There are now no places on two-day courses until at least September 2010. There are only 2 one-day retaker courses until at least September 2010. Surely as everyone needs to take this course then excessive demand cannot be the issue? I'm hoping that the Institute puts some emergency courses in place before September 2010. On a even more worrying note, the marking of the modules seems to be very erratic with published pass rates for the 12 two-day courses varying from 52% to 75% plus 2 "outliers" with 36% and 37% pass rates. I say "outliers" as the probability of these pass rates arising individually based on a binomial distribution is less than 1%. E.g. P(Bin(19, 0.67) = 7) = 0.7%. So the chance of 2 occuring out of 12 courses seems remote. Playing devil's advocate, I'd be interested to know if there are any macro consistencies between these two "outliers" - e.g. course venues, assessors, etc - as opposed to the assumption that the students were just poor. As I failed one of the "outlier" courses I feel quite aggrieved about the situation I now find myself in.
There are spaces on the 2 day courses in Nov and Dec 2009... http://www.actuaries.org.uk/media_c..._two_day_course_based_exam_-_spaces_available It also says more dates will be announced shortly here: http://www.actuaries.org.uk/students/exam_subjects/CA2_Module But why not just do the one day course in Feb or May 2010?
Don't worry about past pass rates. Remember there are far more people at each session of a written exam than in CA2 so just one or two more fails surely isn't that surprising and massively impacts the %. Just go in with a positive attitude and be focussed on the current task in hand.
I understand your pain, I just failed on a course where only 7 passed out of 19. I've gone for the retaker course in May but even so, it means I'm retaking it 11 months after I took the course, which kind of defeats the point of missing out on the 1st day because I have done it recently. There is a very good chance that I will have forgotten a lot of it by then and it does seem silly that I can't do it before then, unless I travel up to Scotland!
Totally agree CA2 is biased I totally agree with everything said. CA2 is unfair and biased. It is a matter of individual opinion on whether or not a candidate produced a good audit trail. The Institute is also failing to support members' aims in qualifying because it failed to provide more 1-day retaker exams more often. I am too frustrated, feel unsupported and let down by the Institute of having to wait till May 2010. I don't even mind travelling up to Edinburgh or even going abroad to do it if that means I can retake the exam sooner. The exam is also very expensive for what it is worth. Not many employers see this as an exam and ultimately it is the candidates that bear the costs. The two-day course is a waste of time. It does not prepare you for the next day at all. There were good practical tips, but for the cost of course it conjures up the image that the Institute is only trying to make money. What purpose does the Institute serve for continuing with this exam if so many candidates are ot satisfied with it and employers don't even register it as an exam?
