Materials to focus in the final 2 weeks

Discussion in 'SP2' started by ActuaryBen, Sep 7, 2022.

  1. ActuaryBen

    ActuaryBen Keen member

    Dear All,

    Its 12 days away from the SP2 exam and i wish everyone is on track with your own study plan. Best wishes to those who are taking it together on 19th Sep 2022!

    Background
    I have gone through combined material, and have attempted the practice question (while refering to slotuion, which is not a good habit). I have done the past years from 2017 to 2021 under exam condition (while refering to my summary and mindmap for each chapters), and score averagely about 40-50. I have the mind map ready for each chapters ready.

    Query
    Appreciate if I could have your advice on queries below:
    0) In view of the mark obtained in past year which is insufficient to secure a pass, should i restudy the material in the combined material pack, especially for the few chapters that i am comparatively unfamiliar with?
    1) Should I memorize the mindmap for each chapters to increase my answering speed in exam? Initially, i thought this is not necessary under current open book condition.
    2) I havent do the assignment x question for the 6 parts. Should i spend time in doing this assignment x, or should i redo all the practice question for each chapter?
    3) After step 2, should i redo the past year from 2017 to 2021 again? or i should try the older past year probably between 2010-2017? Is it worthwhile to try the old past year in view of possible change in the syllabus?
    4) Can anyone share the exam question and examiner report with me for ST2 exaxm for sep 2018? I actually visited to the website, but couldnt get the paper at website: ST2 Past exam papers, reports and syllabus | Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

    Thanks.

    Regards,
    Ben
     
    ActuaryBen, Sep 7, 2022
    #1
  2. Mark Willder

    Mark Willder ActEd Tutor Staff Member

    Hi Ben

    It sounds like you've done a lot of exams under exam conditions now, so hopefully you have a good feel for where you need to improve. So when you look at your solutions an mark them, do you feel that you are not writing enough / generating enough ideas, are you running out of time, are you making mistakes? What to do next depends on where you are losing marks.

    0) You want to be as active as possible in your revision and do new things that will add to your knowledge and skills. So I wouldn't spend too much time going over the notes again, unless there are particular (parts of) chapters that you find you don't know too well when answering questions.

    1) Yes, I think it's best to memorise ideas rather than looking things up. I think a lot of students are actually finding the open book exams harder because they spend too much time checking things that in the past students would have known. Aim to look up things rarely - just if something unusual comes up. Practice the new approach under exam conditions and see where the right balance is for you in terms of writing less and looking things up compared to writing more and not looking them up.

    2) As above, doing something new is best. Doing the assignments is better than doing questions you have already seen. Consider getting assignments and mocks marked in the future to get some feedback on your approach - it sounds like you missed out on this.

    3) Again, it's better to do some different questions. There's been relatively few syllabus changes.

    When you are doing questions and checking against the solution, look for the points you are missing. Add these to your mind maps so that you will remember them in future. Don't worry about adding everything to the mind map - many marking schedules score 150% rather than the 60% or so for a pass - so add in the key ideas that would boost your score to 60%. You don't need to write out all your answers in full - cover lots of questions quickly jotting down the key headings/points and then checking for what's missing - revision books are good for this.

    Wishing you all the best for the exam.

    Mark
     
    Mark Willder, Sep 8, 2022
    #2
    ActuaryBen likes this.
  3. Mark Willder

    Mark Willder ActEd Tutor Staff Member

    Attached Files:

    Mark Willder, Sep 8, 2022
    #3
  4. ActuaryBen

    ActuaryBen Keen member

    Dear Mark,

    Thanks for the efficient revert and the detailed advice. Really appreciate it!

    Wish you have a blessed day!

    Regards,
    Ben
     
    ActuaryBen, Sep 8, 2022
    #4

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