CA2 Pass rate

Without sounding too bitter about the fact that I just failed CA2 (pass rate circa 35%), I found the course a complete waste of time.

The first day mainly involved the students attempting to find out what the examiners were looking for re. an audit trail. This proved a rather pointless exercise as the answers recieved were very vague and wishywoshy. In essence all the first day really taught us was how important the second day is.

The second day was an intense day, that's about all I can say.

So, in conclusion, I learnt nothing from the expensive two-day experience other than I'm apparently not very good at doing audit trails and the pass rate is considerably lower than I expected.

 

Confused

monkeycity, I agree with your comments below.

Just found out that I failed the retakers day.

Some questions / observations:

1. How objective is the marking? When you go to hand in your disk, the examiner can see who you are. I'm not suggesting that there is something underhand going on here but there is not 100% anonymity.

2. How are you supposed to know what you have done wrong in the exam (which I actually thought had gone quite well) without having to pay for the counselling? I am without a job at the moment, have paid £650 for my first sitting of CA2 then £415 for the retaker's day. Not to mention the accommodation in Oxford (3 nights in total) plus travelling costs. The counselling costs £225 plus the extra £415 I will have to pay again to sit the exam. This is a lot of money, especially for those whose employers don't see this as another exam and are not awarded a passing bonus as for other exams. It's also a lot of money for someone who's not in a job.

3. Why are the pass rates so low? I can see that less than 40% passed the retaker's day. Are the papers marked at least twice, as for other exams?

 

It's the stupidiest exam ever. It lacks any reference to reality whatsoever. Just another hoop the Institute make us jump through. What a joke!

 

It is designed to meet two aims:

1. To stem the tide of new qualifiers.

2. Profit.


Both of these aims are met by having an arbitrarily low pass rate.

 

argh!

Hey guys

Hello and Monkeycity, have you cleared CA2 now? If yes, have you done anything differently from the first time?

You can find an account of my experience from my post.
http://www.acted.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=3242

I found it horrible, more so because of the assessor than what to expect from the course. It is so frustrating!

 

What's their point???

Just found out that I've failed CA2 again - 3rd attempt and this time it was through distance learning. I thought that I did well enough to pass it this time.

The main thing whcih astounded me was the pass rate - 5 out of 21, that's less than 25%! I cannot think of any other professional exam having such ridiculously low pass rates!

People in general sit for professional exams for career progression, but given the stance which they have taken, it's more like a burden to career progression.

We talk about keeping pass rates low to stem the number of newly qualified - but if this is their main motive, then it is pretty stupid! Look at the accountants for example - their pass rates lie in the 70%, and yet I've never heard them complain about having too many qualified accountants.

Myself, I actually took a break from the actuarial exams (two left SA5 and CA2) and studied for the CFA from scratch - and today, I have qualified as a CFA charterholder, and this has helped me a lot in career progression...if I had stuck with the actuarial one, not sure I would have even been qualified...and let's not even go in the salary debate...So, the bottom line is that to make this profession better, we should have more actuaries, plying their trade not only in the traditional sectors but in new ones...

Focusing on keeping numbers down to protect salaries in one sector is akin to protectionism policy ,and we all know where this will end up.

Finally, I agree that this exam has no relevance at all to the real world - CA3 did help me a lot I must admit - but this one is more of a waste of money. I would rather have a course with VBA in, which would add more value to my profile than bog-standard excel modelling, skills which one can easily pick up on the workplace, if there is a need to.

Anyway that was my two cents...

 

I think the issue is that it is generally true that actuaries aren't always good at documenting - though with SII I can see this having to change and that it actually for the good. We do as we've always done and its not necessarily good or recommended practise. People who are now sitting it are all of one generation. It'll take some time for word to spread into practise.

How often have you had to pick up someone elses spreadsheet and fathom it yourself? There seems to be great pride taken in huge formulae and nothing to guide you as to what shortcuts etc have been taken.

Its a bit like answering qns as though you are in the office.

So, just get the exam technique right and you should be fine.

On the point of lack of anonymity, I think there is a difference between the examiner and the invigilator just as there is on the day. Its just that the invigilator is actually on the course with you and can give advice.

On costs, yes they are expensive as are all the exams and I empathise with anyone paying who is not in work. But if you pass whilst not working, it will prove your commitment and alas I think carrying on is the right thing in those circumstances. Its the same for qualifieds doing CPD via conferences if not in work, boy it costs.

 

Examiners' Report

Hi

how many of you who failed CA2 would find it useful to get access to an examiner's report?

Providing me with only the grade is not of great help, while being able to understand where I went wrong would be more than welcomed.

Those reports have helped me a lot for my other exams, and meant passing at either first or second attempt.

Is the Institute trying to make its life easy by not providing report and instead providing a high-fee based counseling to get access to the report?

Seems to be a killer business model from my point of view! Keep the pass rate low and ask them to pay for advice! Even the consultants would be proud of this! lol

Your thoughts?

 

Its probably not a report because there are so many unique possible answers dependent on how you 'answer'. There aren't even key topics that you can list.


So unfortunately, I think the best feedback does come via counselling where you get feedback on your particular style.