Studies, Faith and Balance

Hey,

My name is Dominic and I am studying for the actuarial exams this Summer. I'm a Christian and have definitely struggled with getting the balance between studies and faith and keeping priorities in the right place. I was just wondering if there were any other actuaries who are also Christians who may be able to relate or fancied sharing a few ideas on getting the balance right. Feel free to send me a message on my email which is dominic.miller17@outlook.com or just reply to this post.

All the best for September.

Thanks

 

I'm a Christian. The reality is for any study hour leave provided by employers will be insufficient, meaning you have to sacrifice many hours each week of your personal time studying. Plenty of my Easters have been ruined by these exams. As exams approach this includes bank holidays, annual leave and so on. It's difficult for me to see how you can get through them with Sunday as a day of rest away from it unless you're very dedicated the rest of the week. For me personally I found it very difficult to study for these things after a day's work due to my hobbies and social life. As one gets older this can only become more difficult if married with kids. I would advise don't take too many of these at once in order to concentrate on passing them one by one. If you work as a contractor where being out of contract a month or two before exams definitely gives you an advantage over other candidates in terms of being able to prepare properly.

Perhaps the University option would offer a better work/life balance but you cannot clear all your exams from a UK university course. Another option would be, as already identified by posters on this forum, to go abroad to say Switzerland and complete their course there, qualify as a Swiss actuary then return to UK using a mutual recognition agreement.

I believe people need to have time away for it for personal matters which include religion, family, friends, hobbies etc.

 

I did post to try and help you Dominic but Acted removed the post in its entirety, with no explanation provided by Acted.

 

I'm no expert on religion, but not convinced the problem is any different for people who want to spend time doing other things - eg hobbies, family, socialising in their 20s etc.
Personally, I found it a challenge, but not an impossible one. I spent an average of at least 10 hours a week on a particular hobby and that doesn't include the socialising after the activity - which might add up to almost the same amount of time.

Many say don't just find time - make time! Not just for study but for other things that are important to you.

But a few other meaningful pointers might be:

Start studying as early in the session as possible. The earlier you start, the less per week you need to do. And it also gives more time for things to sink in.
Don't try to do too much - many students successfully pass more than one exam a session - but you need to appreciate the commitment (prefer that word to sacrifice) and if you don't want to commit that much then do less.
Study efficiently! We've all done it - aimed to study for hours but spent half of that time thinking about other things or not working as hard as we should. Try to timetable in lots of short study sessions so you stay focussed. If you end up getting too focussed and engrossed in something, so a short session turns into a long session then win-wn - as long as you're not late for work .
Look for time slots that might otherwise go to waste. I was never disciplined enough but was always impressed with someone who did an hour of study before work.
And do take time off - quality off-time will help the study-time be more productive, and feel worthwhile.

You do have a choice about how quickly you want to qualify and how much time you want to commit. I think I got the balance about right. I took a couple of sitting off to re-change the batteries. But when you do take an exam - go for it and don't just go through the motions t oreduce th chance you have to do it again.

No-one is saying it's easy - but whatever you want to do in life, it's likely to be difficult and require a certain level of commitment. It will all be worthwhile when you get there.

Very best of luck.
NP

 

You don’t have a choice about how quickly you want to qualify. I studied for 16 years and completed all the exams except a couple of CTs. There was no ordering to the exams and the associate was not a relevant qualification. The rug has just been pulled from under my feet and I am now told I have to do 6 or more exams instead of 3 and repeat material which I have already covered. I was also taking 1 CT per sitting as I have other commitments and health issues. This was about 125 hours on top of my full time job. I am now told that I have to study for 200 hours or more. There is no time for anything for 6 or 7 months in the year. If you have any Interest, religious beliefs, pastimes you can throw them to the side while you are expected to study. You are bullied by your employer into taking personal holiday time to study and have to study plus work for 12 or 15 hours on a day on weekends and other holidays. If you are not in your 20s and any older it is near impossible. Your 20s will be wasted on these exams which are rendered worthless due to changes in the exam system. Oh and when you “get there” you’ll find that there are 3 times as many actuaries as jobs so you’ll just end up doing the same thing as you were doing before you qualified. Take a look at the member statistics, especially by age group

 

well that's two contrasting views for you Dominic - I'm sure you can take something positive from them

 

What are the positives?

 

oh dear - I reckon they'll be able to work it out

If the average time to qualification is 5-6 years then given the fat tail, the mode will be even lower than this. So the majority won't need to worry about the difficulties you have faced.

 

That’s the thing. The average is not 5-6 years and yes the tail is very fat. But we don’t need to estimate the mode.

You and the IFoA have said the majority will not experience a problem.

It is a matter of fact that 10,000 (can back this up with exact number provided to me by the IFoA of required but it is roughly this many) students are missing either ct1,4,5,6, 3 or 8. Say 40% pass this sitting. That is 6,000 students that will have to take at least one extra exam.

 

Dominic, putting all the transition arrangements to one side, you have set yourself a challenge - to qualify as an actuary! The common approach is to do this is alongside a full time job in the industry, making use of any study package available. Perhaps I have a nice employer, but we were strictly encouraged to not use holiday for study (except for a second resit when our study package had run out). That's because holiday is time for you to get away from work and exams, to refresh yourself so that you can go back to them with a clear head.

I felt guilty when I was studying and not with my family, and guilty when with my family and not studying, so completely get why getting the right balance of studying is a concern for you! Net Premium has given some very useful points, so I hope you take them on board.

Everyone studies in different ways, so get to know what works best for you eg are you a planner or a crammer? Do you prefer studying in small chunks or over a whole day? Get into a routine that includes study time, social time, family time etc. Over each exam period, tip the scales appropriately eg you may want to set a few days around Christmas to be study-free, or significantly increase the amount of time you study closer to the exam. Personally, I believe giving time to things other than work/studies makes for a happier and more well-rounded individual

I qualified whilst having other commitments outside of work, so it is possible. I did this by studying 2 hours each evening and keeping my weekends and school holidays free to focus on my family. I planned my study time by setting small achievable targets eg learning core reading from Chapters 1-3, attempting Questions 1-6 from the Q&A Bank etc. Of course, my family still demanded more of my time, and it was a constant battle to keep my studies on track. But with a bit of determination and perseverance, this approach paid off ... eventually!

The key thing I learned through sitting the exams though was that it was the quality of time, not the amount of time that got me through to qualification. Decide how much time you feel able to put towards studies, and more importantly, decide how you are going to use that time to prepare for each exam.

 

I'm sure Dominic is quite capable of doing that himself.

 

Is it? Got any data?

 

It's been quoted before - but of course they are trying to hide something - so perhaps it's wrong!!!

 

I was referring to the unfortunate 16 years of struggle you described. We all have the odd problem. Every fail is a problem. You've said in another thread that you still have 5 subjects left - so that could be another 5 years. I sincerely hope it isn't and that you have an easier ride in the future than you have had in the past. Best wishes.

 

Thanks. But it is currently 5 exams. Next sitting it will increase to 8 exams. I will unfortunately have to stop the exams as the syllabus has changed. As you know the CEO has pledged that no one will be disadvantaged. I think that ruining my life for 16 years and my career is a pretty big disadvantage.