Umm, the examiners report has this: "Furthermore, due to limited resources, YOUTHSURE are passing on a large percentage of their risk to a third party through a reinsurance agreement. The effect being a reduction in long-term profitability." I have two issues with this: 1. Whatever the second thing is, it's simply not a sentence. And yes, I know, you can understand what is being said but I think it's poor form for an examiners report to be anything short of grammatically correct (regardless of modern trends in writing etc.). Just saying. 2. I know the investor was a large investor in a large, established insurance company and would therefore be likely to know what reinsurance is. However, don't you think it's fairly "jargony" to refer to 'passing on... risk'? Thoughts?
Hi Geraldine, Yeah I have had a look at the examiners report and it is pretty poor to say the least. In the marking schedule we are told that 'reinsurance' is jargon, which means that it should not be used at all in the solution, but then they use it in their solution! I failed this exam by 2 marks and I was criticised for using reinsurance. Also I noticed a number of other errors: Acquisition has been spelt without a 'C' in the title. The colleague is actually Margaret Murray, not Margaret Jones In the summary there is a reference to PRESRIGE LIFE Many thanks Gavin
Yep, I subsequently saw that they actually listed "reinsurance" as a technical term to avoid! I'm sorry but, over the years, the IFOA haven't inspired confidence and faith in this exam and its marking process! Sorry to hear you missed this by a mere 2 marks
Yeah speaking about the marking process, I received 0 marks (out of 2) for 'visual aids kept simple', but in my counselling report I was praised for keeping my visual aids simple. Where is the consistency? I will drop them an email on Monday when this exam is over to ask them to explain the discrepancy, but given poor past experience, I won't get anywhere.
Wow! What an absolute joke! The Institute is well known for their evasive answers! For example, I emailed the CP3 exam team to ask whether any contingency planning has been put in place in case we have an exam debacle and can't access our papers. This is what I got: "Dear CP3 student, Thank you for your email. The exam scenario has been emailed out to you and the platform is now working. We are still communicating with our technical support team to ensure this does not occur again. Please continue with your exam as normal and you will hear from us soon as we have further information." Never mind that NONE of my concerns were addressed - they weren't even acknowledged! There wasn't even an apology or attempt to personalise the response. How very sad and pathetic.
Yeah they don't have the best people skills do they? 2 and a half years ago I had to pull out of an exam because my then 3-year-old daughter had to undergo an operation on the day of the exam. I contacted the IFOA, with proof, to apply for the refund. This is the response I received: "Thank you for your email. I am sorry to hear you are unable to sit your exam. Unfortunately we do not offer post-closing date refunds, nor can be transfer exams to the next sitting. Also, we are unable to hold money on account for future exam sittings. If you do not sit your exam, it will be marked as absent and will not affect any future exam bookings. If you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us."
Honestly shocking response you got from them. They should practise what the preach when it comes to communication skills. Identify the key points - concerns about the administration of the exam Explain each of the key points clearly Keep the language simple, blah, blah, blah.
Once I did a CA3 SAR and found both examiners were contradicting each other several times on my presentation. This was back in the days when you had to do it in person. When I got the CA3 exam counselling report, the person who wrote that managed to contradict both examiners further. Somehow the IFoA thought this was something I should just put up with and write them another cheque to try again. They were rather quick to declare my complaints closed and have no further correspondence on it. Imagine if any of us behaved like this in the places we work...
