I Plan on sitting both of these next april, and i have ordered the materials and plan on studying immediatley after the forthcoming exams. My question is do these subjects have any material in common? I hear CT4 is very hard so i was wondering if i could cover both simultaniously inorder to start revision sooner? General advice appreciated thank you.
Well CT6 follows on from CT3 really - alot of stats stuff, so if you haven't done CT3 yet, I woudln't consider CT6 yet Most people consider CT3 one of the easier ones (although I'd still say CT1 2 and 7 must be easier). And the pass rate is usually very high for CT3, so you can pass even without doing very well. Personally I struggled a bit with it though, becuase I hadn't done any stats before, so it depends where you're coming from. Most people agree CT4 is one of the hardest CT subjects (along with 5 and 8). I found the material quite tough, but when you start looking at past papers they're ok, so I woudn't worry about it too much. The pass rate is usually relatively low on this one though. They don't really overlap though. CT4 goes with CT5 quite nicely (about 10% overlap).
I see, so do you think i'd be okay to work through CT3 and CT4 at the same time? Like does Ct4 assume any knowledge from Ct3? Roghly how much time should i be looking at devoting to Ct4 inorder to be sure to pass it first time arround, after exams finish i could probably devote a maximum of say 4-5 Hours per day. Basically am i taking an "unusual" path by doing this? I really dont want ro run into any problems at such an early stage of my actuarial studies.
I wouldn't say that CT3&4 is an unusual combination. (Ct1/2 have a lot less in common) CT4 will require some basic statistics/probability. If you have a statistics background, great. I advise that you have a glance at the overview of CT3 and the chapter summaries. Then if you see something in CT4 that is infamiliar you know where to look. 4hours a day should be plenty (unless it's one day a fortnight). Just go through the course at a comfortable pace and see if you get trouble with any area, then spend more time on that.
how much time to study 4 hours A DAY?? Wow. does anyone study that much? Do you not have a job to go to?! of course its great if you can manage to donate that much time to it, and it should give you a great chance of passing. How much do other people study then? I probably average 4 hours a day in the month before exams, but about 1-2 hours a day before that, and nothing for 1-2 months after each set of exams. I thought that was more than most people. I haven't passed all the first time though!
easiest / hardest CTs Agreed, its not an unusual combination. I think it generally makes sense to work through the CT subjects roughly in order. The only exception really is CT7, which i'd suggest doing early becuase its relatively easy and doesn't require any prior knowledge from other CTs. In terms of diffuculty, from easiest to hardest, in my opinion it goes something like this: CT7 easiest CT1 CT2 CT3 CT6 CT4 CT5 CT8 hardest
CT4 does not overlap much with CT3, but it is a statistical subject and assumes knowledge of CT3. Experience of taking CT6 is also useful for CT4. Actuarial students vary widely in their previous exam passes, exam confidence, time available for studying etc. Some students can find CT3 very difficult, as well as CT4, and others can pass 3 or 4 subjects in one sitting without difficulty.
Thank you for the advice, so would it be advisable to work though say one chapter of CT3 followed by one Chapter of CT4 at the same time inorder to cover the material as quickly as possible, and start looking at past exams? What would the "Best" stratergy be here?
Subject combinations There seems to be an implicit agreement that there's benefit derived from combining the exams. I didn't do the Cts in any order. One sitting I did Ct4 and Ct7 and then the next I did Ct5 and Ct6. I'm wondering what people think would be the appropriate way of combining the subjects?
