I hear it's been proposed to replace the CA3 exam with a 2-day course/exam a bit like CA2. We get taught on day 1 and then have a written exam in the morning, writing a letter to someone with some business knowledge, and then an oral/presenation exam in the afternoon. Change wef 2009 exams. What do you think??????
Wow more employer's time wasted. How can the IOA justify wasting so much time with these pointless courses?
Actually I think this is a very very smart and more than overdue change. Simply put many actuaries need to be better at presenting stuff - and they need to be clear and precise in their ideas. It will also make it easier for the less bookwormish amongst us and reward softer skills.
If you want to know more or want to ensure your thoughts are heard, contact your regional representative who goes to the Student Consultative Meetings. They get to hear all about these kind of things - minutes go on the actuarial website. By no means a 'done deal' yet.
Thanks. How often do they meet? The only minutes seem to be from May 2006!!! Here is the link for anyone else: http://www.actuaries.org.uk/Display_Page.cgi?url=/students/scc.xml
Good question. Don't know but I think it's just when there's a strong need like these consultation stages. Given it was May before, I wouldn't delay!!!
As a foreign student, I prefer the regular exams (my employer certainly does). I agree with Gareth that this is something that could be left up to the employers to manage. One good that could come from this, although no mention has been made to my knowledge, is that computers could possibly be used to be more realistic. I, for one, have never written any letters for work without copy and pasting to move things around, etc. Also for presentations, many of us consider drawing slides on paper daft. Of course, this could just be my opinion, and my communication/letter writing skills are not up to scratch. I guess I'll find out when I do the "standard" CA3 in April 2008.
