Hi I'm working towards a career change from financial selling (pensions, investments etc) to actuary. I'm working through CT1 & 7 and the moment, CT7 is pretty straightforward for me as it's similar to a lot of stuff I've done in the past. I was struggling with a couple of things on CT1 which I managed to sort out with an actuary who works for the bank I work in now, she then told me not to worry about it because I'd hardly ever use any of the maths in the day to day work ! (I couldn't ask her too much as I don't wnat anyone in my dept to find out that I want to leave) Is this true ? the written side of th exams will be my strongest point, but I'm enjoying the maths as it's real stretch for me, be a bit dissapointed if never get to use it.
I'd say it depends on what job you go for as to how much of the mathematical stuff you get to use. Certainly I don't and am happy that way. There are always new modelling techniques coming along and so there is scope for people on appropriate software devt. I get the impression that perhaps General Insurance could be the area where say your stats knowledge comes out. But beware, there's a lot of software out there built to do the mathematical stuff and where actuaries come in is judging parameters and deciding on scenarios then communicating results. Enjoy the challenges ahead!
I found that a lot of the stuff you may learn for the exams may not be used for work, primarily because: 1) Almost everyone uses computers at work which cuts back on the manual calculations which may be asked in exams. 2) The exams (especially the CT, ie maths based ones) are designed to meet an arbitrary actuary's needs and would inherently cover topics not used by specialists. That being said, you do need a good understanding of the mathematical prinicples taught in the earlier subjects. This is because, while higher exams and work may not require as much of the in depth maths, you are likely to be required to understand why the results look the way they do and make suitable comments/suggestions based on them. If you can get over the maths hurdle, you may be at an advantage for the later (harder) written exams.
Thanks guys, after the study session I had last night I'd be happy never to see another equation in my life
