Hi guys, I'm trying to decide what STs to sit in the September sititng. I've decided that I want to complete the CERA qualification as well as sitting SA3. From those of you who've sat SA3 already how necessary is the knowledge from ST7/8? Would I be making things ridiculously terrible for myself by attempting ST7/8 and ST9 and then sitting SA3 or would I be better off sitting the two GI STs and going back to sit ST9 after?
ST7/8 are required knowledge for SA3, and it'd be unwise to sit SA3 without having at least studied (if not passed) them - although this could be done at the same time as studying for SA3. Having said that, I do have students that do ST9 instead (or aswell as) at times. Personally I'd recommend doing ST9 after qualifying, when you can take it a bit more leisurely. We get quite a few qualified actuaries on our ST9 tutorials!
I would go as far as to say that, for a great many questions asked at SA3, the ST7/8 material seems far more relevant than the SA3 material. So the ideal time to take SA3 is when the STs are fresh in your mind.
