Being an actuary is probably the best profession to have in the United States. You can find information about the profession at the site: http://www.BeAnActuary.org, and the web site of the Actuarial Program of Illinois State University: http://www.IllinoisState.edu/actuary/. While this is a wonderful profession, candidates for it must pass a series of very challenging professional examinations. Most candidates find the experience of taking those examinations very frustrating and far more difficult than a typical university-level class. There are several important reasons for this situation, and if you want to pass actuarial examinations, you should consider them:
Follow the Money
Actuaries are responsible for massive amounts of other people's money. Billions of dollars. It makes sense for actuarial examinations to have very high standards. And actuaries are paid very well, while having prestigious, comfortable jobs, with low stress levels, and no unemployment. There has to be a catch, and the catch is: it is hard, very hard, to become a fully qualified professional actuary.
You Was Robbed
Despite massive spending on education in the United States, educational standards have been lowered over time. If you went to high school in the United States, chances are you did not study any physics or calculus while being there. Even at the university level, where the United States remains the world leader, low standards in mathematics and science are creeping in. You may have to face the reality that while massive amounts of your own, your parents', and taxpayers' money were spent on your education, you did not learn enough mathematics and science. If you want to be a respected actuarial professional, you must have the maturity to face your own weaknesses and overcome them. Learn to love studying mathematics and its business applications. Be hungry for knowledge. This hunger will serve you well not just on the exams, but on the job, as well.
Welcome to the Real Life
Once you pass actuarial examinations, you will find that the rewards of actuarial work are truly great and satisfying. There are other professions that offer great careers: medicine, law, accounting. People who study those other professions work very hard and pay a lot of money for their education. It takes far less money to become an actuary. But the process is equally, or maybe even more so, serious. If you want to become an actuary, you should never try to do the minimum amount of work needed just to pass. If your objective were to become a doctor, would you study medicine this way? If a doctor studied just barely enough to get a medical license, would you want that doctor to take care of your child? Becoming an actuary is not just about getting a job. This is a prominent, prestigious profession. Be very, very serious about it. The day you take an actuarial examination should be as real in your mind as if you were a quarterback playing in the Super Bowl, an athlete competing for a gold medal in the Olympics, a tennis player in Wimbledon final, or the Yellow Jersey cyclist in the last stage of Tour de France.
Many actuarial students ask for trick and shortcuts to passing actuarial examinations. I firmly believe there is only one trick/shortcut:
The BTDT Rule: When you are taking an actuarial examination, you must be so well prepared that when you read every problem on the test you say to yourself: Been There Done That.
This means that when you are taking an actuarial examination and you read a problem, you will immediately know how to do it. You will not derive any formulas: because you have them all memorized, by having done hundreds of practice problems and having reviewed your list of formulas for memorization daily. You will not think about a good trick to solve a problem, because you have done all thinking during your preparation and you immediately know what to do. You will be a mean lean problem solving machine. You will prevail no matter how bad the exam is and no mater how bad of a day you have.
I work very hard to teach students at Illinois State University following the ideas presented here. I believe our results speak for themselves. If you want to become our student, please contact our Office of Admissions. I have also authored study manuals for the first three actuarial examinations and post free practice problems for those examinations every week. Below is the information about these resources.
Course P/1 Seminar at Illinois State University
Information about the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1 Examination by Krzysztof Ostaszewski
E-course for Course P/1 offered by CoachingActuaries.com that includes the ASM Study Manual
Purchase the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1 Examination by Krzysztof Ostaszewski at Actex Publications or at the Actuarial Bookstore
Purchase the Supplement to the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1 Examination, containing three additional practice examinations at Actex Publications or at the Actuarial Bookstore
Purchase the 2nd Supplement to the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1 Examination, containing three more practice examinations at Actex Publications or at the Actuarial Bookstore
Purchase the 3rd Supplement to the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1 Examination, containing three more practice examinations at Actex Publications or at the Actuarial Bookstore
Free weekly practice practice problem for exam P/1: http://math.illinoisstate.edu/krzysio/3-12-5-KO-Exercise.pdf and then every week following March 12, 2005, the date of that first practice problem posted, through May 28, 2011, on every Saturday, with the link adjusted for the date, i.e., 3-12-5-KO-Exercise.pdf for the first problem, 3-19-5-KO-Exercise.pdf for the second problem, etc.
Course FM/2 Seminar at Illinois State University
Purchase the Study Manual for the Course FM/2 Examination by Krzysztof Ostaszewski at Actex Publications or the Actuarial Bookstore
Free weekly practice practice problem for exam FM/2: http://math.illinoisstate.edu/krzysio/KO-FM-Exercise1.pdf and the following problems are posted with consecutive numbers, e.g., KO-FM-Exercise1.pdf, KO-FM-Exercise2.pdf, KO-FM-Exercise3.pdf, etc., ending in Problem No. 310.
Course MLC Seminar at Illinois State University
Purchase the Study Manual for the Course MLC Examination Krzysztof Ostaszewski at Actex Publications or the Actuarial Bookstore
Free weekly practice practice problem for exam MLC: http://math.illinoisstate.edu/krzysio/KO-MLC-Exercise-4-21-7.pdf and then every week following March 21, 2007, the date of that first practice problem posted, on every Saturday, with the link adjusted for the date, i.e., KO-MLC-Exercise-4-21-7.pdf for the first problem, KO-MLC-Exercise-4-28-7.pdf for the second problem, etc., but, once every five weeks a Saturday is skipped. The problems end at the end of May of 2011.
When you use these study manuals, it is very, very important that you do more than reading them, you should have paper and pen or pencil ready and reproduce all the work done in them and make certain you understand every detail. Then you should take practice exams in them, under time constraint and conditions just like during a real exam. A score of 70% or better is what to need to pass. Once you are done with a practice exam, you should study its solutions very carefully. Work very, very hard to make certain that you understand everything. If you have questions about any of my manuals, you can e-mail them to me at: krzysio@ilstu.edu.