SP7 - April 2020 Exam Discussion

[Qayanaat]

Hi,

Just opening a thread to discuss how students found the recent SP7 April 2020 exam!
It would be great to get a variety of opinions - from students who found it easy-peasy to those who found it medium-hard (doable but not sure if it's enough to secure a pass) to those who found it super-hard.

Especially since results are not out until nearly 3 months from now, which doesn't leave much time until September exams, it might give us an idea of how we did relative to each other (it is a competition after all!). Perhaps, it may even help us in planning for our next sitting if we get enough vast opinions.

Please, if you sat SP7 recently, do not just come here to see how others have done, put in your input too so others may benefit too! There's a poll as well to make things easier (which you will only be able to view the results if you vote!)

Thanks All !

 

[buddingactuary]

I found it hard. Especially, the question on oil pricing falling and its impact on energy and marine class. The question on Loss Ratio as well was not an usual type of question seen on reserving, I think. How did others feel?

 

[Qayanaat]

I found that question hard too, the one on oil pricing falling. There was also a question on XL reinsurance, due to time pressure, I couldn't do too much on this question either. There was just too many variables changing in this reinsurance arrangement I felt, to be able to wrap my head around it and then do the calcs, way too time consuming for a time pressured exam like this!

Also agree on the loss ratio question, did anyone figure out how the calculation part should have been done to get to the AY LRs?

Thanks

 

[Too Wai Hao]

I was going to start a thread to ask about the same thing as well haha. It was my first time taking ifoa papers, I find the questions really hard, and I have seriously underestimated the time constraint. I didn't complete many questions so I think I would most likely fail. Does anyone find it hard too? Do you guys think it is significantly harder than past year papers? Really hope that they will lower the passing mark this time

 

[Qayanaat]

Hi Too Wai Ho, was it your first time doing SP7 or was it your first time doing any IFOA exam at all?

To be honest, I found it harder than recent past exam papers (which usually have 1 question or smaller parts of some questions that leave you thinking "what are they even asking!").
In this paper, I found myself feeling like that on 3 questions (oil price falling, reinsurance question - although this one isn't hard as such, it does require time to think about it to be able to write which unfortunately is not a luxury in this time-pressured exam, and also some parts of the last question).

I'm hoping pass mark is lower than usual as well, if I'm not mistaken, pass mark is usually around 60 and the lowest it's been was 55.

 

[Too Wai Hao]

It was my first iFoA exam at all (but I have the exemptions for the CTs, SP7 was my first non-exempted attempt). So before exam I thought to myself, 9 questions in 3.25 hours should be quite enough, well I have never been more wrong.

Yeah those 3 questions were exactly the ones that I didn't complete lol. Do you think they will somehow increase passing mark because of online exam? Because we can type answers which helps candidates finish faster, and the accessibility of course materials? Tbh I don't think it help at all.

 

[Qayanaat]

Yeah in fairness SP7 has always been a time-pressured exam, but I thought the paper was harder than usual this time around.

To your question on whether they'll increase pass mark because of it being an online exam - I don't know to be honest. Before sitting the exam, I would have thought so, but given the level of difficulty of this paper, I doubt & hope they don't.

My gut feeling has always been that the IFOA looks at how students have performed in general and try to strike a balance between keeping the pass rate the same as before, without compromising too much on lowering the pass mark to keep the integrity. So while I hope they reduce the pass mark, I don't think it'll be reduced by too much (really annoying but looking at the history of all exams in general, it would appear that they'd rather a lower pass rate than lowering the pass mark! Here's hoping I'm wrong on this this time!)

 

[Qayanaat]

Thanks for all the votes ! It does help to give an idea of where we are relative to one another, keep them coming!

Best of luck to everyone!

 

[jinglepringle]

This was my first time sitting SP7, but it felt a lot harder than previous papers. Ran out of time so I wasn’t able to properly attempt the reinsurance and calculation parts of the reserving question.

I did manage to scribble out a sensible answer (imo) for the oil price question but god knows if it was actually correct or even close lol.

I think (more like hope lmao) that I’ll be able to scrape a pass if the pass mark sits somewhere around 60% like in previous sittings.

 

[Qayanaat]

I'm the same lol !

Not sure if this is OK to ask, but would be great to hear from SP7 ActEd tutors as well about how they thought the paper was overall. I feel that us students can be bit biased at times , depending on how we did individually. So would be great to hear from the tutors!

 

[Ian Senator]

We prefer to leave the discussions to you folk. However, you're very welcome to see our comments in mini-ASET when it's available in due course

 

[Qayanaat]

We prefer to leave the discussions to you folk. However, you're very welcome to see our comments in mini-ASET when it's available in due course

Okay understandable

 

[Qayanaat]

Thanks all for the votes, the spread of the votes are not too far off from what I was expecting to see, I'm not sure what other people think?

Either way, especially those who found it borderline or those who didn't feel it went well (i.e. there's a chance have to do it again next sitting), what's your approach with regards to the next set of exams?

These are all the questions I have in mind:
1. Have you started or going to start preparing for another exam soon?
2. Have you ordered materials yet or registered/thinking of registering for any tutorials?
3. Do you think you'll take SP7 again in the next sitting if needs be or prefer to skip a session?
4. Results are coming out 9 weeks before the current published Sept exam dates (not sure if those dates are final), how do you manage your time if you have to take SP7 again & you've already started preparing for a new exam?

Would be great to hear people's opinions on this. Thanks a lot for all the feedbacks so far, very helpful!

 

[DM261]

Thanks all for the votes, the spread of the votes are not too far off from what I was expecting to see, I'm not sure what other people think?

Either way, especially those who found it borderline or those who didn't feel it went well (i.e. there's a chance have to do it again next sitting), what's your approach with regards to the next set of exams?

These are all the questions I have in mind:
1. Have you started or going to start preparing for another exam soon? Not yet, but have ordered notes and will start soon
2. Have you ordered materials yet or registered/thinking of registering for any tutorials? Yes
3. Do you think you'll take SP7 again in the next sitting if needs be or prefer to skip a session? I will skip SP7, and retake in 2021 if necessary.
4. Results are coming out 9 weeks before the current published Sept exam dates (not sure if those dates are final), how do you manage your time if you have to take SP7 again & you've already started preparing for a new exam? Push on with SP8/CP2, and return to SP7 next year if necessary

Would be great to hear people's opinions on this. Thanks a lot for all the feedbacks so far, very helpful!

Answers in bold

 

[Qayanaat]

Thanks DM261. Just sharing my opinions below too:

1. Have you started or going to start preparing for another exam soon? Not yet, intend to start soon.
2. Have you ordered materials yet or registered/thinking of registering for any tutorials? Yes
3. Do you think you'll take SP7 again in the next sitting if needs be or prefer to skip a session? Not sure about this one yet. Personally, I'd prefer to skip a session, but not sure how that will be perceived by people at work (have a feeling like they'd expect you to try it again straight away). Interested in hearing people's thoughts on this.
4. Results are coming out 9 weeks before the current published Sept exam dates (not sure if those dates are final), how do you manage your time if you have to take SP7 again & you've already started preparing for a new exam? Not sure, will probably focus on SP8, but look over SP7 again couple of weeks before exam (if needed).

 

[buddingactuary]

Failed the exam...I scored much lower than my conservative self assessment. The online format seems to call for a different approach to tackle exam. Any tips?

 

[DM261]

Only 20.4% of candidates passed. I don't think I've ever seen such a low pass rate on an actuarial exam.

 

[helloworld_actuarial]

Only 20.4% of candidates passed. I don't think I've ever seen such a low pass rate on an actuarial exam.

Perhaps something to do with plagiarising mentioned in another thread where people received a 'H'.

 

[Nr-actuary]

Only 20.4% of candidates passed. I don't think I've ever seen such a low pass rate on an actuarial exam.

In the IAI exams a few years back, 600 people took a ct exam and none of them passed

 

[almost_there]

April 2020: 254 candidates presented themselves and 52 passed. Pass rate = 20.47%.

For comparison:
April 2019. 350 attempts 165 passed. Pass rate = 47.1%.
Sept 2019. 297 attempts 123 passed. Pass rate = 41.4%.

Historic ST7 pass rate: 39% with 240 attempts per sitting.

The numbers speak for themselves...