Difficulty level and expected pass marks

Discussion in 'SA1' started by krishdear, Oct 6, 2018.

  1. krishdear

    krishdear Member

    Hi Guys,

    How did you find the Sep'18 SA1 exam? I had written this as my first attempt at an SA exam and would like to know what you think about the difficulty level of this exam and the expected pass marks?

    Krishna
     
  2. Lewin

    Lewin Member

    It was a nasty paper.
    Of the 4 questions,I couldn't find any that was easy or one I could build confidence on.
    I would assume the pass mark would be around 55,based on past pass marks on the same.
     
  3. krishdear

    krishdear Member

    Thanks for the response Lewin - let's hope for the best.
     
  4. Geraldine

    Geraldine Member

    I thought it was tricky. I knew the bookwork but I’m not sure if I applied it to the situation - eg the best estimate liability, the risk margin question and one or two others.

    Thought the questions weren’t so straightforward and needed a lot of thought - lots of detail meant it took me long to consider the situation and so I really ran out of time on the last question - rushed answer and missed out on the last 3 marks *sigh*

    Hoping most people found it tough!
     
  5. Lewin

    Lewin Member

    Hey guys,
    How do you fare?38% pass rate was higher compared to the rest of SA subjects.
    Pass mark a bit higher than April at 58%.
     
  6. Geraldine

    Geraldine Member

    I failed :rolleyes: I'll get a SAR and see where I went wrong. I suspect I spent a bit too much time on the first couple of questions. SIGH. At least this is my last exam. I just hope I pass next time round because I'm so beyond over these actuarial exams lol ... life ruining stuff.

    I think one of the worst aspects is the LONG LONG wait after you've taken the exam. You spend three months in anxiety only to realise you've failed an exam you've sacrificed pretty much all your spare time for, over +/- 3 months. Boggles the mind..

    And yay, I get to submit PPD together with WBS .. FML :confused: (Acted Admin, please don't delete my post - "F" stands for "for" k?)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 14, 2018
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  7. Lewin

    Lewin Member

    Sorry mate.
    I passed by some miracle,i really did struggle with all 4 questions,left the paper feeling very confused.I did the Mock and it has covered part of qtn 1.
    I wish u all the best as you write it in April.
    How is CA2 and CP3? Want to write these in April and hopefully clear these horrendous exams.
     
    Geraldine likes this.
  8. krishdear

    krishdear Member

    I too passed, though I was unable to complete my paper. I agree that the wait time between the exam and the result is such a waste - an early declaration of result can certainly help...
     
  9. Geraldine

    Geraldine Member

    Think I was lucky with CA2 - Not sure how the exam has changed (if at all) since I took it but somehow managed to do almost nothing for the first 3-4 hours (deer caught in headlights type of thing - overthinking and being pedantic with the modelling). I then rushed through my work without taking any lunch, and kind of copy-pasted my audit trail with a few adjustments to make it sound like a summary type of report. Must have scraped a pass..

    CA3 / CP3 - to this day, I have no idea how I passed when I did. I don't think I ever did anything differently..
     
  10. Geraldine

    Geraldine Member

    Just thought I'd report back here. I got my SAR, and I was slaughtered by question 2 - which I think I spent just over an hour on! :(

    I did quite well on Q1, picking up 24 marks - but I think I spent about 1.25 hours

    That meant I didn't have much time to tackle the other two questions properly and think about things very well. I was also not able to structure my answers that well at this point.

    I think my big take-away from this attempt was time management - even though I knew the bookwork very thoroughly, and had gone through about 20 past papers, I had such poor exam technique! I wish I had done question 3 and 4 before question 2.

    Next time, I'll do the questions I'm most comfortable with first, and I will be ruthless with my time!

    Anyway, hopefully April will be my last exam ever! :rolleyes:
     
    Lewin likes this.

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