Here are the details: http://www.actuaries.org.uk/students/qualifications/communications What do people think?
The last thing they say is quite interesting: "You can enter for either exam version, however, if you withdraw from one because you have passed the other you will not be entitled to a refund of the fee paid." What if you apply for both, sit both and get a pass in one & a fail in the other?!
I can't see the scenario you propose. Firstly if employer sponsored surely they won't pay for both. Second you may as well withdraw your entry once you've passed - who needs two lots of pain! But it would be ironic if someone did as you say. No pass can be revoked. I guess they would argue that the questions would be different and peoples performance could differ for other reasons even if the identical paper/presentations were done eg different degrees of nervousness, health etc. But the acid test of the new regime is wil the success rates really go up! Surely they couldn't go down......
The big change for me is that you now have to pass CA1 to subscribe for the CA3 course. As a contrast, CT9 requires employer sign-off and only a recommendation about exam success. Bearing in mind that you are also recommended to have passed CA3 before attending the CA2 course and that the CA3 course results take about 12 weeks to come out, I can see many cases where people will have passed all their "exams" but still have many courses outstanding before qualifying. The cost of the CA2 exam is not that much (when compared to 2 days out of the office doing a course) so I would probably take both the course and the exam and double my chances of passing! That's my tuppence-worth.
The new rules are a real pain for me. CT5 and ca3 was going to be my last sitting next summer but because of teh new rules I have to do ct5, wait for results, then book the course, then sit it and maybe pass. This could add a year onto qualification. The rules should be RECOMMENDATIONS only (like ct9 and ca2). I hope they come to their senses with this. Anyone else going to be in the same situation (in my case i know i cud sit the written one next summer but if i fail it first go i wud have to do the course......)
