ST4 2018 vs SP4 2019

Discussion in 'SP4' started by Stuart Underwood, Jul 21, 2018.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. A note on the key changes to Subject SP4 for 2019 compared with Subject ST4 for 2018.

    If you read or sit Subject ST4 in 2018, but end up taking or retaking the exam in 2019, this will mean you will need to reread the course, noting the points below.

    Hopefully this would not be too onerous as there is a lot of similarity between the two courses, but equally there are far too many changes to make it practical to document them individually. Throughout there is a reasonable number of small changes, and a fair amount of restructuring to more closely mirror the structure of Subject SA4.

    A summary of the more substantial changes is as follows (2019 chapter numbers in brackets):

    * Chapters 2-5 of the course – have been restructured significantly. They now cover:
    (2) Stakeholders
    (3) Regulation
    (4) Disclosure/guidance – material on this has been thinned significantly
    (5) Benefit provision.

    * There are now three scheme design chapters:
    (6) General – Completely rewritten - Chapter 20 in ST4 on DC schemes has been removed and merged into the new Chapter 6.
    (7) Specifics
    (8) Options - Chapter 22 in ST4 on Options and guarantees has been removed, much of the Core Reading deleted, so chapter 8 is largely ActEd text, but still important we think given Chapter 22 was the one of the most frequently tested chapters in ST4.

    * There have been some changes to:
    (9) Risk
    (10) Financing – Chapter 21 in ST4 on financing Social Security schemes has been merged into the new financing chapter.
    (11) Covenant – quite a few changes.

    * The investment chapter has been split into two
    (12) Asset classes
    (13) Investment
    with some changes.

    * The two short ST4 chapters on modelling have been combined:
    (14) Models

    * The ST4 chapter on Population Projection has been deleted, as this is no longer on the syllabus for 2019.

    * The following chapters have seen some changes:
    (15) Asset-liability modelling
    (16) Funding methods
    (17) Data

    * There has been a significant rewrite of:
    (18) Assumptions
    (19) Valuation considerations

    * The remaining chapters have seen some changes:
    (20) Sources of surplus
    (21) analysis of experience
    (22) Insurance
    (23) Discontinuance.

    * The Appendix ‘Benefit Provision in Practice’ has been deleted.

    Revision Notes

    The SP4 team is working very hard to produce 2019 versions of Revision Notes, but these may or may not be ready for the April 2019 exams. If you rely on these heavily as part of your revision all is not lost. If you feel you would still benefit from using them in some form you could use the 2018 versions for the questions and solutions (but not the Core Reading!) at 2018 prices using the 2018 order form - noting the differences in content and structure above.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page