Asking During the Exam

[bilz]

Suppose you see a completely unfamiliar situation in the exam and you have no clue what to do especially paper1,is it possible to get help and hints?

 

[Sarah Byrne]

You will be given all the information available within the question. If the examiners think it needs any technical help this will be provided too. There isn't any way to ask for any additional help during the exam.

(There did used to be but students were not provided with as much technical assistance in the question. This has not been done for several years now.)

Thanks
Sarah

 

[bilz]

You will be given all the information available within the question. If the examiners think it needs any technical help this will be provided too. There isn't any way to ask for any additional help during the exam.

(There did used to be but students were not provided with as much technical assistance in the question. This has not been done for several years now.)

Thanks
Sarah

Hi. Thank you so much for this. So this means if you cannot get a model for paper1 you cannot do anything?I assume there is no way you can do an audit trail if you have not developed any model or if you have not finished it. Is there any other way to get some marks from the audit trail without a proper model?

 

[Sarah Byrne]

It's really unlikely that you won't be able to do anything so don't panic! If you can't work out things, put in placeholders (even if they are hardcoded values) so you can move on and get something done. You obviously need to highlight this in your audit trail. It's far easier to document a finished, working model, but make sure you still produce a complete audit trail whatever model you produce, finished or unfinished.

And remember there is always Paper 2

The Guide to CA2 on the IFoA website says similar things too - worth a read if you haven't already.

Sarah

 

[Actuarial Trainee]

Would you say the old style questions on the Internet are a bit more complicated because you had the option to ask for help?

I've been practicing them and just find I can't get them and the audit trail done in 3 hours. Usually takes me 3 hours just to model and maybe another hour to write up

 

[Sarah Byrne]

I would concentrate on the newer exams - if you're getting these done in the time you should be fine!

Students used to have around 7 hours to complete all 3 elements of the exam, so the model section would also have tested some of the skills now covered in the Paper 2 model update. It's therefore reasonable to say it would have taken longer than the time allowed for in Paper 1. Still useful to see some different situations though!

Good luck for the exams

 

[Viki2010]

It's really unlikely that you won't be able to do anything so don't panic! If you can't work out things, put in placeholders (even if they are hardcoded values) so you can move on and get something done. You obviously need to highlight this in your audit trail. It's far easier to document a finished, working model, but make sure you still produce a complete audit trail whatever model you produce, finished or unfinished.

And remember there is always Paper 2

The Guide to CA2 on the IFoA website says similar things too - worth a read if you haven't already.

Sarah

As far as I've seen the markers penalise you for putting in a "placeholder value" because the calculation does not produce the correct result.

 

[Sarah Byrne]

You won't earn the relevant accuracy mark, but if this is the difference between getting stuck and not progressing the model and therefore not having anything to document in the audit trail vs moving on, completing the model and documenting it then you should do it. The Guide to CP2 on the IFoA website has this to add:

• Don't get too involved in the detail of the model. If you get stuck, make a reasonable assumption, document it, and move on.
  
• If an answer does not look reasonable, check your formulae against the question. If you cannot find the error, note it in your audit trail and move on.
  - Remember: CP2 is not about determining the ‘right’ answer.