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April 2009

F

fischer

Member
The first question asks us to address 3 points:
1. What does immunisation mean
2. When can it be used
3. How it works

I found the examiner's report to be quite poorly written. I say this because:

a. In the section on 'what does immunisation mean' - it begins with actually answering when can it be used!
It is only in the second paragraph that it says 'immunisation means....'

b. It looks like it completely missed the point about when it can be used in the section that is actually meant to talk about this! Granted, it does briefly touch upon the when - but in reality the 'when' was actually covered in the first paragraph in the section on 'what does immunisation mean'.

c. The question asked for an example - I don't know what the section on 'when it can be used' is actually trying to explain but if the numbers in the section are meant to be an example then it is not a very sensible/ informative example.

d. The section goes on to state 'in practice there would be a much wider spread....' - the audience is someone from the Finance team - and apologies if this comes across as condescending, but would the term 'spread' be understood by the intended audience in this case?

e. The section on 'how it works' again is poorly explained. It states:
'If we had invested solely in 20-year Bonds – the fall in value of the Bonds would be more than the value of the future payments we will make.'
I don't think it would be immediately obvious to the CA3 reader why the fall in the value of the bonds would be more than the value of the future payments!

Any thoughts on this report and my interpretation of it would be much appreciated - especially if I have missed something.
 
The first question asks us to address 3 points:
1. What does immunisation mean
2. When can it be used
3. How it works

I found the examiner's report to be quite poorly written. I say this becaus
Click to expand...
The report only indicates one form of solution out of many.
a. In the section on 'what does immunisation mean' - it begins with actually answering when can it be used!
It is only in the second paragraph that it says 'immunisation means....'
Click to expand...
Sometimes this is highly effective. Depending on who your audience is, if you start with a boring definition you will lose them immediately. If you give them an example they can relate to you'll grab their attention at once.

b. It looks like it completely missed the point about when it can be used in the section that is actually meant to talk about this! Granted, it does briefly touch upon the when - but in reality the 'when' was actually covered in the first paragraph in the section on 'what does immunisation mean'.
Click to expand...

Again, sections are structured to engage your audience in the most effective manner.

c. The question asked for an example - I don't know what the section on 'when it can be used' is actually trying to explain but if the numbers in the section are meant to be an example then it is not a very sensible/ informative example.

d. The section goes on to state 'in practice there would be a much wider spread....' - the audience is someone from the Finance team - and apologies if this comes across as condescending, but would the term 'spread' be understood by the intended audience in this case?

e. The section on 'how it works' again is poorly explained. It states:
'If we had invested solely in 20-year Bonds – the fall in value of the Bonds would be more than the value of the future payments we will make.'
I don't think it would be immediately obvious to the CA3 reader why the fall in the value of the bonds would be more than the value of the future payments!

Any thoughts on this report and my interpretation of it would be much appreciated - especially if I have missed something.
Click to expand...

I think the essence here is detaching from the mindset of educating the audience and understanding that this is a communications exam. You need to do your best to get the message across in the most efficient way possible. The Acted notes give an excellent example of taking your car to the mechanic. The mechanic can just tell you what needs to be fixed or give you an in depth analysis of the reason you need something fixed. We're aiming for the former.
 
Thank you for taking the time out to answer my questions JayDee - much appreciated.

I take on board your point about the examiner's reports being one of many possible solutions. It is just that I didn't think this report was of a pass standard for the reasons I stated.

I didn't fully understand what you mean by losing an audience by starting with a boring definition. In particular, as an example, if you asked me how I spent Christmas; then I wouldn't start with some exciting news that is not entirely relevant to me only because I don't want to lose you with my boring Christmas celebrations. Apologies if the tone is a bit harsh, but I am actually confused because if someone I asked me how I spent Christmas, then the first four words would be "I spent Christmas by ...."

Again, it feels like we are not sign-posting correctly with a view to keep the audience engaged? The heading says "What is immunisation" but the context talks about "when it can be used".
And again apologies, I can sense by tone is not really improving!

I really liked the example from the ActEd notes about the car and the mechanic, thank you for brining it up here.
You are quite right that I'd only be interested in what needs to be fixed and the financial damages.
Here's yet another place I am struggling because, for example, suppose a newspaper distributer is concerned that reader's are complaining about not receiving weekly vouchers in their newspaper (example based on a sept 2007 paper). Complaints have increased by 50% from 6 to 9.
If I had the car & the mechanic example at the back of my mind, then I would've probably stopped at explaining to my friend that these complaints fluctuate a bit from month-to-month and that the 50% increase is not something he needs to worry about.
However, the actual solution goes on to do some basic statistical calculations to say that it is normal to expect about 10 complaints every 20 months.

I am conscious that I am missing something and can't see the 'pattern' or 'consistency' in terms of points that need/ needn't be covered. I wished there was a 'proper' checklist. I believe I have hit all the points on the marking schedule, but unfortunately the marker's don't seem to think so - so just need to know how to address this gap.

Thank you again.
 
Hi fischer

I cannot justify the contents of the report - perhaps you can take the sample marking sheet IFoA has on its website and see if it makes the pass mark. By the way the marking document also helps identify exactly what pattern they're looking for.

Let me explain what I meant by a boring definition losing attention. Let's suppose your friend with no investments background has asked you to explain Asset Liability Management. It helps to picture an actual friend (seriously!). I personally feel if I was to start by explaining assets matching liabilities I would lose the friend's attention within a minute. Alternatively if I understand that they have future needs such as buying a car or going on vacation in 3 years I can tell them they can plan ahead for those by using appropriate investments. Once that is done I could tell them that ALM is about meeting these needs or 'liabilities' with investments of the same time period. Then I can explain that shares in companies are risky if held for a short period but beneficial over a long period so they shouldn't be used to meet short term needs.

Alternatively if I had started with a definition of ALM and then given an example I can guarantee that they'd go back to reading the definition again. You don't want that. You want the reader to digest all the information in a smooth manner within one reading.

Patterns change based on the audience by the way so don't dwell on finding a one size fits all approach. If I was explaining ALM to an actuarial student I would perhaps jump right into the definition. If it were the board, I would use a very different example. I love what's called a top down approach-high impact to grab attention in the beginning then drill down deeper into details as required.

Hope this helps.

J
 
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