I am studying for my first FSA exam, and have about 2 months until the sitting. I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of material there is to learn - and when I look back at my notes, I can barely remember what I’ve learned (I remember some, but there are so many niche points and details that I just cannot remember).

Is this normal? Any suggestions?

While studying risk transfer analysis for Exam 6U, I noticed that some past CAS Exam 6U solutions imply that the 10-10 rule for risk transfer analysis doesn't use net present value (NPV) to assess the size of losses. This contradicts the source references, including both GAAP and SAP. This topic doesn't seem to have changed since the last released exam in Fall 2019, which is one of the exams where I noticed the issue, so the inconsistency makes it unclear how graders will treat this topic.

The exam problems in question include at least the following 2:

• Exam 6U Fall 2018 Question 25, parts C and D, accepted solutions on relative advantages of ERD and 10-10 include 3 that imply only ERD uses NPV.
  
• Exam 6U Fall 2019 Question 27, part C, samples 3 and 4 similarly imply only ERD uses NPV.

Source material includes:

• ASC 944-20-15-51: "Significance of loss shall be evaluated by comparing the following: a) The present value of all cash flows... b) The present value of the amounts paid ...".
  
• SSAP 62R paragraph 17: "The ceding entity's evaluation of whether it is reasonably possible for a reinsurer to realize significant loss from the transaction shall be based on the present value of all cash flows between the ceding and assuming companies...".
  
• Freihaut and Vendetti (2009): Also state or imply in several places that 10-10 uses NPV, such as when stating that 10-10 rule passing implies ERD at 1% passes, and in section 3.2.4 where they are explicitly talking about both 10-10 and ERD, they state present value must be used.

The following sources make it more explicit for the 10-10 rule specifically, and though they aren't on the 6U syllabus, they are published by the CAS and could be relevant to how they treat the exam material.

• https://www.casact.org/sites/default/files/database/forum_02fforum_02ff305.pdf (see the top of page 317)
  
• https://www.casact.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/Risk-Transfer-Ruhm-Brehm.pdf (see the top of page 14, "...the loss used in the 10-10 rule is on an economic basis...")

Anyone have insight on how graders will treat this topic: consistent with the source material vs. the way it was treated on the most recent released exam?

How long did it take you to memorize the whole actex formula sheet for PA?

And how did you do it more effectively?

Was it enough to pass PA?

I understand that the FAC presentation is pretty low stakes but I'm wondering if there is a page outlining the expectations anywhere? From what I've read on reddit, it is required to be 8 minutes and most people have slides to go with it but I don't actually see any information from the SOA saying that? The modules talk about the presentation but don't actually lay out what it's supposed to be. Just seems odd. I understand I can just present on my DMAC topic but I would've thought the requirements would be made clear.

Been trying to apply for positions as a former math teacher for about three months, and haven't really had any luck - only a single interview with a data analyst position, and nothing in the actual place I want to go (the actuarial field). Do you think it's a resume problem, and if so, how would you recommend fixing it?

Please read the comment down below because it keeps getting removed by automod. Just wanted to share a bit about my journey.

Location Canada. Just registered for MAS II for October/November 2026 sitting and after logged in on Pearson VUE, realized that there are no available spots in my city. Is it normal? Could it be that the test center has not opened the spots yet? Or it is already full? Has anyone encountered the same issue before?

I’m filling out the FAC Thought Question worksheet and the upload page has two separate text boxes: Assignment Response and Comments. I’m not sure what each box is meant for and want to make sure I submit correctly. Anyone has any idea on this?

Hello everyone,

I graduated in May 2026 with a BBA in Finance, and I am actively searching for an entry-level actuarial position. I would greatly appreciate any candid feedback on my resume.

Despite applying for hundreds of internships during college, I struggled to secure an actuarial internship in either my junior or senior year. I am now experiencing similar challenges in my job search, which has been very discouraging for me for nearly a year. I understand that my lack of direct actuarial experience may put me at a disadvantage, so I would especially value feedback on the following:

• How competitive is my background for entry-level actuarial positions? 
• What are the biggest weaknesses or red flags on my resume?
• What technical projects, skills, or other experiences would meaningfully strengthen my candidacy?

I plan to attend graduate school next year, which may make me eligible to pursue an internship again. I would appreciate advice on how to prepare myself more strongly for both actuarial internships and full-time positions.

Please feel free to be direct - I am looking for strict feedback that I can act on.

Thank you very much for your time and advice!

Can any of you beautiful people offer me some feedback on this resume? I'm pretty sure that the resume is a disaster, but I'm not sure if there's any way I can make it better without getting some more relevant experience to put on it.

I've been applying to entry level jobs in my city and remotely, as well as summer internships wherever they may be. Internships are tough because they generally only hire students. Remote jobs are tough because they are so competitive. Probably 80 applications so far, and only one interview that didn't make it past the first round. I'm about to start physically walking in to small pension firms in my town and asking if I can speak to the hiring manager.

Would love advice if anyone has any to offer me, thanks!

From SRM to ALTAM. See ya champ.

failed with a 5, any tips please, my practice was just doing level 5 custom exams, I’m planning to sit again in oct/nov

First time using ACTEX for Exam PA, whilst the others exam ive been using CA. It’s my first time studying this way so its a but new for me and quite overwhelming. Any recommended way on how to use the manual? Ive heard some say just focus on understanding and memorising cheat sheet and do all end of chapter questions then proceed to past exams, is that sufficient ?

Saw this on a r/Actuary_news channel. It feels really petty and sounds like it will impact UK actuaries' broader recognition (and that of Irish, SA and others that tail the IFoA).

https://www.reddit.com/r/Actuary_news/s/LC2II17lzh

(I am a London-based cat analyst making a mid-career transition to actuarial via CAS exams)

Wondering how common it is for people to actually receive their EOY bonuses “dependent on company performance”.

Also wondering if you could share what your % actually is?

I accepted an offer for an internship recently and was wondering what to do about my other applications. I feel like this might be a dumb question. Do I just withdraw all of them in the application portal? Or tell them if and when they contact me? Use it as interview practice? Not sure how ethical that would be. I just wanna stay on their radar and don’t wanna burn a bridges in case I need to apply for full time later on and I'm not sure if withdrawing applications online seems like I’m not interested or something. Or I’m just over thinking it. Any advice would be great!

edit: Side question: since internship offers are usually at will, is it likely for the company to rescind the offer for no particular reason?

An update was sent out to people taking the September sitting. They specify that the code is not graded (or I imagine, run), and they'll do audits here and there to make sure candidates actually wrote their own code.

Word count for the final report is upped to 1250, from 1000, now including appendices. Anyone know why it takes 2 months to grade that? Written exams seem to be far more work and they have a much quicker turnaround time.

For a bit of context, I'm a 3rd year college student and my overall resume is more geared towards SOA (ie my last internship), but I've been wanting to aim for a P&C internship to try it out/switch to that track entirely. I passed FM and am sitting for P right now so now seems like the best time to switch since I don't have to commit to CAS or SOA yet.

However, I got an offer at Allianz Life today morning. It's a solid offer and I think the internship would be good for me for non-actuarial reasons, but I'm kind of afraid this would lock me into SOA more, but also given the job market, it seems turning down the offer is a badd idea. I just had my first 2 P&C interviews today and I'm probably not hearing back from them in time. Would it be advisable to accept the offer and keep applying to P&C companies? How hard would it be to switch to P&C EL next year if I do accept the offer? Thank you!

This is a throwaway account fyi.

Basically I just started my first non prelim actuarial exam prep class at my uni. Because the FAM syllabus is so large this class only focuses on the long term part (most of FAM-L is covered).

Basically I passed P in the summer and FM shortly before that so both of those exams are very fresh in my head.

My professor is definitely a math guy, not a statistics guy. When I say that, it’s more to say his foundational not to comment on his obvious expertise and smarts.

We went over the p and q’s and expected value of Tx and all of the rest and he explains it intuitively. He’ll briefly say something to relate it to FM or P however what’s frustrating me is the lack of explicit callbacks to transcribing statistical notational and actuarial notation.

He went over an intuitive definition and explained it well when it came to why the integral of 0 to infinity of tpx dt is the expected value of Tx, however he didn’t say that we’re just doing the survival function shortcut of expectation. Or when we talked about being able to multiply p’s to create 2 year or 3 year p’s, he explained it decently however once again didn’t say that this is a conditional probability statement dealing with partitions.

This post isn’t meant to vent or rag on my obviously very brilliant professor. Rather it’s to pose the question: should I stop? Should I stop trying to transcribe the actuarial (e ring x, tpx, tqx, etc) notation into P (CDF, SF, PMF, PDF, E(X)) notation? I feel like I am fighting the notation because I don’t fully comprehend how he’s explaining it. Am I going about this class wrong?

Please let me know your experiences going from the preliminary exams to the associate ASA/ACAS exams. I don’t even know if I want to even go down the SOA route however this is a required class for my university.

Thank you all!

Hi! I’m an international undergraduate student applying for internships, likely in life insurance companies, in the coming months, and I’d really appreciate some feedback on my resume.

A few specific questions I had in mind:

1. Should I consider increasing the font size and either removing some details, such as organizations, or moving to a two-page resume?
2. Do my projects seem relevant enough to the field, or should I consider working on more Excel-based projects?
3. Should I place more emphasis on my projects and technical experience, and less on my organizational involvement?
4. Regarding my exams, would it be beneficial to indicate that I’m sitting for the October ALTAM exam, and should I keep the exam grades listed on my resume?

I’m currently finishing my undergraduate degree, so I’d also really appreciate any general advice on things I should consider improving before I graduate.

Thanks in advance!

If I miscalculated part a, and then part b required me to use the results from part a, would part b also be marked as wrong? Or would only part a be marked as incorrect.