Hi, Question 1) Is it required to fully write out every annuity when typing? In the ASET papers I often notice for example in the case of a 9 year annuity they would write out the full expression and condense it down into an annuity e.g. v + v^2 + v^3 + ... + v^9 = a:<9> = (1-v^9)/i If I instantly recognise that in the question they are asking for an annuity with a 9 year term would I instead be able to avoid writing out the sum of v's, and would I also be able to calculate it straight away instead of typing out (1-v^9)/i with the inputted variables? Question 2) Is it required to write out working in the case of integrals? Can I skip stages. Would I lose marks going from the integral to the final solution without the intermediary stage? Question 3) Is it recommended to write out the values of L, D etc in full when typing out death and survival probabilities? Many thanks!
To understand what is and is not required to be written in the exam generally you may want to refer to ASET or examiners reports and see which lines of working are scoring the marks. Specifically for your questions here: Question 1 - If it's pretty bog standard then they'll be happy for you to write out equations with annuity factors put straight in there. If it's a value you can get from the Tables then state that value and say that you got it from the Tables. If it's not available in the tables I'd write down the formula (1-v^9)/i but replacing i with the inputted values and then calculate. That way, if you do make an error you may get some method marks. Question 2 - You don't need every line but I think it's worth writing down a line if you're doing anything significant to the solving of it. For example, if you wrote out the form of the integral and then simply stated the result this is likely to be marked down at best, and worst could make the examiners nervous about how you arrived at that answer. So at the very least I think you want the integral, the integrand and the the final solution. Remember you are able to copy and paste from line-to-line to speed up the showing of any working. Question 3 - I would suggest doing this in case you read one off incorrectly. For this purpose you may want to use excel. You can create a mini table of the values you are using with labels eg l50, d50 and then copy-paste that table into Word to show the examiners which values you've used. There's an added benefit then that you can perform the calculations in Excel too as long as provide enough commentary to show the working you've gone through (in a paper A style, ie not using Excel formulae). Hopefully that makes sense but if anything isn't clear let me know. Joe
