I would like to know... Why are the pass rates for ST2 so dismally low, averaging about 42% for the last four exams? Is it that there is an element the examiners look for that students hardly have in their answers? Or do most people generally sit for this exam underprepared? Any insight, anyone? I have not compared this with pass rates for other STs so I'm not sure if the case is only unique to ST2.
The average across all ST subjects for each of the last four sittings has been 41%, 43%, 43% and 42% (in fact it's been between 40% and 43% for all of the last 12 sittings). Other than the blip in Sept 2010, the pass rate for ST2 has been between 40% and 46% for the last 12 sittings. So ST2 doesn't seem noticeably out of line with the average. My guess as to why the pass rates aren't higher is that it's hard to make sufficient time over a sufficient period for ideas to sink in and to allow lots of practice at past exam questions. The exam is about more than learning the material, it has to be applied to various actuarial situations and this takes practice.
Hi, tomorrow is going to be my first attempt on ST2, but I have had experience in failing (lol) ST5 twice, I am eager to know the reason too as I am among one of them, but I will like to share how I feel about this. I recon the main reason for people failing the subject is because of the lack of details and quality in their answer, especially under the time constraint, rather than not knowing the topic. It's just crazy amont of details in the mark scheme and even if I am to produce an answer just 80% as good as (as in as detail) as that in the mark scheme I tend to run out out time by around 15-30 minutes. Also for most of the time, I find myself lacking the dimension in the answer, the mark scheme for most of the time cover a wider range on scope around reinsurer, policyholders, the insured as well as every staff in each department. I don't think I am the best person to comment on this, but this is my feelings. The requirement is just different from that of CT subjects, even if it is on the same question. Would love to see how others feel about this though, I am really eager to have a breakthrough in the ST level at some point.
My opinion of the exam (having not sat an ST yet) is that the exams are terribly worded sometimes. The mix between breadth and depth of answers is rarely well expressed in the question. And there appears to be the odd time where an answer is a combination of that for a question that was asked and a question that wasn't. Sometimes it seems like the examiner comes up with a question and then assigns marks beyond what's reasonable (forcing some ridiculous preamble or extensive discussion on a hypothetical scenario). That said, the more exam prep you do the better the chance of syncing up with the way to answer the questions. I get the feeling that if I pass it's going to on the basis of getting credit for reasonable alternative approaches, though I'm not sure how much leeway there is there.. Personally, I wasted a lot of study time thinking about things instead of learning off the CR, I think I'll end up missing easy marks in some cases, which you can't afford to do. Also the size of questions in ST2 can be ridiculous. A paper with 5 questions with only a few parts each is considerably more difficult than a paper with 7/8 questions split between many parts in my opinion. Trying past papers I find my marks are much better when there's 7+ questions (though that doesn't mean I'll pass if there's 7 questions tomorrow..) Time constraints present a large problem, as does the fact that it's a written exam and not typed. I'd get way more down on the page if I was typing, plus it would allow for restructuring when you think of something else.. what are the chances of everyone sitting exams using computers or paper depending on preference? I know some people already get to do this for one reason or another, it's kind of an unfair advantage in my opinion.
Thanks for your insight guys. It's also just my first attempt at ST2, or any ST for that matter and I was finding it strange that the past few exams do not look as difficult at the pass rates suggest. Anyway, not much we can do for now. Good luck to y'all sitting the exam tomorrow. Here's to hoping our names meet in the (very short!)pass list come July.
