Non-UK student appearing for ST2 & SA2

Hi,

I work in the Pensions domain outside UK. I wish to know if one needs to be aware of the UK life insurance environment/regulations in order to be able to successfully pass ST2 and SA2. I intend to specialize in Life Insurance.

Also, I am not inclined to study for ST5&6 and SA5&6 as I understand that for these subjects knowledge of CT8 is a prerequisite. I had secured an exemption in CT8 due to a degree in finance earned a long time ago. I do not have the time or the inclination to study CT8 again.

Can I please have your thoughts on this?


Regards,

 

ST2 talks about products in very general terms so you don't need any specific UK knowledge.

However, SA2 is a UK specific exam that considers the UK's products, tax, regulation, etc. Again, you don't NEED to have experience in the UK since the core reading will explain all the relevant UK-specific details, however it will be hugely beneficial.

Additionally, some of the questions at SA level try to draw upon recent events in the real world, so it will be useful if you are aware of what has been going on in UK life insurance markets in the last couple of years.

 

If you are doing the UK exams, whichever SA you do will have a UK bias but non of the STs do.

Regarding your CT8 exemption, you wouldn't need to study it in earnest, but it may be wise to look at the syllabus now to compare with what you did at uni. Syllabuses move over time. Then think how well you remember it.

It may be enough to simply buy a copy of the course notes in case you need a quick refresher on certain things. The core exam qns will be on the ST stuff rather than retesting earlier stuff so I think you'd be OK.

 

Thank you Cjno1 and Bystander!

Cjno1: So, you suggest that attempting the life track would be risky, and this would hold for other tracks as well,I guess. I wonder if any non-UK student has managed to clear SA2.

Bystander: Can you let me know the amount of content of CT8 that is in ST5 and how much time will I need to dedicate in order to grasp it? I cleared CFA exams 7 years ago and hence cannot remember much of it. I am faced with a paucity of time and my ebbing drive and was hence was loath to study a prior paper.

Do let me know of your opinion..Thanks...

 

You don't need to study CT8 to take ST5. Where relevant, the acted course notes either recap or point you to the relevant parts in the CT8 notes. But the references to CT8 are pretty rare.

Where there are links to CT8, make sure you follow through. The ST5 paper I wrote had a question about the weaknesses of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. This wasn't in the ST5 notes, but if you'd just looked up CAPM in CT8, you'd have gotten 5 easy marks. I hadn't, but lucky for me that didn't turn out to be very costly.

 

Thank you for your responses, Prof Willder and Zhin2000!

I cleared CA1 and so the decision needs to be made now.

Prof Willder: I had some questions...

Are you aware of the proportion of Non-UK students clearing SA2?

Is the additional reading enough to be able to successfully attempt SA2? What is the volume of this additional reading material?

Is additional reading necessary for ST2?

I was contemplating taking the October attempt for one ST. I will be happy if you could answer these

 

Thank you Professor!