Hello Following results yesterday, I've now failed CP1 for the 4th time and I am in need of advice on how to tackle it. Some background - I've got 4 exams outstanding (CP1, SP7, SP9 and SA3) of which I've attempted all at least once (and in the case of CP1 4 times now). My first sitting of CP1 was in April 2021 and I've sat it consecutively on each failed attempt (alongside one or more of the outstanding listed above). I've had the exam counselling (just the report) done previously following my second failure and the gist of that was: paper 2 was poor, not using enough question detail, not writing enough. In terms of overall scores for the failed exams (with the paper 1 and paper 2 results in parentheses): 53 (55/52), 52 (59.25/46.5), 47 (57/38) and 53 most recently. I'm not really sure what's going wrong - I feel as though I've made a conscious effort to address the issues highlighted to me but seemingly the performance is not getting any better. I've done some ActEd mocks before of which I've scored paper1/paper2 of: 66/44, 60/55 My plan for April 2023 is to just focus on CP1 and try and clear it but I don't really know what to do for it given that I've been through the notes and ASET multiple times. Any advice? Thanks in advance
Firstly, respect to you for your perseverance with taking exams! Many would've given up awhile ago so incredible that you're humble enough to take advice and attempt it again. Have you struggled for time with either CP1 exam (in which case, you could improve typing speed, time management etc). And what was the Paper 1:2 split of your marks in Sept 2022 attempt -this is available in your IFoA My account >Exam result letters > (scroll to bottom of the page): Exam result breakdown. Unfortunately I'm no expert but want to establish some more facts and then keen to hear others advice.
Hi Bill, I feel as though I've become better at time management. My approach during the exam is to quickly enter the question marks into a spreadsheet template that gives me a time allocation (1.7 mins/mark). I spend the first 30 minutes going through and reading the questions, making short bullets/prompts in my script. I then proceed with the paper and try and stay strict with the time allocation. I guess for the recent sitting, there were lots of questions (with fewer marks for each) and so having to shift focus/ideas was perhaps a little time consuming (rather than say having a few large questions). The mark breakdown was 52 (paper 1) and 54 (paper 2). So I missed out by 2 marks overall across the two papers (averaged to 1 mark from passing since 54 was the pass mark).
I have a few pieces of advice. Do tutorials, even if you have done them before. When you do a tutorial, you shouldn't just be looking to better understand the material. You should be looking to get an insight into how to approach a question and how to break down an abstract question into sub-topics that you can generate points on. That was most helpful for me. In my opinion, the key to passing the later exams is to figure out what the examiner is looking for, vs trying to repeat all your bookwork. No piece of the question is included in error (at least they shouldn't be). Everything is there for a reason. On your 1st read through underline all the important/unusual pieces of info. In answering your question, try to incorporate every single piece of info. Of course in CP1 there are still generic half marks to score like legislation, expenses etc, but there are loads of marks to be gained if you consider all the material that is given. Think like an actuary - trying to consider practical points vs just giving generic bookwork points. In the exam itself, as it's typewritten, make use of bullet points and try your best give at least points = 2 x #of marks. If possible, give more points. Move quickly. Don't worry about spelling or perfect sentence structure - I remember this tip was given in one of the IFoA's 1st online seminars when COVID 1st hit. I didn't fix any spelling, nor were all my sentences perfectly grammatically correct. However, an examiner could still understand what I was saying. This helps to save time. Simple example but it adds up over plenty questions: question asks what advice actuary should give in a certain scenario. I'd start with "Should suggest..." vs "The actuary should suggest...". Two words less but I'm a slow-ish typer so collectively over the two papers I know it helped me significantly. It gave me more time to type words that could score me marks. My suggestion for April would be to use revision notes to review the material (not questions) by end of January. Use the next 2.5 months to practice papers from 2014+, do the 3 mock exams with marking, and then focus on any specific weak areas. Do not be lazy. Do not read a question, think about it for 10 seconds and then read the solution. All you're doing is fooling yourself. Practice reading through the questions and picking out the key words. Then just scribble your points on the question paper. And only then should you read the answer. When you read the answer, you should re-read the question to see if there was anything you missed that could have helped you to think of some of the points in the ASET or examiner's report. I personally found it tiring to do a whole paper in one go. I suggest just doing a couple questions at a time. You have good reason to already be tired of CP1 and you don't want to get burnt out before April. Best of luck
Hi, have you read the techniques that I used to attempt my CP1 Exam? I had also faced a great fear for this exam, but I decided to use a systematic rules driven approach for attempting this subject & due to God's grace, passed it in first attempt itself !!! Link available at: https://www.theactuaryindia.org/article/cp1
