April 2006 Exam

Still a bit shellshocked.

CA11 was quite doable but at this stage I can't really remember all the questions. I think that there were nine but I cannot remember what the ninth question was and whether it carried a lot of marks. Anyone?

CA12 was a lot harder to assess. I don't know whether my answers would have differed much if I had never read the course notes! It all seemed so subjective. In a way I was pleased that there was not that muchbookwork (or was there?!!) because I hadn't really learnt much.

As far as I was concerned the hardest questions were:

CA11 the question that required application of theories of the yield curve
CA12 .... I think I need to look at the paper again. I am just sooo tired!

 

Surprisingly i found CA12 a bit easier than CA11. The toughest question in CA11 was undoubtedly the one on the application of the yield curve.

Does anybody have an idea as to if both the papers (CA11 & CA12) have to be passed seperately or a single pass mark is required. Everybody seems to have a diferent opinon on this one. Why isn't the institute steping forward and clearing everybody's doubts?

 

a single pass mark with a few restrictions - see http://www.actedoffice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279

 

That would certainly be nice. I guess maybe they want to ensure that people don't study like that.

Can't really add a lot more to this thread Q9 was capital project appraisal and was certainly a nice one to end on. As per above I thought CA11 was pretty ok but CA12 was alot harder - I would say harder than the last 2 papers which I did pretty well in when I tried them at home.

The yield curve question on CA11 would have been ok for 5 marks but for 11 - not sure what could be written to get that.

CA12 was generally tricky throughout - no question stood out as being straightforward or harder than the rest but then my memory of that paper is quite vague altogether - not swure what that shows!

 

CA11 was ok (except for the bond yield question) but CA12 was considerably more difficult.

Didn't like/do too well on the 10 marker in the pensions question (qn 7?) in the CA12 paper. Been discussing that particular question with a few others who did it and we all had slightly different approaches to tackling it.

Guess that most people will do well on the bookwork type questions and then it's down to the more applied questions that'll separate out those who'll pass.....

 

this makes me very nervous, i feel i only did well on the bookwork questions...but bookmark questions covered many marks if i remember correctly...i hope that will give me enough marks to pass...

do you think passing rate will be higher this time due to some many bookwork questions?

 

I have to agree with many of the comments here.

CA11 was very reasonable.

With regard to the application of the yield curve, I think it was a case you simply needed to discuss each theory (market seg, expectations, liquidity pref) in turn and how it applied to that situation - however, that was not an easy thing to do and I doubt my explanations were sound!

CA12 I thought was difficult to judge - I could answer the questions, but some of them were a bit vague, so I can't be sure if my answer was what they were looking for!
The pensions question one about investment was tough for 11 marks?

Nice bookmark DEFLATORS for 5 easy marks on reinsurance near the end!!

I think CA12 overall, easier than September 05 but more more difficult than April 05.
CA11 - easiest yet.

A little bit worried pass mark may be put up as a result!

 

What bookwork? I really don't remember there being much bookwork! Were the long questions bookwork that I neglected to read? Ok a few things like adv/disadv of different regulatory systems; reasons for reinsuring; modelling of claims, but what else? You think bookwork covered many marks?

 

As far as i can recall:
1) The first two questions, i can't remember what is the second qeustion about, but i appeared a bookwork question to me,
2) A few marks on M&A
3) Regulatory system.
4) Factors on providing advice
5) Advantages of flexible benefits
6) Reasons for reinsurance
7) ?? A few marks in the second last question, but i can't remenber what it is again...
Add up everything, there are about 30+ marks...

 

i must say i agree with gordon_sun and there were a lot of book work in the CA12 paper. In case a few of you of forgotten just let me list down the questions.

1. Reasons for modeling claims - 5 marks
2. why life insurance cos need capital - 5 marks
3. The aims and adv & disadv of different regulatory system - 11 marks (2+9)
4. principles of investments - 2marks
5. regulatory constraints on investments - 5 marks
6. adv of flexible benefits - 6 marks
7. why reinsurance - 5 marks
8. issues to consider before reinsuring 3 marks

That adds up to 42 marks...i must say thats a lot.

 

Bias

Was it just me, or was there also a bias away from Life and towards Pension/Investment and General Insurance?

As far as I can remember, there were only 5 marks specifically geared towards Life (question 1), but bags of marks on General and Pension/Investment topics later in the exam!

Surely something close to 1/3 splits should be expected if the course covers all types of insurance?

Having said that, I was thankfull for the number of bookwork marks!

 

CA11 - agree with the comments above, left the second part of the question about interest yields worth 11 marks to the end and wrote down a few points. Probably spent a bit too long on Question 1 about cashflows for 4 marks but rest was okay. Last but one question (advice to individuals / companies) was a virtual repeat of April 04 for 15 marks.

CA12 - thought there were a lot of marks on offer for Advantages and Disadvantages of Statutory / Self Regulatory regimes (9 marks) - more than usual from previous 301 papers, I think. Flexible benefit schemes aren't covered in great detail in the core reading from my recollection, but I suppose it's a good application question - probably helped a lot though if you've worked for a company that has one.

Came away feeling positive and hopeful but I guess at the end of the day though it all comes down to whether your answers match the mark scheme...

However, I think the brainstorming that you're encouraged to do for this subject is very good practise for becoming an actuary.

 

Fatigue in CA1

I sat the two CA1 papers on Monday and thought CA11 was more doable than CA12. However, what didn't help with CA12 was the fact that I was so fatigued from the morning exam that i feel i wasn't able to perform to my full potential. I know this because I woke up suddenly at 2am the following morning with thoughts of stuff i failed to include in the script that was obviously in my head! I really don't understand what they are trying to achieve by having a 6 hour paper in a day. Fair enough, some people thrive on this but me, I get exhausted after 3 hours! This is probably because I hardly ever sleep well the night before any exam (usually 4 hours max). Did anyone else have this problem in CA12?

 

it's a clever idea by the actuaries who want to keep their pay high, move the 6 hour exam from fellowship to half way...that way more people will drop out early on - as before if you made it to the final 400 paper, you were hardly likely to give up (but at the half way mark its a real possibility).

that's my cynical view anyway.

 

Keeping Actuaries salaries high

I agree with you. Its like The Weakest Link, remove your potential opponents you get the cash! To play the game you need tto get rid of those who pose the greatest threat and doing this earlier on is easier! Also, apparently most scripts are marked by recently qualifieds (many of who don't have years of work experience). So when you give them an answer on your script that's perfectly valid and should receive credit but is not on the marking schedule, you can bet your bottom dollar you won;t get credit for it. I know this because I know someone who got an FA for an ST subject and when taking exam conselling was told on several occasions that "I would've probably given you the marks there!". This would have meant that in reality it was a pass. I think CA1 was to some extent pretty subjective and we could have the same problem here! I just hope I don't end up with a bitch of a marker!

 

You can appeal a fail decision on your paper. It will cost you £250 though.

If you get an FA it may be worth considering.

Me personally, I'd probably want to take exam counselling first.

 

I found CA11 ok - I remember plenty of bookwork questions, and an amazing amount of pensions questions - this particularly stuck in my mind cos I remember cominig out of the exam and thinking ot myself that I'll need to have a glance at my CA12 notes to remind myself what else was in the syllabus apart from pensions!

I noticed hardly any bookwork in CA12 - I remember about 2 or 3 questions, but for the rest of them, it felt that it was impossible to use any core reading, and I was writing down whatever idea I could come up with.

However I was comforted by the fact that at least I was writing for the entire 3 hours - I noticed some people in CA12 either closing their paper after an hour or sitting there with their paper open but writing nothing. Mind you, they could just be really really clever....

And did anyone here ask for extra paper?? What on earth could you have so much to write about - the booklet they gave was thick enough!

 

Agree - I thought a fair chunk of the marks in CA12 were for non-bookwork type questions. Bit annoying that they're only going to put the papers up on the web after all the exams are done as it would be good to have a look over the paper again (even though I'm convinced I've done pretty badly on it..!)

 

They used to put the question papers up the day after the exam. I think they probably stopped doing this as it exposed them to immediate criticism should the exam be badly written.

By waiting longer to publish them they give themselves a little more breathing space to prepare for any criticism.

Maybe some students might sneek a paper out and put it on a website and post the link here? Not that I'm recommending it.....

 

I did ask for extra paper. The reason is because i like to ensure theres lots of space in between questions so that I can go back to them later if new stuff pops into my head.