Cost of taking CT exams

Hello,

I'm an engineer who wants to become an actuary. My plan is to get one of the CT exams (either CT1 or CT3) under my belt before applying for a position at an actuarial firm.

Here's my problem: As I'm going to take the exams independently, I'd like to minimise the cost of studying for and taking the exams. As I understand it, for the combined materials pack (£120) and an exam (£175), is about £300 altogether.

I suppose the exam cost is pretty much fixed, but is there any way to reduce the cost of preparing for the exam without reducing your chances of passing?

Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.

 

I have heard of one person joining the Indian Actuarial Society, which makes it much cheaper to take exams, but there will presumably be exemption fees in transferring them.

The reality is the exam/CMP costs are nothing compared with the time you will have to put in, so I would bite the bullet and pay. When you have passed a few you'll be able to get a job which pays for the training

The indian exams are sat in Wembley I believe, so you don't have to travel to Bombay. Its still a bit inconvenient if you live in Belfast

 

Thanks Cardano. Had a quick look and the exam fees are a lot cheaper for the Indian Institute, about £10 for each CT. However, as you say, exemption fees will probably apply and these are £144 per subject.

From the point of view of preparing for the exam; what study material is necessary? Does the CMP contain everything that is needed to pass the respective exam?

 

The CMP is enough in terms of what you need to buy however, on its own it's not enough to pass the exam. The key is to do lots and lots of past papers and these are freely available to download from the actuaries.org.uk website. Download all the previous CT1/CT3 papers and for extra practice also get the older papers (CT1 = 102/ CT3 = 101).

The CMP is made up of three things: Course Notes, QandA banks and X-assignments. The QA and X assignments are just to build your level of understanding up, they won't help you pass the exam in my opinion. If money is really, really tight you could save a bit by just buying the course notes for £68.

p.s. Don't forget you also need to become a member of the faculty/institute to sit the exams... that's another £250 odd, can't quite remember! Good luck

 

But what about the real cost? Money, it comes and it goes likes waves crashing upon a sandy shore. We only have one youth however, and once it has past you by it's never coming back. So next time you pause to think about the cost, just remember the real cost....

 

RyuVI, thanks for the advice. I'll get my hands on as many of those old exam papers as possible.
Yes, the membership fees are another substantial investment... for an entrant, they come to about £450 (entrance fee of £172 plus £282 subscription).

avanbuiten, good point. Hopefully it's all worth it!

 

I did a similar thing, but instead of trying to reduce the cost, I banked on the fact that quite a few companies will re-imburse the costs once you join them if you have paid for the course notes and exam fees out of your own pocket... if you're confident on passing the exam(s) you choose, I wouldn't worry about the cost.

 

Do you need to take an exam?

There seems to be lots of PhD postgraduates joining the profession. You may not need actuarial examinations and might even get the odd exemption (if you have engineering qualifications which included for instance statistics). Some employers like people like yourself who can use models practically and arguably these will be the sorts of employers you want to work for. Just make sure your writng skills are up to it (for the later exams).

 

Not sure, but I think you may be able to sit CT1 without being a member... new incentive i think.

 

This is true - it's a new initiative being introduced from April 2009. See this month's Actuary magazine for further details. Sounds like a good idea to me.

http://www.the-actuary.org.uk/806510