Time pressure vs answer detail

[Manson]

I've found time pressure to be even more of a factor with ST2 than with CA1 and I'm really struggling to get through past papers in time.

The ASET solutions are great, but they are also in far more detail than I can conceivably write in the time allowed. Obviously you're supposed to write more concisely than this.

To what extent can I use abbreviations and suchlike in my answer?

eg let's say that given all the time in the world, I would write:

"Increasing the surrender value would increase the required supervisory reserves, hence increasing capital strain".

Can I get away with:

"SVs up, so sup. reserves higher, increases cap. strain" ?

You can imagine how much time this would save once aggregated over the (hopefully) hundreds of points you're making during the exam.

On the same vein, is "PH" for policyholder acceptable?

 

[bystander]

First I'd try to figure other ways of reducing your time pressure. Are you over-elaborating given the marks available for example? Do you repeat yourself? Could you use reading time more effectively?

Second, try to write points in order of importance. Then if you skip a few of the minor ones less damage is done cf omitting major points.

Third: Cut out irrelevancies. Are you scatter-gunning. Think 'is what I'm writing really relevant'.

I'm guessing you haven't had anything marked to get feedback on shortcuts. Bit late now but maybe for any other subjects that may be lurking?

On abbreviations I'd try not to do it. But sometimes you'd want to repeat the abbrev'n so why not write in full once with (your abbrev'n). You would hope you have a subject expert as an examiner reading the script but no guarantee. What do you tend to use most:
p/h policyholder
s/h shareholder etc
w/p with profits .....
Unfortunately I don't believe there is any universal standard.

could you just scrawl a quick list upfront and then not worry about it?

Where abbrev;'ns won't work is in formulae. Unusual in ST2 but you would need to be clear with anything non-standard.

Hopefully exam adrenalin will kick in and you will speed up cf your current attempts. Its really hard to replicate fully how you work on the day with other candidates in the room, invigilators lurking etc etc.

Hope it goes well.

 

[calibre2001]

My suggestion would be to keep practicing under exam conditions. Practice makes perfect. And if possible get a friend to mark your answers. I found that to be extremely insightful to how poor my exam technique is!