition to any new curriculum requirements and if it is not possible to transition you to new curriculum requirements we will attempt to inform you of alternative arrangements but if the change is substantial and you are unhappy with the change, you may end your agreement with us and withdraw from the curriculum without any further liability to us...
     
    Debbie Nal likes this.
  16. Infinity

    Infinity Member

    Of course there will be new notes although the content seems to be pretty much the same. You have to also learn a new programming language. This is all a huge money making opportunity for Acted and the IFoA. The best thing is that if you pass CT4 but not 6 then you can study for CT4 all over again. As I’ve been ranting on, given that Mr Cribb has stated in Black and white that “current students will not be disadvantaged or put in limbo” it looks like the IFoA have stabbed us all in the back for paying huge membership fees to fund hw IFOA’s pathetic attempt at global domination. From my complaint to the IFoA, I have learned that last sitting there were 6,700 students who had CT4 but not 6 or 1 and not 5 or vice versa. I estimate there are another 1,000 that have CT8 which will also turn into two exams.
     
    Debbie Nal likes this.
  17. almost_there

    almost_there Member

    IFoA have been making losses for years according to their financial statements.
     
  18. Debbie Nal

    Debbie Nal Member

    Thank you all for your response.
     
  19. Debbie Nal

    Debbie Nal Member

    Guys are this notes?

    upload_2018-7-16_13-29-35.png
     
  20. shdh

    shdh Ton up Member

    No Debbie, these are not notes. These are the actual study material. The core reading.

    You can buy the revision notes from here (but 2019 materials aren't being sold until late September):

    https://www.acted.co.uk/estore/
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 17, 2018

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