For those of you who've done the Actuarial Exams...

ArmCandyBaby

Could you please recommend some text books that cover the relevent maths? With all this free time due to the recession I'm interestd in having a look at this field but don't want to fork out on the societies notes yet and they're quite coy about recommending third party books...

I've access to the Trinity library so shouldn't have a problem picking up whatever's out there. TIA.

TommyGunne

If you've gone to this trouble I assume you know its a series of exams. Good information and past papers are available here: http://www.actuaries.org.uk/students/exams. Let it suffice to say that there is a hell of a lot of statistics!

In general it is very tough to recommend a book without knowing which exam you plan to take. The exams are typically sat every 6 months, and people generally do 1 or 2 exams in each sitting. I think there are 13 exams.

I haven't done the exams but I am doing actuarial in college. What course have you done/are studying/what is your area of interest? Depending on which course you have done, you may be eligible for some exemptions from some of the exams.

ArmCandyBaby

I did engineering in college so won't be getting any exemptions unfortunately. I was looking to just start at the start with CT1 - I read through the syllabus (found here) and the symbols on pg. 4 really threw me! Any suggestions on where I should begin?!

Thomas_S_Hunterson

The notation on page four is standard actuarial notation for annuities. Grab yourself a copy of the actuarial tables (used for the exams) it explains the notation. The derivations are relatively simple.

An Introduction to the Mathematics of Finance by J.J. McCutcheon and W.F. Scott published by Butterworth-Heinemann is the textbook we were recommended for the subject.

Are you currently employed in the field? Employers will take you on as a trainee and give you study time and time off for exams as you do them.

ArmCandyBaby

Cheers, I saw the same book recommended in a pdf on the DCU website so I'll check it out. I heard that they give you time off but I'm not at that stage just yet!

sd123

I am obviously going to look really ignorant now but do you not have to study actuaial in college to become an actuary. Judging by what people are saying, it looks like anyone can just sit a series of exams and become one... Would someone mind explaining the procedure? I know someone who really wants to be an actuary but never got the points.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

sd123 wrote: »

I am obviously going to look really ignorant now but do you not have to study actuaial in college to become an actuary. Judging by what people are saying, it looks like anyone can just sit a series of exams and become one... Would someone mind explaining the procedure? I know someone who really wants to be an actuary but never got the points.

Technically you don't even have to have your leaving cert to become one. Once you are accepted as a member and complete the exams, you can be an actuary. /edit: THe society do in fact list the leaving cert as as a requirement for membership. You need at least an A2 or an A1 if you didn't go on to study at third level: http://www.actuaries.ie/Careers_Education/HowtobecomeanActuary/HowActuary.htm

The best way to do it would be to approach a company and ask them to take you on as an actuarial trainee. It will take a substantial length of time to complete the exams and obviously you need to be good at maths.

By studying it in college, you get exemptions from much of the professional exams.

ArmCandyBaby

If you study actuary in college all you really get is a load of exemptions (& a much better shot of actually landing a job!..) . Tommy above said that there are 13 exams - if you did it in col you'd probably only have to sit around 5 which, since you'll never sit more than 4 in a year since you're working, will mean you qualify much earlier than anyone who didn't study it.

Law and Accountancy among others are the same. Everyone jokes about Arts degrees but in a way they're far more worthwhile than studying one of these degrees as you get a much broader education.

sd123

Sean_K wrote: »

Technically you don't even have to have your leaving cert to become one. Once you are accepted as a member and complete the exams, you can be an actuary. /edit: THe society do in fact list the leaving cert as as a requirement for membership. You need at least an A2 or an A1 if you didn't go on to study at third level: http://www.actuaries.ie/Careers_Education/HowtobecomeanActuary/HowActuary.htm

The best way to do it would be to approach a company and ask them to take you on as an actuarial trainee. It will take a substantial length of time to complete the exams and obviously you need to be good at maths.

By studying it in college, you get exemptions from much of the professional exams.

edit: questions answered by looking at the website, thanks

ilovecheeses

ArmCandyBaby wrote: »

If you study actuary in college all you really get is a load of exemptions (& a much better shot of actually landing a job!..) . Tommy above said that there are 13 exams - if you did it in col you'd probably only have to sit around 5 which, since you'll never sit more than 4 in a year since you're working, will mean you qualify much earlier than anyone who didn't study it.

Law and Accountancy among others are the same. Everyone jokes about Arts degrees but in a way they're far more worthwhile than studying one of these degrees as you get a much broader education.

I have an Arts degree and a second degree in actuarial maths.

When I had just my (non maths based) arts degree and attempted to become an actuary I was laughed at by most companies. I had no choice but to go back and get a maths based degree. I chose actuarial maths over a regular maths degree because either way I would have to study for 4 years, but this way Id get the first 8 exemptions.

If you want to be an actuary the ONLY arts degree have any chance of getting employment with is a maths one. All other non-maths based Arts degrees are utterly useless to wannabe actuaries.

And I dont understand why you would say 'All you really get is loads of exemptions' - exemptions translate directly into a higher pay packet. I wouldnt call higher wages 'all you get'! The more exemptions you have the better you get paid. You also have an immediate advantage over people with no exemptions when it comes to getting work.

And rather than a text, if you are serious about becoming an actuary, you should order the notes from ActEd. They will take you through CA1 step by step and are very easy to follow.

Grudaire

ArmCandyBaby wrote: »

If you study actuary in college all you really get is a load of exemptions (& a much better shot of actually landing a job!..) . Tommy above said that there are 13 exams - if you did it in col you'd probably only have to sit around 5 which, since you'll never sit more than 4 in a year since you're working, will mean you qualify much earlier than anyone who didn't study it.

13/4 (at four per year) = 4.25 years
5/4 + 4 = 5.25 years :pac:

Just something to think about, I was talking to some of the third year actuaries in DCU before Christmas, and 10 of the class hadn't work experience sorted at that stage (I assume some got some since), and that for instance Irish Life who normally take 10 only took 2 this year...

ArmCandyBaby

ilovecheeses wrote: »

And I dont understand why you would say 'All you really get is loads of exemptions' - exemptions translate directly into a higher pay packet. I wouldnt call higher wages 'all you get'! The more exemptions you have the better you get paid. You also have an immediate advantage over people with no exemptions when it comes to getting work.

What I meant by this was, most college courses give you a fairly unique chance of an education in a subject or a certain qualification. In arts subjects like Economics, Philosophy or whatever, I don't think you'd ever really achieve the same level of knowledge without going to college, without having lecturers and tutors to bounce ideas off and other students to work with etc. For Engineering, Pharmacy and others, you need to do your 4 years and get your BA/BSc to become qualified (AFAIK!). No way around it.

For Actuary (and Accountancy/Law) though you could study something in college that you're really interested in and after do the society's exams. After a while you would have practically the same qualification. much harder going but nevertheless possible.

ilovecheeses wrote: »

And rather than a text, if you are serious about becoming an actuary, you should order the notes from ActEd. They will take you through CA1 step by step and are very easy to follow.

I looked at the book mentioned above just to get a grounding - it's OK but fairly tedious. Have some notes on the way.

Cliste wrote: »

13/4 (at four per year) = 4.25 years
5/4 + 4 = 5.25 years

Some little genius might even take a gap year after his/her LC and knock out the first 8 in groups of 3, 3 and 2 getting all the exemptions from a four year degree in one year! :eek:

Grudaire

ArmCandyBaby wrote: »

For Actuary (and Accountancy/Law) though you could study something in college that you're really interested in and after do the society's exams. After a while you would have practically the same qualification. much harder going but nevertheless possible.

Well to be fair it's not a straight up assembly line exemption course.

You study a broader range of maths and programming then you would if you bomb straight into exams. Java and Matlab for example. So far I'm loving it (mainly because there's very few pesky essays!)

ArmCandyBaby

ArmCandyBaby wrote:

Some little genius might even take a gap year after his/her LC and knock out the first 8 in groups of 3, 3 and 2 getting all the exemptions from a four year degree in one year! :eek:

Assuming you pass each one yes, but do remember that the exams are competitive/on a grade curve and there is no defined % you need to pass an exam, nor is the % published after the exams. They will fail around 30% up to 75% of students sitting the exams at any given sitting. Working as an actuarial trainee, if you pass one exam each sitting you're doing very well, and it's more common to be repeating the same exam a few times. Even if you're used to being the top of your class in a maths degree, 1st class honours etc, you need to be studying extremely hard and doing tutorials/marked assignments and even then you might get an "FA" ("1-5% below the pass mark").
I have no experience of actuarial in college as I did thphys&maths, but in college they wanted to pass you and give you all the marks you can get. They do not want to pass you in these exams! I'd advise doing it in college and getting the exemptions if possible.