Who sets pass marks? How? When?

Don't have references to hand, but this should get you started:

http://www.theactuary.com/search/?q=pass+mark

 

digged up this interesting info from the actuaries website:

'The pass mark is not a fixed mark... this will change each session, depending on the complexity of the paper, and the students’ overall performance. it depends on the leniency or strictness of the markers on aggregate...As a guide, students should be aiming to attain a mark of at least 60% in CTs'.

although, i've done 7 q's out of 10 in a CT (70%) and still haven't passed, am indeed on the borderline. so i guess its recommended you do all 10 questions assuming some of them you do wrong..

 

Why was there such a difference in pass rates between these two sessions?

 

the truth is starting to come out now... 6 years later...

 

From 1995-2005, what is the proportion of students with zero exemptions passed all of the exams first time?

 

The pass mark given is a scaled pass mark. The original raw mark is not released. Unlike the Indian exams which have a fixed 50% pass mark, our pass mark varies from sitting to sitting. The Indina papers do not use higher order questions either, unlike us. Under the law, this is direct and indirect discrimination against British Nationals under S.13, S.53 of the Equality Act. You have to bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal against the Institute.

 

Could you please explain what you mean by a scaled pass mark? Is it that the pass mark can vary from 55 to 65 (though it's often 60) for a CT paper? Or is it that, say if the score reported to me for one of my CT papers is 64%, that my true score for that paper could be different?

 

scaled pass mark is the pass mark after the raw mark has been scaled to avoid embarrassment and reputation damage

 

They adjust pass marks too?! It's out of order that IFoA fail to be fully transparent on what they do.