Sitting 3 CT subjects

I'm sitting 3 CT subjects in April (my first sitting), and I'm finding it rather daunting! I was just wondering if many people sit 3, and how they find them?

 

Hmmm 3 is a lot to take on - I know a lot of people do it but most would just do 2 ! I only ever did 3 twice - the first time I failed all 3 so that sucked and the second time I passed all 3 so it was great !

I find that 2 is the best number to sit though I think a lot of companies and peers put students under pressure to do 3 at once - personally I think it is up to the individual so if you think you can realisitically get through all the material and give each exam your best shot then by all means do the 3 but now is the time to decide not when you have half studied all the subjects !! It is only counterproductive that way !

Not sure if this was any help at all - am sure you are even more confused now. Just a word of warning try and not to listen to what everyone else is doing (have fallen into this trap hence the failing all 3) and just stick with what you think you are realisitically able to cover between now and April.

Good Luck with it

 

I've done 3 twice. The first time I passed two, the second time I passed one.

My advice would be to work on all 3 equally to begin with. Then after a couple of months identify which ones you're more likely to pass (you will have your favourites), then really concentrate on them in order of preference over the others. Eg, spend 50% on subject 1, 30% on subject 2, and 20% on subject 3. Or something similar.

This method then asssures some success. However, if after dividing your time as above you feel like maybe you are in a position to nail subject 1 and still have 5 weeks or so to the exams then divide your time with more emphasis on the difficut subjects. This way you still have a good chance of passing all three.

This way you give yourself a very good chance of passing at least one or two and some chance of passing all 3.

The alternative would be to study all 3 equally. This in my opinion has the disadvantage that a subject that you know you can pass but requires a little extra work to be 100% would be jepordised and given that the other subjects are even more difficult you may fail them regardless of the fact you spent an even amount of time on them. But for some insane reason you may continue to work on them like you are going through the motions of planning for success when really deep down inside you know the truth - your going to fail! So why jepordise failing something you can pass for something given the time constraints you can't?

Is it better to pass 1 or 2 knowing that you will get a result or fail all 3 knowing you could of passed one or two if you'd spent less time on that 3rd one?


However if you are a machine ignore above advice and simply plough through all three any way you like and pass (about 10% of students have this ability I do not).

The first time I did this I felt at exam tme I had a good chance of passing all 3 (I passed 2). Second time I did it I felt I had a good chance of passing 2 (I passed 1).

Good luck!

 

WOuld never consider doing 3 exams at one time....doing 2 at one time is bad enoough....

I tried to do 3 once, because I was being forced (pressured) by my manager to do so and I found that they was too much to do and to remember...and that I was not truely getting the information grounded in my head, so in the end, i dropped one of them without telling him and stuck to 2.

Unless, you are naturally good at academics, i really, really, really would not recommend it.

 

Culture thing?

I think it probably depends where you work and what their culture and study-support policy is.

I always took three 100 series (CTs) in the long sitting and two in the short sitting and never found it quite as bad as the comments above suggest. That's pretty much standard where I work, although we have the occassional person who only does two or the genius that takes four.

That said, I think it's far better to sit two exams and pass them both than trying to take three exams and failing two!

Good luck!

 

Mmmm...interesting comments. Plenty to think about!

 

Paul> The 100 series exams are smaller than the ST exams, possibly ST6 excepted but no-one seems to know what the hell they have to learn to pass that exam anyway - gold standard bribery perhaps.

Personally I think 3 ST exams is insane. Only one combination would be even remotely acceptable for me, that being the subject connected to your work, ST5 and ST6. This becaue ST5 has a lot of material previously covered and gives a good grounding to go on and do ST6.

Add in the extra factors that all your friends will shun you because you wont get to see them for half a year, your colleagues will hate you as your choice will be making their decision to "only" study 2 look feeble and spineless and you will ruin christmas for your family by only being able to talk about whether the 8 pound turkey was a reasonable investment decision and it all adds up to be a ludicrous decision.

But good luck to you.

 

What've ST's to do with it?

Olly,

Where did the ST's come into the equation? Dha's question was about CT's, and my response was about the CT's (100 series).

I'd never suggest taking three STs in a single sitting. Two's plenty!

 

depends on the exams

im sure the cprrect number of exams to take really depends on whatteh exams are
eg maybe three to four CTS in one sitting would be ideal for the easier CTs eg 101, 107,108 and 102.

as for STs im sure the ususal ruekls apply again depending on subject but i m sure many people will take ST5 and ST6 together... last year i tried 302, 303 and 304 cos they were related around actuary control cycle and passed 2 of the three narrowly missing the third
with FA...but I dont think three STs woudl be sensible in one sitting as they are too unrelated (but you dont need three STs anyway!! lol)

im sure background plays a part in CT subject attempts - if youve done loads of the CT stuyff before at uni or something taking three CTs would be fairly standard for such individuals...

Whats teh quickest qualification times at the moment? ive heard some have done it in 2 years ..but whats the current situation?

 

Paul> My mistake, got my C's and S's mixed up. I'm only good with the numbers you see.

 

In my defence...

I had 301 and 304 before transition and am now waiting on results for ST5 and ST6. I see that as analagous to 4 ST subjects. I only really looked at my own options for getting through the exams and so hadn't realised that you can't, or at least don't need to, do 3 ST's now. To think about it makes me a little sick really. It's like they're giving away fellowships these days.

 

Sitting 3 in April and 2 in September is kinda the standard for my company - however the expectation is that you don't have to pass everyone at each sitting. (Phew!!)

To me, the hardest part is motivating myself to study when the exams are still way off. I found it useful to have a mix of the mathsy subjects and the wordy subject, so if you get narked off by one, you can always try the other.

The other pain is finding the time to do all the past papers - if you're not lucky enough to have an employer who gives you ample time off, it is probably worth sacrificing a few days holidays - it should be worth it in the long run!!

Good luck!

 

Three CT's

I have sat 3 CT exams in a sitting and I found it hard to get through all the material and fully understand it, but I did manage to pass them all. However at the next sitting I sat two but only passed one of them!

So ... I think that it really depends what the subjects are. For example I wouldn't like to try CT4, CT6 and CT8 in one sitting!

 

Managed to pass all 3 of my CTs As did most of the other graduates in my company, so it is possible.

 

Can you please share with us which 3 CT you gave, and if it was your first attempt?

 

I am still in uni and I will be sitting CT1, CT3 and CT7 in September. Most of the material in CT3 seems pretty OK having covered a majority of it at A-level. Then I will sit CT4 and CT8 (and maybe CT2 also, having covered most of it at A-level). Hopefully I'd have 5 or 6 CTs by this time next year and hopefully get a trainee position!

 

2, 4 and 6. It was my first attempt at all 3. Others in my company passed different combinations.

 

Great stuff, but did you not pass five, i.e. 2, 4, 4, 4, and 6 (tot=5)?

 

I don't follow? I passed CT4 (103 and 104) which counts as 1 subject, so I passed 3.

 

I think he means you failed CT4 twice and ended up passing it the third time