CA2: CMP Upgrade 2013/14 Page 1

Subject CA2
CMP Upgrade 2013/14

CMP Upgrade

This CMP Upgrade lists all significant changes to the Core Reading and the ActEd
material since last year so that you can manually amend your 2013 study material to
make it suitable for study for the 2014 exams. Alternatively, you can buy a full
replacement set of up-to-date Course Notes at a significantly reduced price if you have
previously bought the full price Course Notes in this subject. Please see our 2014
Student Brochure for more details.

This CMP Upgrade contains:

all changes to the Syllabus objectives and Core Reading.

changes to the ActEd Course Notes and Marked Assignment Projects that will
make them suitable for study for the 2014 exams.

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1 Changes to the Syllabus objectives and Core Reading

1.1 Syllabus objectives

There are no changes to the syllabus.

1.2 Core Reading

References to a senior colleague have been changed to a senior actuary.

The role of the Board for Actuarial Standards (BAS) has now been taken over by the
Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Some of the website addresses have changed, but
they can still be found on the frc.org.uk website.

The following sentence has been added to the end of the first paragraph in the section
Technical standards and CA2:

In writing the model summary, students should demonstrate a good

understanding of the problem being modelled in the discussions of their
results.

The function COUNT has been added to the list of functions in the Excel knowledge
section.

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2 Changes to the ActEd Course Notes

p10

The list of projects on the IFoA website has been updated as follows:

Auctioneers Rabbit populations Banana distribution

A cats lives Mobile phone contracts Greyhound racing
Assurance premiums

p35

The following sentence has been added to the end of the first Exam tip box:
The summary also provides an opportunity for you to add value by
showing the examiner that you have understood what the project is about.

p42

The following new exam tip has been added at the top of the page:

Exam tip

To help come up with ideas for next steps that have the right focus, you can ask yourself
Ive set up this spreadsheet, but what might my boss or the client ask me to do next on
this project?

p63

The additional functions ROUNDDOWN and ROUNDUP have been added to the Other
useful functions section.

p128

An additional sentence has been added to the reply to the question Will I be allowed to
take the CA2 ActEd notes into the exam?
Note, however, that you are not allowed to use any electronic devices such
as iPads or e-readers.

p130

The pass rate has been updated to 60%.

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p127+

The following additional FAQs have been added to the FAQ section:

Can I use features such as pivot tables and autofilter in my

spreadsheet? I use these a lot at work.

Its probably best to avoid using pivot tables in the CA2 exam because you would need
to write a lot more in your audit trail to describe how to use these, compared with an
approach that uses COUNTIF and SUMIF functions.

The autofilter feature can be useful for spotting rogue entries in columns of data and for
reconciling totals. But if you use this, make sure you describe how you have used it in
your audit trail, as it is an interactive feature that leaves no permanent record in your
spreadsheet.

The Core Reading talks a lot about the Technical Actuarial

Standards (TASs). Do I need to mention these in my audit trail or
my summary?

You wont be expected to mention these explicitly in the CA2 exam. However, you
should be aware of them and you should apply them where appropriate.

For example, regarding the data, you should check any data provided and show that you
understand the importance of having complete and accurate data. You could mention
this as one of your assumptions and, if you have any doubts about the quality of the
data, you could include this in the Next Steps section of your summary as something to
follow up on. See the TAS(D) section in the Core Reading.

For the modelling stage, you need to ensure that the documentation in your audit trail is
fit for purpose. In particular, it must contain sufficient detail and be clear,
unambiguous and complete. See the TAS(M) section in the Core Reading.

For the reporting stage, you need to ensure that your summary is complete and covers
all material and relevant information that the senior actuary will need. See the TAS(R)
section in the Core Reading.

I dont use Excel much at work. What should I do if I dont know

how to do something in Excel?

If you cant find out how to carry out a particular task using the Excel help feature, you
should ask the assessor for assistance. The examiners have said that they wont
penalise students for questions they ask that just relate to using the software.

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3 Changes to the Marked Assignment Projects

There are no changes to the Marked Assignment Projects (MAP1 and MAP2).

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4 Other tuition services

In addition to this CMP Upgrade you might find the following services helpful with
your study.

4.1 Study material

We offer the following study material in Subject CA2:

Marked Assignment Project 1
Marked Assignment Project 2.

For further details on ActEds study materials, please refer to the 2014 Student
Brochure, which is available from the ActEd website at www.ActEd.co.uk.

4.2 Tutorials

We offer the following tutorials in Subject CA2:

a CA2 Preparation Day
a CA2 Online Preparation Day.

These include a Marked Assignment Project (MAP3).

For further details on ActEds tutorials, please refer to our latest Tuition Bulletin, which
is available from the ActEd website at www.ActEd.co.uk.

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5 Feedback on the study material

ActEd is always pleased to get feedback from students about any aspect of our study
programmes. Please let us know if you have any specific comments (eg about certain
sections of the notes or particular questions) or general suggestions about how we can
improve the study material. We will incorporate as many of your suggestions as we can
when we update the course material each year.

If you have any comments on this course please send them by email to CA2@bpp.com
or by fax to 01235 550085.

The Actuarial Education Company IFE: 2014 Examinations