I've studied CA1 for the April session by trying to memorise the flashcard content. Unfortunately, due to lack of time invested, this will most likely lead to a fail. With more time this session, I'm looking to optimise the material I have to memorise by obtaining solutions with these characteristics: most comprehensive list of facts least amount of words per fact, while still achieving the maximum amount of marks Analysing the various sources available, ie Flash cards, Smart Revise, Core Reading, Past Papers, I've made a slightly confusing discovery! As an example, if you compare the solutions to a simple bookwork question like "describe the monitoring the experience stage of the actuarial control cycle" we end up with the following. (I'm trying to give a general indication, as I'm sure it's against forum rules and copyright infringement if I post the actual content) Flash Cards: 4 facts, 1 note, detailed Smart Revise: 3 facts, more compact (less words) Core reading: 2 paragraphs, roughly relating to some points of the flashcards and smart revise. Past Papers: ~2 facts (but this is due to the 'application' nature of the questions or number of marks) Any thoughts on how to proceed? Lastly, just an idea of how I plan to approach answering an exam question: Run through the comprehensive solution I've memorised, (1) eliminating any points not relevant, (2) adding application content to the remaining points (ie tailoring, by giving examples or adjusting the fact slightly), and finally (3) brainstorming for more ideas from the question content if the question is worth more marks than the number of facts I've listed. Any help will be much appreciated! Thanks,
I sat CA1 in April also. Invested alot of time in learning mnemonics, which I think were less useful than I'd hoped. I think the direction of CA1 is changing, and the strategy of learning by rote (which you seem to be proposing?) is less likely to succeed with future exams than it might have in the past. I think some learning by rote is needed (so that you have key lists, and a starter with ideas), but the focus seems to be moving more to applications of ideas, so need to also work on idea generation techniques and structuring answers logically. I think the example you provided, "describe the monitoring the experience stage of the actuarial control cycle" is an example of a type of question that is increasing unlikely to come up. My 2c, would be interested to hear the views of others...
The suggestion of method to approach exams was sound but I'd say brainstorm comes first. Get all your ideas there (using any relevant mnemonics expanded as said above) then decdie whether major or minor to the qn. You want to get the major stuff down first. But yes, it is application they are trying to test and so the pointed questionmay be disguised into something like.... You are a new life insurer writing unit linked investment process and are planning activities that you will need to undertake in order to measure profitability as part of business planning. Discuss what you may need to achieve this. So the factors to bring thru hinge around the fact it is new so need lots of monitoring. Profitability so what are the drivers. When do you need to analyse - outset, later etc. Anything special because its investment business eg mortality not that key. Business planning suggests an interest in volumes but measure by what --- plan size, number of plans etc.
