General comments on April CT4 Examination.

How easy/difficult did you find the paper?
Also, what do you think is likely going to be the cut off?
(Cotoffs for April 2016 was 57 and Sept 2016 was 58)

 

CT4 gets the lowest cutoff among all the papers. It's hard to guess the accurate cutoff, but is should be around 59-60, if the paper standard was equivalent to previous diet papers.

The pass percentage usually depends on the paper standard and the average performance of all the students.

Hope this helps.
All the best.

Regards.

 

The April 2017 exam I thought was harder than the past papers. Kolmogorov's equations (integrated and differential) were not tested at all. Strange not testing a substantial proportion of the material (~1/4 of the material).

I was well prepared for the exam however I still found that even though I wrote effectively and efficiently for the full 3 hours, I still ran out of time.

 

The April 2017 exam diet has been a tough one for all the students. The papers of all subjects were tougher than previous diets. Maybe, the institute is seeing the increase in number of passing students due to the ease of papers and had to take some strict steps to keep this under check.

There needs to be a proper correlation between the number of students passing, and the number of jobs for freshers (majority of CT paper students are freshers).

There is currently a hike in number of students who have reached a stage where without experience, clearing papers wouldn't be beneficial for them.

At the best, let's hope and expect things to turn out the best for everyone.

All the best!
Regards.

 

Hi,
Thank you for the replies.
Although, there are more unemployed student actuaries, there has been no major increase in the students passing, it is pretty much consistent with the previous diets, And I dont think that is the manner in which IFoA operates.
Now, about the paper, I efficiently used the 3 hours as well, but in the end did feel like I could use more time.
Also, I wanted to inquire about marking of the scripts, is it very strictly based on, what we have seen, the solutions and points examiner's reports, and if not, not harshly are numerical errors treated.
And for theoretical questions, how do markers establish the validity of points given, as in, how broad are the guidelines.

Regards,
Priyanshi Bhansali.

 

The passing rate of students had been consistent with the previous diets because of the fact that the paper standards were consistent as well.

There has been considerable increase in the number of examinees over the years. With an increase in the number of exam takers, the students passing was increasing as well, which in turn has been degrading the reputation of the profession.

Even though I concur with the fact that the institute wouldn't set papers according to the available jobs in the real world, but it is their duty to ensure that the profession remains honorable.

The examiner's focus is more on finding the key steps in the solution. There are lot of marks given for the key steps which indicate the clarity of the concepts and not simply rote learning of methods.

I don't know much about how they handle numerical errors so I won't comment on that.

I guess the theoretical questions are marked majorly on the key points and some marks are deducted if the key points aren't there and the answer is beating around the bush.

I hope this clarifies your doubts.

All the best.
Regards.

 

Yes, it does.
Thank you very much!!

 

Also, getting a little specific here,
In chi squared tests, if the expected value is less than 5, we usually club the groups together. How many marks can we expect to loose if this hasn't been done, but if the table (Of expected and actual values) is appropriate, as this will affect the critical value and the test statistic as well.

 

Probably best to have a look at the mark scheme in the Examiners Report when it's released after results.