Writing in the exam

Can you write short hand in the exam i.e. P/h for policyholder or g'tee for guarantee?

Also are extra marks given for examples? I see from the solutions thy sometimes there's an extra half mark for an example but it is not often. How do I know when to put one in and should I be encouraged to use examples when possible?

 

use of abbreviations in exams

I asked an acted tutor that once, and he just said its probably best avoided, apart from really obvious ones, like 'RI' for reinsurance. There's no list of approved abbreviations. I wouldn't use g'tee.

 

Gramatically, you could write something and then put the abbreviation in brackets or quotation marks. For example, write something like... the policyholder, "p/h", pays a premium...and then use p/h afterwards instead of writing policyholder.The examiner might misunderstand your abbreviations unless you do this.

I'd use the numbers/information in the question to prove my point rather than inventing an example. For example, if the question says the life office has assets of £100m then use this number rather than saying if the office has assets of £500,00

 

Yes, define initials first and definitely be clear if a rare 'prove/derive' qn is asked.

Examples generally speaking aren't numeric. They can be good to insert particularly on large mark questions. Some qns will actually ask for some eg List 5 things you find on a proposal form. In this case do exactly as instructed - stick to 5 and put important ones first.

Where you have seen an example given, look at the question and see what the instruction word was. Or what class of business. If it said say protection, you may want to make distinguishing remarks for differences say with CI versus IP etc.

Its not an exact science alas.

 

Abbreviation is fine. I tend to use a fair bit, I asked for an extra sheet to be the glossary of my abbreviations...LOL.....

 

The risk of the glossary is you waste time up front and don't use everything you scrawl down, or you do it back end, and miss some.

But unless you use way out abbreviations, it won't be too damaging.