Associateship

Hello everyone,

I am a rather mature actuarial student. My company want me to take the CA3 exam because I will then be able to qualify as an AIA. I realise that the CA3 exam is based on the CT subjects. Unfortunately I sat these subjects in the late 80s early 90s and need to refresh my knowledge. The only study materials I still have are a couple of dusty old textbooks.

I thought I could just buy the CT core reading but the Institute are charging £44 per subject.

I did take a year out a few years ago to take the City University Diploma in Actuarial Management and gained an exemption from CA1 hence being just short of CA3 to qualify.

My question is - how on earth am I to study for CA3 when I have forgotten nearly everything and the study materials are so expensive?

Any ideas?

 

You realise wrong! The CA3 exam is dead, there's only a 2-day course now, which covers material in CA1, not the CTs.

 

Yes it's supposed to be based on CA1 material, but this is in turn based on the CT's.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. CA3 is an exam in communication. If you were comfortable enough with the actuarial basics from the CT's to do your course, you should be ok.

Have you already done or are exempt from CA2? That may possibly require some of the nitty gritty from the CTs but then again it's more or less the basics.

 

Thanks for your advice. I think I am exempt from CA2. I looked into this a year or so ago and I got confirmation from the Institute that I only need CA3 to get AIA. It seems worth doing but I don't think my boss understands just how much preparation and re-learning I will have to do to stand a chance with CA3. Thanks again.

 

Ca3

yes, the last CA3 exam was last month, so now the only option is the two day course.

I would agree that the fact its now supposedly based on CA1 (which you need to have passed (or gained exemption from) to attempt CA3 now) shouldn't really make a difference, since the CA1 course doesn't really introduce any new technical material.

I think if you look at a few past CA3 exam papers and marking schedules/examiners reports (which you can download from the institute site) you'll get a good idea of the level of technical knowledge required for the subject, and whether you need to recap in any areas. But since it is very much about the communication rather than testing technical knowledge, (an emphasis which should be made clear when you read the examiners reports), I suspect you may well be pleasantly suprised.

By the way, I think the 2 day course is now 50% assessed by means of a written exam (which you sit during the course) and 50% based on your part of a group presentation, so at least this second part shouldn't cause a problem in terms of any gaps in technical knowledge as its not prepared under exam conditions - I think you can work on it overnight and present it on the second day.

 

Thanks Mattt78.

I must admit I was unaware of the new arrangements for the course-based assessment. I will check them out on the Institute's website.

 

Yes, I don't think jashworth needs to worry at all about the technical content given his/her background and experience.

To expand on the format of the new course. A representative of the Profession has told me that it's not exactly 50/50 between the two parts of the assessment. It's more like you're assessed on the part that you do less well on. If that's bad then you fail irrespective of how well you do on the other half. If both parts are good then you pass (obviously).

In effect, the part you're better at is only taken account of if you're borderline on the other part. For purposes of passing it's better to be fairly good at both parts, rather than very good at one and very bad at the other - the overall mark isn't the sum of the marks on the two parts.

Also, the presentation is only given to the examiners, plus the people who are filming it, and observers from the Profession or similar overseas bodies. You don't do it in front of any other candidates. You get an hour or two to prepare the PowerPoint slides on the first day, but can't change them after that. What you can do is print them off and practise the talk overnight.

 

CA3 course

interesting. That probably helps explain why the pass rate for the course is still pretty low - below 50% I think.

So roughly how many people are present when you make the presentation?

 

Overall pass rate so far is 53%

 

Before being pressurised by your 'er, do you have to pay your own subs?

If so, beware. I think the fee is higher than student but less than FIA. Also you will need to go on a 1-day professionalism course and CPD requirements will also start to apply I think.

So its not quite as easy as saying pas CA3 and that's it.

 

Good points bystander.

My employer does pay my subs but I am not sure they will stump up to pay the £600 fee for the 2 day course/exam and certainly not for any tutorial that Act_Ed might provide. If I don't get the exam paid for there is no way I am paying for it myself.

I don't mind doing the professionalism course but on-going CPD requirements has got me worried.

And another thing - my free time is precious to me. The week-ends are not long enough as it is for me to do all I need to do. After all the years I have already spent pursuing this goal I think it is time to say enough!

 

AIA and CA3

it can't take much more than one weekend to prepare for a CA3 course, can it?

 

This line of thought might be part of the reason for the low pass rates.
If you're a natural or had many years of experience communicating to many different audiences about different topics using various medium, then yes, a weekend (or even a day) may suffice.
You may even get lucky.

It's all about how much you're willing to risk failing the exam relative to how much time and more importantly effort you want to put in.

I believe the recommended amount of time is something like 50 hours, but this is only a gauge and affected by your experience and study effeciency etc.

 

Really? Well the pass rates are still embarrassingly low. That makes some wonder whether it's by design.