Exam advice

[Actuary@22]

Hi all,

I am looking to seek some advice/viewpoints which would help me decide which exam to appear for in April 2023 IFOA exam diet.
I am left to clear SP2 and SA2 exam only.

I have appeared for SP2 from IFOA in April 2022 and September 2022 and failed by scoring around 45 both the times. I am confused now if I should appear for SA2 along with SP2 or only appear for either one of the exams.

I have heard that there is a lot of overlapping content in these two exams and also I am bored of studying SP2 now. But I am working in the life insurance sector so work load would also be there.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Mark Willder]

Hi all,

I am looking to seek some advice/viewpoints which would help me decide which exam to appear for in April 2023 IFOA exam diet.
I am left to clear SP2 and SA2 exam only.

I have appeared for SP2 from IFOA in April 2022 and September 2022 and failed by scoring around 45 both the times. I am confused now if I should appear for SA2 along with SP2 or only appear for either one of the exams.

I have heard that there is a lot of overlapping content in these two exams and also I am bored of studying SP2 now. But I am working in the life insurance sector so work load would also be there.

Thank you in advance!

Hi

Deciding which exam(s) to take is difficult, but here are a few things to consider.

Subject SA2 is a big course and a difficult exam. There's lots of very technical material to absorb, eg tax regulations, IFRS17 accounting rules, Solvency II. So there's quite a lot of material that goes a long way beyond what is in SP2. The SA2 exam is also a bit different - typically there are only 2 or 3 questions on the exam, so longer more detailed applications than SP2. For that reason I'd recommend studying SA2 over a full session in order to fully absorb the new material and practice lots of past questions. So starting SA2 now for the April exam may be too late. But if you have already made good progress through the SA2 material then it may make sense to keep going. Your workload at this time of year and your level of familiarity with the topics I mentioned from your work will also be factors.

But yes, there is overlap between SP2 and SA2. The bookwork from SP2 is assumed knowledge for SA2. While the earlier chapters of SA2 give a lot of new technical material, the later chapters in SA2 will feel more familiar (so you may find the course gets easier as you go through it). So studying SP2 will help with SA2 and vice versa. So if you are taking SA2 this time, then it probably makes sense to take SP2 as well.

It's understandable that you're getting bored looking at SP2 for the third time. It's worth trying a fresh approach, eg using the revision books rather than the course notes (as the revision books are more condensed). I think it would be helpful for you to get some feedback on your exam technique. Attempting the assignments and getting them marked would be a useful way to get feedback if you've not done that already. There's also the mock exam and the additional mock pack (which gives two further mock exams) which give further opportunities for getting feedback from the marker to see what you could do differently to improve your exam score.

I hope the above ideas help to make the decision and wish you good luck with the next exam.

Best wishes

Mark

 

[ActuaryBen]

Hi

Deciding which exam(s) to take is difficult, but here are a few things to consider.

Subject SA2 is a big course and a difficult exam. There's lots of very technical material to absorb, eg tax regulations, IFRS17 accounting rules, Solvency II. So there's quite a lot of material that goes a long way beyond what is in SP2. The SA2 exam is also a bit different - typically there are only 2 or 3 questions on the exam, so longer more detailed applications than SP2. For that reason I'd recommend studying SA2 over a full session in order to fully absorb the new material and practice lots of past questions. So starting SA2 now for the April exam may be too late. But if you have already made good progress through the SA2 material then it may make sense to keep going. Your workload at this time of year and your level of familiarity with the topics I mentioned from your work will also be factors.

But yes, there is overlap between SP2 and SA2. The bookwork from SP2 is assumed knowledge for SA2. While the earlier chapters of SA2 give a lot of new technical material, the later chapters in SA2 will feel more familiar (so you may find the course gets easier as you go through it). So studying SP2 will help with SA2 and vice versa. So if you are taking SA2 this time, then it probably makes sense to take SP2 as well.

It's understandable that you're getting bored looking at SP2 for the third time. It's worth trying a fresh approach, eg using the revision books rather than the course notes (as the revision books are more condensed). I think it would be helpful for you to get some feedback on your exam technique. Attempting the assignments and getting them marked would be a useful way to get feedback if you've not done that already. There's also the mock exam and the additional mock pack (which gives two further mock exams) which give further opportunities for getting feedback from the marker to see what you could do differently to improve your exam score.

I hope the above ideas help to make the decision and wish you good luck with the next exam.

Best wishes

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your advice. I noticed you mentioned about "get some feedback on exam technique".

What happened is i failed my SP2 sat in Sep 2022, with mark of 47, 3 marks away from the passing mark. When i tried to apply for the exam counseling to obtain feedback regarding my answer in the sitting, i saw restriction below applied:

· Exam counselling is only available for the last exam required for qualification either as an Associate or Fellow
· Exam scripts are only held for 16 weeks following the publication of results and counselling is only available for the last exam session.

Since the sitting was my first sitting in SP2, and not my last exam required to be Fellow, does it imply that i couldn't apply for the exam counseling? Would you mind to enlighten whether there are any approaches for me to meet my objective which is to understand where I did insufficiently or area of improvement from my actual SP2 exam sat in Sep 2022?

 

[Mark Willder]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your advice. I noticed you mentioned about "get some feedback on exam technique".

What happened is i failed my SP2 sat in Sep 2022, with mark of 47, 3 marks away from the passing mark. When i tried to apply for the exam counseling to obtain feedback regarding my answer in the sitting, i saw restriction below applied:

· Exam counselling is only available for the last exam required for qualification either as an Associate or Fellow
· Exam scripts are only held for 16 weeks following the publication of results and counselling is only available for the last exam session.

Since the sitting was my first sitting in SP2, and not my last exam required to be Fellow, does it imply that i couldn't apply for the exam counseling? Would you mind to enlighten whether there are any approaches for me to meet my objective which is to understand where I did insufficiently or area of improvement from my actual SP2 exam sat in Sep 2022?

Hi Ben

Yes, exam counselling from the profession would not be available for you.

Instead I would recommend that you attempt the ActEd mock exams and get them marked. The markers will be able to comment on your exam technique and suggest ways that you can improve.

Best wishes

Mark