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Sitting without all CTs

J

Jon Bowden

Member
Hi all,

Pretty much 100% sure I'm gonna have a bash at CA1 in Sep 2010, but haven't even first attempted CT5 yet. I hear it's not too much of a problem and I have combed around the Institute website and the Acted forums etc, the only reference to my predicament is in the CA1 syllabus, which says CA1 "assumes knowledge of all CTs." :(

I'm waiting for results on CT4 & 8 (both resits) and only have CT5 left and don't want to wait for results day, cos that's too long to wait to find out if it is indeed the only one left. I know I could pick up an ST, but I don't want to specialise just yet. So I pretty much have to do CA1.

So my questions are:

1. How much of an issue will this be?
2. Is there an official Acted take on this?
3. Is there anything I can do to help myself?

Thanks

Jon
 
CA1 is a very big one (much more than CT4+8), so you don't really have time for a break if that's what you're intending.

You don't really need the mathematics of CT5 for CA1. It may help in your understanding of broad life insurance/pensions concepts, which you will need.
 
Ideally you need to have read through all the CT subjects before sitting the CA1 exam. The CA1 syllabus states that:

"Each of Subjects CT1–CT8 provides principles and tools that are built upon in Actuarial Risk Management."

So for example, CA1 includes a chapter on derivatives (so CT8 is useful), the assets chapters refer to lots of economic theory (so CT7 is useful), and you could be asked to calculate values using the yellow tables (so CT5 is useful). A similar case could be made for other CT subjects.

In practice many students sit CA1 before they complete all the CT subjects. As a result, they find some of the CA1 chapters harder to understand at first, but the notes try to cover everything you need to know. As long as you have all the CT subjects except one or two you are unlikely to be seriously disadvantaged - the CA1 course is pretty big, so if just one or two chapters are a problem, that's a small part of the course.

As Didster says, you're unlikely to be asked to do a mathematical CT5 style question in the exam. It may be worth having a quick read through he CT5 course, or ask a friend to show you the main points, but CA1 is so big that you really only have enough time to get through the CA1 course over the Summer sitting.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your studying.

Mark
 
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