Booking Closed??

I don't understand why booking seems to be closed? The website says that the date is 29 August for CA2 and CP3 ONLINE exams.

Were they saying that this online exam deadline is applicable to UK and Ireland exam centres That doesn't make sense!

Is anyone else experiencing this problem? Perhaps the exam is over-booked?

 

Some people took up the refund offer made by the IFoA earlier this year to withdraw from the CA3 in April in order to sit CP3 in September. Therefore they might have increased demand with this action. I bet those candidates won't be happy to now be told CP3 is no longer available in September.

Not getting proper value for money from subscription fee if they can't even provide the exams.

 

My. Gosh. How pathetic is that though? Have you ever...? I mean, this is a professional organisation, supposedly. How can they limit the number of people wanting to attempt an exam? It doesn't make sense from a revenue point of view either. And come on! How hard is it to administer a freakin' online exam - lord have mercy...

 

I don't understand how an online exam can be sold out. It is not like they can ran out of space at exam centres.

 

Many thanks for your response. I have just read that and I see that they want to make sure that the exam is marked properly this time. This is good to know, as for the August 2016 sitting of CA3 the Profession allowed 708 people to sit the exam. I know from personal experience that this exam was not marked properly. I eventually received my final mark only last month, which was conveniently for them 1 mark short of the pass mark!

 

Not many have questioned why they brought forward CP3 to Sept 2017, a year early. I have my own thoughts on that. Regardless of the reasons, capacity should have been considered properly before deciding to do this. All that money I spent on Acted training for CA3 has been a waste of time now that CP3 won't necessarily contain an actuarial topic to communicate, which makes me wonder what's the point of this CP3 anyway?

 

Get used to it. Revenue point of view? Aren't they supposed to be acting in the interest of members? I'm not paying my membership dues so that they can make a profit.

The worst part of it is that a few days before they closed the deadline I asked for specific and individual guidance with regards to my outstanding exams. This one being one of them. They didn't even bother to tell me that the exam entry would close 48 hours later.

Also it would be impossible to qualify in the supposed 4 sittings notice the IFoA has imposed on us before having to endure the change in the exam system.

You also think they are unprofessional? Join the club.

Try complaining through their non-existant complaints procedure or to the non-existant regulator.

 

I'd encourage people to use the complaints procedures in the first instance but sadly must also say don't do so with any serious expectation of things being put right, so I agree with Infinity. I once asked the FRC how many complaints have they taken up with the IFoA over the years and no answer was provided.

 

Yes thanks for pointing that out. I can confirm that the FRC is not interested and claims to have very little power over the IFOA and the putting things right process is not worth the paper it is written on.

I've complained about the fact that the curriculum 2019 contains a number of contradictory statements regarding transition arrangements since I will go from having 3 exams to 6 despite the claim in the introduction that students would not suffer from extra exams, study time or time to qualification. However when I complained, the IFOA have simply doctored the curriculum 2019 document to remove and modify statements without even notifying students of the amendment or even putting a date or version number on the document to allow one to distinguish between the original and the doctored document. Even my Acted tutor didn't understand that CT8 will become 2 exams doubling the effort required to pass.

When I tried to complain via the putting things right process I was told that my complaint was not appropriate for this procedure.

 

Did you get a SAR? It is free and I have heard that there are vast distinctions between the marks that examiners give for the same script. They also apparently mark you down for your personal characteristics. I would suggest you get the SAR. Although since the IFOA have wised up to their legal requirements to disclose personal information they've changed their document rentention policy (also very quietly so that no one notices...)

 

I'm still waiting for my SAR result from 16 July 2012 for my SA2 attempt. Although recently I've perhaps discovered why it wasn't provided, since I did an all-in SAR lately which revealed internal email discussions where the following statement was made on 3rd August 2012 "In addition we have had a subject access request under the Data Protection Act for SA2 but we are not holding any marks for that subject.".

I can't quite figure out from that how if independently marked twice, awarded an FA and charged £200 for exam counselling when no marks were being held but I'm sure ONCE AGAIN it must have been I who have completely misunderstood what they're saying. After all I am merely a student, very thick and don't understand basic English without their assistance.

 

That's really strange. How can they not have both marks? Maybe the marks varied so wildly that they didn't want to publish them. Why don't you join the Swiss institute? If you do their exams and claim equivalence from the U.K. Institute, you don't have to worry about your poor English. Perhaps the IFoA thought that since English is not a national language in Switzerland, the Swiss might be able to speak better English (than the English) and therefore don't have to demonstrate their communication skills...

 

I really can't wait to receive the explanation.

 

Why is it impossible for you to qualify within 4 sittings? They've given plenty of notice, if you want to avoid having to sit the new exams then you have been given FOUR opportunities to pass the 3 you have outstanding. If you focused your energy on studying for these exams instead of channeling it all into your hate for the institute, you'd probably have passed them by now.

If our system is so bad, talk with your feet - go and qualify under the US or some European system and then apply for mutual recognition.

 

That's reckless advice. I don't think you've even investigated that possibility. I have. There are numerous barriers here including language, immigration, relocation as well as a poor exemption conversion of exams already passed at IFoA being recognised at these foreign associations.

 

Rather than make misguided statements such as the above, I think you need to research the facts. The problem is that they have not given me or you plenty of notice. I didn't realise the implications of the new curriculum as it was misleading- it has subsequently been doctored as I have explained above. There were incorrect and contradictory statements in the published guidance and even an Acted tutor on here has failed to understand that CT8 will also move to 2 exams rather than one. The IFoA had to send all students a personalized email in January 2017 to make up for the errors in the document published in October 2016 and students would have already started have studying by then. Also, even according to the IFoA, 4 sittings is not enough notice. In the last major overhaul, there were students who were impacted by more onerous exam commitments even though they supposedly received 4 sittings notice.

Anyway, like I said, please go and research the facts rather than make inflammatory statements such as the above. It is now impossible to qualify in the current system as CP3 exam entry has been prematurely closed. So even if I did try to qualify in 4 sittings, I would not be able to and I would be lumbered with what seems to be 3 additional years of PPD.

I do not have the same privilege of unlimited time as you. I cannot take more than 1 exam per sitting. I had planned to complete my exams in 2020 as per the published guidance which detailed names and dates of exams until 2020, but this document has just been deleted from the internet and the new Curriculum imposed on me from 2019. If you have watched the professional skills videos and had any ethics or professionalism training, you would realise that the actions of the IFoA do not fall under either the category of ethical or professional.

If you did some actuarial analysis and presented it to a client and promised to send him the slides by email later, would you go and doctor the slides, making material modifications to the numbers and then send it to him hoping he wouldn't notice?

Why should I go to another qualification? Again, please go and research the facts. If I wanted to qualify in 3 years or less with the Swiss system, it would require a knowledge of German. I know of people who have been denied admission to the Indian Institute. It is not practical to start with another exam system having wasted years struggling to complete the UK system. But there is not doubt about it (and I have first hand experience from working in many European countries which I think you might not given your comments) each and every continental European Actuarial exam system requires less effort than the UK system.

The problem is that you do not understand what is going on at the Institute. They are not acting in our interest. The IFoA is no longer run in the interest of it's members or even by an Actuary. The strategy is to increase membership by procuring members from other countries to boost profit. You will find that when you qualify or if you have already qualified, the value of your qualification has been diluted.

So please make some sensible or informative comments on here rather than suggest I go and study somewhere else or concentrate on my exams. I concentrated on my exams last sitting and the IFoA decided to change the DATE of my exam at the last minute, blaming me for not seeing the exam update on twitter.

 

Also, please read the transition rules. If you try to claim exemptions for the exams you may have spent years passing with a foreign institute and assuming you are awarded some as per the comments of almost there, you cannot simply then apply for mutual recognition with the IFoA. It clearly says that I should have actually "passed" the exams of the foreign institute before getting mutual recognition from the IFoA. I realise the rules and regulations of the IFoA are flapping in the wind so perhaps you were not aware.

 

You could use your CT passes to gain exemptions from the SOA prelim exams, finish up under the SOA system and then apply for IFoA MR. This is stated in the IFoA-SOA mutual recognition agreement.

You say that unlike me, you don't have unlimited time. What does this mean? Do you think I don't have a full time job and other commitments in life so I can study full time? What is it that is stopping you from taking more than one exam per sitting?

How many hours have you spent on this forum complaining? I bet enough to have been able to pass a couple more exams.

The institute initially had a timetable going up to 2020. They changed their mind, but have given adequate notice. You have the time to pass the exams if you want to make the effort. If not, then just like everybody else you will have to sit the new exams. Given the amount of notice it is hard to argue that it is unfair. There are people who have just started studying for the exams who will be able to pass the relevant CTs in time for the transition. Why can't you?