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Advise needed to clear SA2 after 6 failed attempts

S

Sneh2945

Made first post
Hi there,
I cleared all my exams except SA2 in 2022. Since then, I failed in all the attempts. I've taken mock exams and am aware of the exam writing technique. A couple of times, I missed passing by just 2-3 marks. I am struggling to decide how to move forward. There's no coaching available, so I would really appreciate any advice or guidance from someone experienced on how to tackle this.

Thanks in advance!
 
Hello there - very sorry to hear that you are struggling to pass this final exam.

You mention that 'there's no coaching available' and I'm not sure why this is the case. The IFoA offers an exam counselling service for those on their final exam, so this should be something that you could undertake, providing specific advice on development areas based on a review of your latest script: see https://actuaries.org.uk/qualify/after-exams/apply-for-exam-counselling/ [If for some reason the IFoA's exam counselling service is not available to you then please message us at SA2@bpp.com and we can discuss this.]

You mention having done mock exams: what was the feedback from markers for the most recent ones done?

Looking at your own past exam attempts and the questions where you scored less well, what do you believe your own developmental areas might be?

For example, are you struggling with generating enough ideas? Or with technical content / understanding? Or with identifying the appropriate parts of the course to help with questions?

Are you potentially writing too much on each idea and thus failing to cover a wide enough range of ideas? Alternatively are you only covering ideas superficially, without demonstrating enough depth of understanding?

The way forwards will very much depend on what the specific shortfall area(s) might be, so it is worth reflecting on this carefully yourself and also getting another view on it. Is there someone at work who can more objectively review your answers and suggest areas that you could focus on improving. ready for the next sitting?

Have you been to tutorials? These help to reinforce the key learning areas but also put a lot of focus on how to answer exam questions.

Past paper practice is of course key, but don't see this as being about 'learning the answers to past questions' - more about developing a robust and wide range of techniques for working out how to answer whatever questions are on the paper on exam day. Tutorials and our ASET / The Vault products all help with this.

Hopefully this has given you some starters to think about?
 
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