58% pass rate is it an anomaly

At 59%, the April 2015 pass rate for SA1 was certainly higher than we usually see in SA exams. However, we need to treat this figure with some caution - SA1 is only taken by a small number of students (51 this time) so pass rates can increase/decrease significantly if an extra 5 students pass/fail. Having said that, I agree that many students found that paper to be more straight forward than some others, particularly as there were no legislation or tax questions.

It would be dangerous to look for trends in the kinds of questions asked from one session to the next. Sometimes the questions are quite different from one sitting to the next, while on other occasions we've seen quite similar questions.

As you're interested, here are the pass rates for the SA1 exam since it started (note the very high pass rates at the beginning when the exam had very few candidates):

75, 63, 56, 44, 31, 41, 37, 42, 41, 37, 47, 46, 35, 42, 41, 43, 43, 44, 47, 42, 59.

Good luck with the September exam - let's hope for high pass rates again.

Mark

 

I have been wondering how best to answer this question.

I think we should treat the April 2015 exam with caution as I described below.

However, I would certainly say that SA1 is very much an application exam. Although there are often some direct bookwork questions, the majority are going to be quite testing applications of the bookwork. After all, this is the final exam before the profession grants fellowship.

As we say in Chapter 1, the exam is testing higher level skills particularly Analysis, Synthesis and Critical Judgement. It is these skills that you should focus on developing as you work through past papers.

Perhaps the best way to see this is to look at some past exam questions:

September 2013 Q2 looks at an insurer that is monitoring policyholders' health through its website - this is a suggestion that was not given much coverage in the notes at the time and so would require some creative thinking to come up with the consequences (pulling ideas together from different parts of the course). The examiners report said that most students did not generate enough ideas in part (iii).

September 2014 Q1 looks at state healthcare provision and the role of private hospitals. The question starts with a short piece of bookwork which the examiners said is well answered. The question then becomes more applied - the suggestion is that the private hospitals must provide 10% of their services for free. Again this is not an idea given much coverage in the notes and so the ideas from the bookwork in part (i) need to be applied to this new setting. And again, the examiners report said that most students did not generate enough ideas in part (iii).

This is a common pattern. The examiners reports suggest that most students pick up the bookwork marks, but only the better students pick enough marks on the applications to pass.

So, in conclusion, knowing the bookwork is important but the key to success is being able to apply it.

Best wishes

Mark

 

Yes, I'd agree that in SA1 the questions will be applications of the bookwork rather than requiring you to use knowledge from outside the course. I think sometimes students worry that to score marks in an unusual application question they need to know the latest insurance news, when in fact the examiners solution will take the relevant bits of Core Reading stating how they apply in the new situation. Of course these questions are still tricky and any extra knowledge you have (eg from the additional reading suggested in the first chapter) will help to identify the relevant parts of the Core Reading more quickly.

Attempting the last 20 exam papers should give good coverage of the course but some parts will be covered more than others and some sections of the course not at all. The past papers thread at the top of the Forum lists the past questions and the topics covered.

Best wishes

Mark