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First, a bit of background on myself I attended University of Waterloo (98-02) and spent a year working
in Toronto before returning home. I got my ASA in 2006..and then took a break from exams (which was
a really bad idea) until 2014 when I resumed the FSA exams (its really, really difficult to start back
exams, once youve stopped). I used the excuse that I wanted to get some more experience first. That is
a BS excuse. Dont use it. Do the exams.
Now, just to give some credibility to what I am writing - I have never failed an actuarial exam that I have
studied for (and I averaged about a 7.5 grade). So, I think my methods have worked very well for me, and
there is a chance they may work for you too. At the very least, it cant hurt to read them.
At this point, I want to put in a couple caveats. Students have been successful with these exams using a
wide range of techniques, and methods that work for one person dont necessarily work for another. Each
individual has to determine what works best for them. Im just sharing what has worked for me.
Now, I dont think Im overly smart. While Ive generally done well, it is more as a result of effort, and
method, than any natural ability. I say this so that you do not think that you have to be some superintelligent dude to get through these exams. These exams are very passable, once you are willing to put
the effort in.
Now, onto my techniques
Study Days
Hopefully you work for a company that has a study policy, and allows you a reasonable amount of study
time for these exams. For me, knowing that I have a whole day ahead of me that I could dedicate to
studying without any disruptions or distractions is very important.
In addition to this free study time, most people limit themselves to evenings and weekends. Most people
do not study Friday evenings and for sure most people do not use up their vacations to study. This is a
huge amount of additional time which most people do not utilize.and your goal on the exams, is simply
to do better than most people.
Sleep
I always thought I needed 7 hours of sleep, but I found I could make do with less than 5, along with a
short nap(s) (generally 15 minutes unless I required more) in the morning and afternoon sessions. I think
sleep is extremely important, and finding that right amount is critical. Getting 5 hours on a night, and an
hour and a half or so spaced out through the day, worked well for me. I took what I needed, but no more.
Breaks
In my lunch break, I got into a nice routine. I did a circuit of paddle boarding, swimming, running and
diving at the nearby beach basically some activity to break a sweat, get in a work out, and help my brain
rest and recover. The key here is to determine what activity helps your brain to recover the fastest. I think
the gym probably is the answer for most people.
For me, any activity where I was staring at a screen (e.g. internet, tv) did not help my brain rest, and was
not an efficient use of time. It can wait until after the exams.
There were times over the course of the study that it may be necessary to take a longer break, when your
brain can not take any more, and you are not doing yourself any favours by trying to force yourself to
study. These can be difficult to recognize, as sometimes you can push through them, and still get an
effective study day in. Other times, it is best to take the day off entirely and do something fun. In fact,
about a month before LP, I got sick for a week. I could not study, but having that mental break allowed
my batteries to recharge, and I had a very strong last month of studying.
Obstacles
Basically remove obstacles that get in the way of studying, and put obstacles in front of all distractions.
Some things I did were to remove access to my smart phone, and internet (unless I was utilizing an online
forum or online seminar). Basically anything you know that provides a distraction, you can make it more
difficult to pursue that activity.
Life Happens
Life events can happen and get in the way of your studying. Sometimes, these can be blessings in
disguise, even though it might not seem so at the time, as it allows your brain time to rest and recover.
Butin order to afford this time off, you need to put in the additional time otherwise.
This is your time
This is your time to be selfish and learn to say No, I have to study to people. When they tell you, what
about after you are finished studying, you can tell them, Sure, June/December sounds fine. Basically,
the world really does have to revolve around you at this time. If people do not understand, it is because
they are thinking primarily of themselves and their needs. If your best friend really wanted you at their
wedding, they would have planned it to be in June/December, after your exam. ;-)
Support System
Your friends and family need to understand that the studying required for these exams is intense. They
are there to provide you with food and encouragement when you require it. They should try their best not
to get married, or expire, during this time of study. ;-)
study, and basically attack the material. For my remaining exams, I was waiting on results before
studying, so there was less time available.
Study Guides I think both PAK and TIA produce very good study guides, and ideally, I would be
using both of these. I did not use ACE, but many people do comment positively about them as well.
I have mentioned earlier that I would choose 2 study guides, over choosing 1 study guide & source
material/texts. The study guides do tend to offer a disclaimer saying that they are not a replacement for
the source material, and while initially this was a concern of mine, I did not find it to be an issue in the
end.
Specifically, I found the instructors Eddie Smith (TIA) and Garry Capko (PAK) spectacular. They are
amazing instructors and teachers. They really took the time out to help you via email, on their respective
forums, and put huge amounts of effort into their material. Their online seminars are excellent, and I really
could not choose one over the other. I also benefited greatly from, Eddy (PAK) and Francis (PAK), as
well.
Both TIA and PAK put out a number of study aids e.g. study guides, flash cards, online seminars,
condensed study guides, mock exams and practice questions.
I found that there was not enough time to use all of these, but it is good to have many options to choose
from. Figure out which ones work best for you, and spend your time on those.
In the end, I would recommend using both of the TIA and PAK study guides, as well as their online
seminars. I also found the mock exams and practice questions that both of them produce, extremely
valuable. PAK marks their mock exam and provides valuable comments back to you. I got 70-80% in
these mock exams, and I found they did a great job of testing the syllabus with solid exam questions. I
wish the actual exams were more like these, than the bloodbath which they really are.
on the topic, and get a feel for how important the topic is, and how it relates to other topics. This type of
information is not generally given in the more formal study notes, but I found invaluable.
I then used a landscape layout, printing on 8.5 x 11 off-white cards, often using scotch tape to combine
2 or 3 cards.
The brilliant thing with using cards in this way is that when you have the same topic covered by different
source readings, you can reorder your cards so that you have the same concepts in the same place. In
fact, I tried where possible to combine concepts where there was overlap. This occurred a lot with LP,
where I ended up organizing all the mortality assumption notes together, for example.
I will attach a small sample of these notes so that you see what I mean. Unfortunately I cannot provide
the entire notes, as some of the notes would be copyrighted, and at any rate the syllabus changes
reduces the usefulness of them.
The below shows my Contents tab, which has a link to each topic, and I add things like the no. of past
questions on the topic, and page count, along with a valuable X showing if I have completed the topic.
Below, shows a part of a page, showing the branch structure that I use to make the notes.
Even though this condensed study note has lost the branch structure of the original study note, it was no
longer necessary as at this point, I have a good understanding of the structure, and I am more focused on
memorization. The below also shows where the tables are from the purchased study notes, but I have
either highlighted a section of the table to save time, and added my own points as well. I also used
coloured stickies on pages that I needed more work on.
Study Schedule
I found the provided ones from PAK/TIA helpful, as they listed all the topics, and had a page count to give
an approximation of how much time each topic required..but I did not stick to a study schedule. As long
as I was maximizing the amount of hours I was studying each day, a study schedule was not that
important. I reasoned that I could not do more than I was already doing anyway.
Order of Study
LP only started to click for me when I organized my notes by like topic. E.g. all mortality related stuff
was put together. TIA provides a suggested order of study which I found very useful, as this is difficult to
do yourself unless you know the material already. PAK Online Seminar (Garry) also provides this with the
online seminar.
Attack the syllabus from many angles All of the repetition is bound to make you sick of
studying.I doing the same thing, over and over However, the syllabus is often broken up into 4 or
more major categories.Study what you feel like studying. Dont force yourself into studying something
you are not in the mood for.
15 minute read through time I like to compare each question to a fruit that you are squeezing.
You are trying to maximize the amount of juice (marks) that you get from each question. In the read
through time, you try to determine which questions are ripe fruit and easy to squeeze, and which ones
are rock hard and just cause you wasted time and anguish. I think in my LFV exam I was partially
successful because I recognized the ripe fruit were to the back of the paper, and maximized marks while
others were struggling on the earlier questions (some rocks) which were time consuming, and hard to
extract marks from. Im not saying to skip to the back, but just make sure you are not spending too much
time on questions that you will not be rewarded for.
Exams are hard The FSA exams are nightmares. I felt physically sick and emotionally drained
after each one. There is no getting around that. For each exam, I had a moment during the 15 minute
read through time when I thought, there is no way I am passing this examBut.I still want to do as
well as I can possibly do.and somehow that still turned into a passing grade each time.
Do your absolutely utmost during the exam to transfer the knowledge in your brain, down to the paper. Do
not give up at any point. If you are still writing when time runs out, you have done well! I ran out of
knowledge with a hour to go with LP, but still tried my hardest to put down something for questions I
didnt have a clue about. Fight it out until the last second.
Feel free to pm me with any questions you might haveand good luck!!!