"The aim of the Health and Care Specialist Applications subject is to instil in the successful candidates the ability to apply knowledge of the United Kingdom health and care environment and the principles of the actuarial practice the provision of health and care benefits in the United Kingdom." Is this even a sentence?? What hope do the rest of us wannabe actuaries have? Why is the tutorial offered only 2 days? Especially as all the other SA subjects run for 3 days and all the ST1 tutorials also run for 3 days. Second rate option? What do you guys think?
SA1 tutorials We usually only get 5 or 6 students a session applying for the SA1 tutorial (though one session we had a record 9), reflecting the low numbers of candidates sitting this exam. Given these low numbers, I'm afraid that it's not a top priority to increase the number of days for SA1. With this in mind, I do try to pack a lot into those two days. The feedback I've have from students afterwards is that two days is sufficient teaching to supplement their own preparation. This is something we are monitoring - for example, if demand picks up we'll consider running a third day.
"The feedback I've have from students afterwards is that two days is sufficient teaching to supplement their own preparation." This means that there is less difficult material, as otherwise students would ask for 3 days or more?
Update I note that the syllabus aims page http://www.actuaries.org.uk/students/syllabus/syllabus_aims has corrected the typo in the SA1 page (see the original post) although it doesn't appear to have been corrected in the syllabus itself. Fortunately I passed this, so it won't irritate me half as much. Steve - I attended an ST1 tutorial not too long ago and even though I failed in the subsequent sitting I found it helpful and well prepared, so please don't take any of my previous comments as a personal attack Best of luck to the rest of you!
Hi - no worries - glad you were successful The typo is the omission of the word "to" in: "The aim of the Health and Care Specialist Applications subject is to instil in the successful candidates the ability to apply knowledge of the United Kingdom health and care environment and the principles of the actuarial practice to the provision of health and care benefits in the United Kingdom." I shall bring this to the attention of the Profession so that the SA1 syllabus can be amended - thanks. In reponse to student requests, from Summer 2008, the SA1 tutorials are now 3 days long. This gives time to examine some topics in more detail and to work more on the exam techniques that are essential for this level of exam. Regards Steve
