Help!!

[leafy]

<Nevermind>
It's stressful studying for these exams in spare time outside of a 9-to-7 job

Leafy

 

[Muppet]

Get up earlier and try 8-6.

 

[leafy]

I'd love to.
Flexi-time would really be useful...but sadly...
Leafy

 

[bystander]

I'd give very careful thought to your predicament.

1. What are your contractual hours?
If you are always working longer than this and at an early stage of the exams something seems amiss eg the co is under-resourced. Check what resourcing plans are at your co. Is an end in sight?
Is it a known temporary blip eg mid year end valuation? If it's this you can timetable study around it so you get ahead before the push starts. Though it's not great when the push clashes with when you want to revise.
Is it your work knowledge that is making you do long hours? Look for improvement in your efficiency. A time management course perhaps?
2. Is your day so long because of commuting?
If it's this, move closer (after the exams!)
3. Are you the only student at the co?
If not, find out what coping strategy others use. If you are all in the same boat, it may add clout to discuss with management together. Show your manager the recommended hrs of study suggested by the Institute (its on their website). You may be able to squeeze some study time out of them.
4. How mant subjects are you trying to cover? With that much pressure, don't try too many.
Slow but sure may be better than take 3 fail 3 (and it's more motivational). Of course, your employer may be dictating pace - I obviously don't know.

Remember its not always quantity of study that counts - It's quality. Make every session productive. That can be better than sitting 3 hrs staring at a few pages in total boredom, not fully concentrating etc. So your 1 hr squeezed in a night may be better than another persons 3.

There's the old trick of using holiday to study but I'd make sure you have one genuine break a year or you're likely to go mad!

If all else fails, look for a new employer though beware that there will be other cos out there with people in a similar predicament.

The ultimate is change profession but that's a very major decision.

No magic solutions I'm afraid, but you aren't alone at feeling the heat.

 

[leafy]

wow, thank you for the reply.
Just to clarify I originally posted a proper question under the heading "Help!!!" but worked it out for myself about an hour later as is always the way...but I couldn't delete the whole thread so I just removed the question and replaced it with an excuse

I am quite stressed with this revision at the moment. I'm sure that I'll cope, but it's just been a very long and tiring few months and I could really do with just going home to sleep in the evenings without feeling guilty about not revising. I'm sure most people feel that way too, I wasn't thinking I was unique!

I'm in the rather strange situation where I am working for a non-Actuarial company. While a few of my colleagues are taking the much easier ACII Insurance exams I decided that I didn't want that as my future, and given my mathematical background asked if I could take the Actuarial exams instead.
What this means is: a) I am the only one in the company doing these exams, b) I only get 2-days study leave per exam instead of the usual 40, and I haven't had any free time to go to a single tuition or supervision.
I thought that I would be able to cope, but am feeling the pressure slightly. When I started I was reasonably new to the company and my time wasn't so busy, but it has just gone into overdrive since then.

I love my job with a passion, and the only way they are going to get me to leave is with a crowbar. I am very good at what I do and the long hours are down to my desire to continue working on current projects and produce work faster than people expect, and also because of my commute to work...as you rightly pointed out.
My day is actually 8am - 8:30pm because I have a 90minute tube journey each way in which I sometimes try to revise but I can't do anything more than read notes. So you can see how I might get a little stressed. I currently grab about 30minutes over lunchtime if I don't work through it and about an hour or two before bed if I am awake enough.
I've tried twice now to move to a location near work, but there is no way I can currently afford it (I work in the City).
I'm only taking two exams this sitting, and I'm sure I'll do fine, but I am currently thinking that if I can find any way to back out of the Actuarial course while saving face with my employers (Who are funding me) then I would. I would probably regret it in years to come, but I just haven't had a decent nights sleep in so long!!

Do you think I should stick with it? Or do you think that I'm not going to be able to cope and should get out now?
Leafy

 

[ekla_cholo_re]

help

hi leafy,

your situation is indeed confusing. i would suggest talking to your employers and telling that you need some extra study... 2 days study leave for exam..thats not enough dude...market average for the CT papers...if you are sitting them i presume should be about 6-12 days per paper...this goes up to 20 days for the later papers...if you continue in your current scenario you are going to find it extremly difficult to study for the later papers...the only way i think you can pass them is by not having a life....you have to forget sleep.

hence bottomline is talk to your employers and explain the situation and ask them to increase your study leave (if you are good at what you do, then i think they should consider you as a special case)....however if they dont agree and you want to continue doing actuarial exams...find an actuarial job. hope this helps.

 

[bystander]

I echo Ekla. You have to talk with your 'er. 2 days is about industry average for CII but you have little chance of qualifying (<10%?) with that level of support. It would take years and years. You'd burn out I think.

Do you really want to be an actuary? You mentioned the mathematical challenge. When you move to ST/SA subjects that almost vanishes. Its all about methodology, and the actuarial control cycle of design/valuation/monitoring etc. I think you need industry experience there. There's nothing to stop you just doing the CT subjects but is it worth it?

On a different tack, how are you coping with the worklogs etc? It'll be harder to get experience validated working in 'other/wider' fields and without an actuary as supervisor. Most people study mainstream then move wider. The last thing you want is to get all the exams then find you can't convert to fellowship due to lack of experience. I'd talk to the Institute around this.

Have you told your employer of your need to do BAM?

End of the day it's your decision. Maybe see how you fair in Junes pass list and then choose.

Good luck (and get some sleep!)

 

[cheeming]

Work & study???

Dear Leafy,

Having gone through some “challenging” exams (non actuarial) whilst working, I can sympathize with your situation. Apart from bystander’s advice (which is really good), what you need to ask yourself is simply “How much do you want to pass the exams?”

To pass, frankly you might need to do some or ALL of the following things:

1. Study all day during the weekends. That means getting up on a Saturday morning and studying from 8am to 8pm or thereabouts with at least 8 hours effective time.
2. Do the same thing all over again on Sundays.
3. Repeat this for holidays etc. Take a break about ½ day every fortnight to avoid burnout.
4. Get at least one week leave for every CT subject, which should give you about 8 days to revise and one day exams (hopefully, you are working 5 days a week)
5. Get something done during the weekdays (at least 2/3 times a week)

If it sounds hellish, trust me – it is! Obviously, depending on how good/interested you are – some of the above can be cut down. Whilst working, I did some of the above.

Fortunately, I attended classes during the weekends – so that really help to discipline me… With classes on both Saturday and Sunday…. It’s like working 7 days a week … which is a real nightmare…. But that’s is exactly what you are looking at with 2 days leave per paper…

Sad but true!

CM