So how was it?

I'm guessing from no one posting yet everyone must've thought it was okay?

I felt it was easier than previous years' papers, but then again perhaps a bit more iffy - I could write lots but wouldn't be sure if it was what they wanted.

Hopefully the pass mark isn't too high.

 

Not particularly technical in any aspect. It will simply come down to idea generation and relevence of answers. Glad I didn't do much revision for this as it wouldn't have helped.

 

You can count on the pass mark being high...everyone had a lot to say -though granted, might have been of little substance. I missed a lot of points that only occurred to me this evening. I didn't take the scenario in Q1 as being solvency ii 9which judgeing from chat after with some friends, was the general approach) so think missed the really important points the examiners are looking for.
you win some you lose some. I was already resigned to failing before went in, so not too fussed; you can't be when the pass rate was 19% last year!

 

I'm intrigued about the first question being SII in disguise - I thought SII was more about discounting and probability weighting than explicit margins in the reserves. Any margins in reserves are held to guard against asset deterioration. Not that I mentioned any of this though

I found it very difficult to create answers that were sa3 specific rather than the st3 generic stuff that the examiners love to complain about. In fact, I was talking to a friend after, and he mentioned that it could almost have been a CA1 exam.

Not happy - would have liked something with a bit more focus to it. Also, not topical in the slightest.

 

This is my second attempt and I am annoyed because I think I will have failed two easy papers now. No hard number questions (which I can do) and lots of waffle where your never sure what they really want. I am sure I will be angry when the examiners solution comes out and they say things like 'we were surprised that people missed the point etc...' because they have asked such vague questions. I am starting to think the old 403 questions were better but I may be going insane from so many past papers.

Anyone else find parts 1 and 2 of question 2 strange. The first was something like 'describe the disadvantages of not changing the rating model' and the second was 'describe the advantages of changing the model'. Given that the first part was clearly the double negative of the second I was confused as to what they were really asking. The numbers of marks for the outline the data part was ridiculous so I am sure I have missed plenty there.

I think if you worked in commercial lines pricing you would probably have passed. Everyone else pot luck. I guess I will have wait until the exam lottery hits my specialism.

 

Chalk it down! Totally think we got a raw deal in the change-over

 

part i - asked disadvantages (hence also advantages) to COMPANY
part ii - asked advantages (hence also disadvantages) to UNDERWRITER


SA3 is a lottery, you have to wait for your field of expertise to come up.
last year, all those who worked in stochastic reserving would have passed.
this exam, all those working in a specific field of Casualty Commercial pricing would pass.

 

erm... .... how is it S2?

 

I really don't think it's Solvency II at all. You could maybe use some knowledge of SII issues to help you generate a couple of GENERAL points, but that is all!

Anyone who gave a Solvency II response imo (I could be wrong though!) was answering the wrong question. This ALWAYS happens, as every paper people think SII will come up, and when it INEVITABLY doesn't they still write about it - SO MUCH better for rest of us who answered the real question.

btw... if you meet me in real life I am actually quite a pleasant person

 

If the question asks for disadvantages to the company, surely you should give the disadvantages only, isn't it?

Otherwise, I also thought that question 1 doesn't refer to solvency 2 directly but you could use the general points for solvency 2 as Avanbuiten said. But we could be wrong!!

What about question 1 part (i). what methods to assess the 75th percentile for the 2 companies? What did u guys think? I think I messed up..

 

maybe! but when a question says what are the 'disadvantages' of 'not' doing something... that's the same as advantages of doing ...

anyways, for 20 marks and no other ideas, i put down pros, cons, issues, concerns and anything else think off!!!

 

For the large motor company could use bootstrap (like odp or something) and for the other company scenario analysis, can't really do anything statistical.

Could probably of said second company could of used output from their pricing model or something else to assess solvency. Lots of other options I guess also.

I don't think there is much point in thinking if Q1 is SII related or not, just answer the questions asked.

 

a lot of angst over 2 marks?

The first 2 marks were hard but the rest...I wish I had have sat that paper! (Serves me right I suppose.) The advantage was that there was no obvious core reading to try and write down on either question ...although if you knew the answer to the question what are the advantages and disadvantages of risk-based capital you should have run off with some marks quickly
Like all exams, they are easier when you don't take them because:
a) you do not panic, but remain composed and treat it like work with a deadline without tea/coffee breaks and PC.
b) core reading and lack of memory do not cloud the issue of answering the question
c) if you could write enough you would like to think you would have passed
d) don't think too much about the previous SA3 exam (bootstrapping and BF methods)
e) don't cling too much to that probably atypical rating model you might have seen
f) don't try too hard to remember all of those commercial pricing papers of the last few years but hope that the essential bits stuck in your mind
g) underwriting covers lots of things (if you have seen an underwriting manual - before they all got put online). The obvious things that I thought of (which could all be wrong) in the past minute are: premium limits minima to write and maxima by trade etc, additional info required where premium amount is high, where surveys are to be required...EL statutory requirements and any changes required if these change, treatment of multinationals,....

Good luck!

Hope this is of use.