practical questions for triangle calculations on the exam day

concerning currently the form of online exam, and we conduct the answer sheet by computer, a few practical questions that

1) on the exam day, if there is a triangle calculation question, would the triangle data be provided separately as an excel file by the IFoA in the exam files package? or just a part of a PDF exam paper file? sometimes copy those numbers to excel may suffer some format issue, and need to spend a few minutes to adjust them.

2) and, regarding the answer, if we conduct relevant calculations in an excel file, can we upload the answer sheet as a word file plus an excel file together? or have to copy the calculations we did in the excel file into the word file and upload a single word file as submission? furthermore, if have to copy the result, i.e. a table, from an excel file to a word file, can we use "paste special" -- "mircrosoft excel worksheet object", to ensure the format unchanged? or just can only copy a table in plain form into a word file?

thanks!

 

Hi Smith,

1) All questions will be within the pdf exam paper file.
2) The exam handbook of the IFoA says that only a word file will be accepted as a submission for the SP7 exam. Regarding the use of Excel, I would not simply copy-paste the triangles. The use of excel regulations in the Exam handbook are as follows:

When sitting subjects which require answers to be provided in Word, you may wish to use another software package to aid with calculations. It should be noted however that any calculations should appear in full in your Word answer script to ensure you receive the appropriate marks. If you do not display your full workings then examiners will not be able to assess how your answer was determined, and full marks may not be awarded

If I were you, I would use Excel as a calculator. You can copy the workings, but you need to at least give an explanation of how you arrived at the numbers as the examiners would not see the formulae. You don't need to do it for all rows/columns if it is a triangle question. The below is from the examiners' report each year.

Calculation questions will come up on a regular basis within SP7, as candidates can clearly observe from examination of historical ST7 papers. Candidates should always be prepared for such staples as balance sheet preparation, triangle manipulations & projections and reinsurance layer calculations (along with being able to carry out any necessary adjustments including inflation, exposure, earning distortion and time period issues). Further, if the examiners cannot follow candidate’s logic they cannot give partial credit for incorrect calculations. Therefore a clear audit trail should be left to help secure appropriate method marks where the calculations are incorrect.

Hope I was of some help.

 

thanks a lot!

by the way, want to ask, is that acceptable for setting the page as landscape, if the triangle calculation table too long to be accommodated as the default portrait direction?

 

I don't think that would be an issue, as long your script is readable and the examiners are able to read it.