Actuarial Jobs - Myths Busted

"Jobs"- this is definitely something for which students in India pursue any specialised professional course like Actuarial Science or any other. Actuaries is considered to be a very highly paid job and students are definitely attracted to this profession because of great pay scales. But once they start giving exams some senior peers start scaring them with stories of market being stagnant and no jobs available in the market relating to Actuarial Science. This is anything but True.

It's general perception that Actuaries are meant for Insurance industry only! This is not valid in today's time.

What I think is Actuaries are meant to work in any field that involves risk, working of statistics, analytics, modelling, predictions etc. There is nothing like "Conventional" field for Actuaries but people do say that insurance is conventional and rest all are non conventional field of work. I strongly oppose this.

There are 55 insurance companies in India if one company recruit 10 people in actuarial team, whole industry will require on only 550 Actuaries.. So where will the rest of people go? Because of this situation people have started working in consultancy. So is it a bad thing? Not at all.. There is a huge scope for Actuaries in consultancy services. There are hardly any Actuaries in middle East , major part of Asia, and many other countries. But even these countries have insurance and other risky business in their market and hence require Actuaries. So from where do they get actuarial services? Obviously they outsource it to India or Australia (UK and US being very expensive). So isn't there a good scope?

Since 2013, Employment benefits (like gratuity, leave encashment, post retirement medical benefits, pension funds etc) liability valuation is done compulsorily by Actuaries as per new regulations. There are huge no. of companies who get this valuation done. If you charge around 8-10K to one company with less than 150 employee and higher amount accordingly to companies with more employees. Just imagine how much business you will get if you get good number of companies from market with least competition in valuers? Isn't it encouraging?

Actuaries in UK and US charge exorbitantly and hence some work is outsourced to India these day, creating ample opportunities here in our country.

You must have also heard of analytics? Some or most of my friends in this field say that analytics is non Actuarial may be they are true but I think against this. We should be open to working in any field that will require application of our knowledge. Be it in any department. Breaking the law, one of my friend accepted a job offer from one bank in analytics and business intelligence department. The person in charge in that bank was specifically looking for person with ct3 cleared as he thinks actuarial student can work better than someone with Bsc in Statistics. And that's indeed true. I congratulate him for starting a new trend in India. Though some "intelligent" people call it non actuarial, I hardly feel the same. I Would like them to define what is "actuarial job"?

Actuaries all over the world work in various fields like Risk Management, consultancy, Analytics, insurance, academics, valuation etc. They are not specific to insurance these days. Be open to all the fields and to what ever option that come to you. Just make sure it requires application of your actuarial concepts knowledge. There is no fixed definition of what makes it a "actuarial job".

What are packages likes? Fresh Graduate with few papers cleared get anywhere between Rs 3lakh to Rs 8lakhs based on company and candidate. It's a myth that you get millions immediately. Your salaries of course will increase exponentially with more experience and more actuarial papers in your kitty. If you become qualified Actuary your salary can be between Rs 4-8 millions or even more, again based on your own competence!

When is the right time to start working ? As soon as possible after clearing 1-3 papers. The more you are experienced while you study for exams, the more better you understand the concepts!

This is a great profession which say "earn while you learn"

Also we are proud to be a part of profession with 0% unemployment. There is not even one fellow actuary who is unemployed. Isn't it great?

Is there a huge competition at freshers level? Certainly Yes. But there are two things..

1. Competition is always good

2. Everyone is rushing to only specific employers like insurance, a few consultancy and KPOs. There are lot of other fields where are not approached and hence creates too much rush.

Also think why the company will recruit you. By clearing 2 exams you feel on the top of world. You should remain grounded and try to understand how much knowledge do you actually possess. You need to have basic software skills and your communication should also be excellent. Without these two, you will become a liability for the company. Do remember companies hire you not because they are generous enough to create jobs, but because they want to get their work done. If you don't have required aptitude then how can you expect to get hired? You need to be visibly different and smart.

So from here stop crying and asking if there are no jobs and do something to make yourself smart enough to sustain the competition. I hope you knew even before entering the profession that life is not going to be easy any more.

Also, try to work to improvise our profession. It really need good volunteers.

At the end as I always say, never seek to get jobs, always seek CREATE JOBS. BE AN ENTREPRENEUR!

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FUTURE TRACK releases training schedule for april/may 2016 exams

Future Track has made public its training schedule for upcoming actuarial exams of IFoA and IAI to be held in April and May 2016 respectively.

1st lecture of Future Track can always be attended as demo lecture.

The schedule for 1st lecture to be held on 29th November ie Sunday is as follows

CT1 - 8AM-10AM
CT2 - 10AM-12PM
CT3 - 10AM-12PM
CT4 - 12PM-2PM
CT5 - 12PM-2PM
CT6 - 2PM-4PM
CT7 - 12PM-2PM
CT8 - No lecture this weekend.

They have asked students to inform before coming for demo lecture due to limited availability of seats.

They further informed that
- Timings could be changed/adjusted
- Weekdays batches will start soon.

Schedule for Delhi and Jaipur center of Future Track can also be traced from their website www.futuretrack.org.

For more info call +91 114502 4949 for Delhi and Jaipur Center and +91 9223399072 for MUMBAI Center.

CT7 EXAM TIPS

- Question paper will have 30 Multiple Choice Question of 1.5 marks each. So Multiple choice question will form 45 marks of your paper, If you get them right then you can crack the paper easily. These questions are generally not straight forward but if you know the concept well then it will be easy for you. So as you read the text of course notes don't just memorize it, understand the concept being explained.

- While attempting MCQs just write the correct answer. Do not give reasons for your answer.

- Further Question paper will have 7-10 medium or long Practical or theory question. Do not write self made stories in theory. Your answers should be to the point. Keep it precise and factual. Draw Diagrams wherever required.

- Students get ample time to complete this paper. Still it is advisable to attempt theory and practical. questions first and then go for multiple choice question.

- All the chapter are equally important as Multiple choice question can be from any chapter and loosing marks on multiple choice questions is not affordable. First 2 sections are easy and more scoring. Last two sections are important and should be given more time as there might be tricky questions asked from these sections.

- Thoroughly Solve Question Bank and X series along with past exam papers (especially from 2009-2013). Don't just go through, sit and write the papers and try to memorize it. Questions may be repeated sometimes.

- CT7 exam in India is comparatively easier then other CT exams.

You may ask any specific question in comments section.

These are personal observation, there is no golden rule in Actuarial Exams. if you find it helpful, kindly share. Good luck!

CT3 EXAM TIPS

- Don't Omit any part but give more stress on those chapter which constitute major part of 100 marks exam. At least one medium or big question is expected from chapter 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Chapter 6-7 and 11-12 may have a combined question. Question from chapter 13 and 14 are generally scoring.

- Small question (2-5 marks) may add up to at least 30-35 marks.

- Most of the formulas are available in tables, you just need to know where and how to apply those.

- Thoroughly Solve Question Bank and X series along with past exam papers (minimum past 5 years paper). Don't just go through, sit and solve them even if you feel it is easy, or else you may go blank during exam due to lack of practice.

- Revision notes will be helpful too.

- Question will always not be straight forward, so if you encounter any tricky question in past papers kindly try to understand the methodology used to solve such questions. At least 20 marks will be tricky.

- As soon as you receive the question paper, go through it and try to attempt those questions first which you are good at. Paper is generally lengthy making it difficult to complete in 3 hours time. Preferably attempt small question later.

- Get used to Actuarial Tables. Many formulas are in available in actuarial table.

- If you attempt more than 80 marks of paper confidently then you have a good chances of passing. Don't get demotivated if you can't complete full paper. Manage time effectively. Remember 1 mark = 1.8 Minute of exam time!

Type of question generally vary a lot in Indian CT3 Exam. Kindly solve more and more past papers to increase your chances of passing.

You may ask any specific question in comments section.

These are personal observation, there is no golden rule in Actuarial Exams. if you find it helpful, kindly share. Good luck!

30th November is Last Date for IFoA Membership

30th November last date of Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, UK student membership to appear for April 2016 Exams. If you haven't filled up the form you should do it immediately. You may download the form from the following link:

http://www.actuaries.org.uk/membership/types-membership/student-membership

Who is eligible for membership?
- 10+2 pass with 80+ in Mathematics in 12th 
OR - Graduate or Post Graduate with 55% aggregate
OR - Professional Like CA, CS, CFA etc
OR - Member of any other Actuarial Body
OR - Cleared CT1 as non-member from IFoA

What's the fees?
£200.00 if you annual income is below £7050.

How to pay?
- Credit Card
OR - Bank Remittance 
OR - Demand Draft

How to send the form?
By Scanned copy by Email Or Hard copy by Courier.

Documents Required?
- 12th Std Mark sheet and Passing Certificate
- All semesters mark sheet of university education (Graduation) [If Passed].
- All semesters mark sheets of Post Graduation [If Passed].

Note: All documents to be sent must be attested photocopies of the documents and not the original documents. 

You may expect a reply within  weeks of receipt of form by the institute. very few days left before deadline, Hurry Up!

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IAI October 2015 Exam results date annonced

IAI has after a long time announced it results date in advance. Results are set to be declared on 16th January 2016.

Earlier results used to be surprise for students as IAI used to declare results without giving any hint of when it will be out! This year IAI students can be better prepared for the consequences.. Good Luck!

Do share the news!

Thank you!

CT2 EXAM TIPS

- Question paper will have 10 Multiple Choice Question of 2 marks each. These questions are generally not straight forward but if you know the concept well then it will be easy for you. So as you read the text of course notes don't just memorize it, understand the concept being explained.

- Further Question paper will have 2 long question of 15-20 marks each. One of them will probably on construction accounts and another might be on ratios of capital project appraisal.

- Rest will be medium size question comprising of small sums or theory questions.

- Students get ample time to complete the paper. Still it is advisable to solve full length questions first and then go for short question.

- Most important chapters - Section 1 full(Theory),chapter 9 & 10(Sums), chapter 12(Sums), Section 4 full(Theory as well as sums).

These are important but not sufficient. Since we have multiple choice question in exam, they can be from any chapter.

- Thoroughly Solve Question Bank and X series along with past exam papers (minimum past 5 years paper). Don't just go through, sit and solve them even if you feel it is easy, or else you may go blank during exam due to lack of practice.

Note

- Before you write your exam, make it clear in your mind that you can't simply pass the exam by doing only book work, your concepts should be pretty clear.
- Be precise in what you write. Don't write too long for questions that carry less marks or don't write too less for questions that carry good marks.
- Write in legitimate hand writing.
- Please remember 1 marks = 1.8 minutes of exam time. Keep good speed. Write longer questions first as they are more scoring. Small questions might be some times tricky and may waste your time.

You may ask any specific question in comments section.

These are personal observation, there is no golden rule in Actuarial Exams. if you find it helpful, kindly share. Good luck!

THANK YOU!

CT1 Exam Tips

- Don't Omit any part but give more stress on those chapter which constitute major part of 100 marks exam. At least one big question is expected from chapter 9,10,12,14 and 15.

- Theory and small question (2-4 marks) may add up to 20 marks.

- Thoroughly Solve Question Bank and X series along with past exam papers (minimum past 5 years paper). Don't just go through it, sit and solve them even if you feel it is easy, or else you may go blank during exam due to lack of practice.

- Learn to understand the question as you may be asked to give "comment", these comments can be given only if you have conceptual clarity of the topic.

- As soon as you receive the question paper, go through it and try to attempt those questions first which you are good at. Paper is generally lengthy making it difficult to complete in 3 hours time. Solve small question later.

- Don't rely on actuarial tables, try to learn as many formulas as you can.

Most Expected type of Questions

Chapter 9 - find annual/monthly/quarterly/half yearly installments, find loan outstanding at certain point, find principal and interest component, find revised installment after some changes in original loan agreement.

Chapter 10 - Every topic is important but most likely is a long question on NPV or one question on MWRR, TWRR or LIRR. You may be asked for a comment like "which is better among TWRR and MWRR and why?"

Chapter 12 - One Question on Index linked security is common in all past exams, others are important too. Don't omit any part of this chapter.

Chapter 14 - One question to check "immunization" is most likely.

Chapter 15 - One question on Log Normal is common in past papers.

Note - Before you write your exam, make it clear in your mind that you can't simply pass the exam by doing only book work, your concepts should be pretty clear.

- Be precise in what you write. Don't write too long for questions that carry less marks or don't write too less for questions that carry good marks.

- Write in legitimate hand writing.

- Please remember 1 marks = 1.8 minutes of exam time. Keep good speed. Write longer questions first as they are more scoring. Small questions might be some times tricky and may waste your time.

These are personal observation, there is no golden rule in Actuarial Exams. if you find it helpful, kindly share.

Actuarial Exams - Part 3 (Sharing my old write up)

Exam Day

After the above exercise you have all the excuses to go and write the exam with full confidence. Don’t be stressed or panic as this will only make you do mistakes. Sit in the exam hall relaxed; as soon as you get the paper spend some time reading the questions. While reading, underline the important parts of the problems. This gives you a good idea of what is contained in the exam, what is your comfort level with problems and which are the ones you know best. This will help you intelligently tackle the exam by doing the problems you know best first. Mark the questions that you are confident about. Divide the total time available for the examination as follows: Keep aside 10 minutes for final review and another 10 minutes for emergency reworking of problems. Divide the rest of time on the basis of marks allotted for the question. Remember that 1 mark is equal to maximum 1.8 minutes of exam time.  Don’t waste lot of time in doing one problem. Do those questions first that you have already ticked. Try and maintain accuracy in the answers and avoid silly mistakes in anxiety of completing the paper in time. 3 hours is good enough, trust me. All you have to do is time management which you can learn only by doing lot of practice before exam.

Before you finalize an answer to a long numerical problem, take a few seconds to think about the reasonability of the answer. This method has helped me identify silly mistakes in my problem working several times. Start incorporating this method into your working while doing the practice problems; so by the time you reach the point of taking the actual exam, you've tuned yourself into judging the reasonability of answers as a natural reflex. If the type of examination is one in which partial credit is given for part working of the problem, make sure you quickly write out the formulae for the problem first- even if your numerical working is wrong, at least some points are guaranteed for the formulae that you put down. Don't panic! Stay cool! You are prone to making more mistakes in a state of anxiety. Invariably students that generally pass the exams are those who go into the exam with a cool, collected and positive attitude.

Show the examiners what you know the best. Don’t show them what you don’t know. This will give examiner positive vibe about the candidate. Don’t write unnecessary point and stick to the topic while answering your question. That’s it. Hand over your paper, go home and relax for 2–3 weeks. Your brain deserves it. After the relax period is over start again with your exercise of selecting the next paper as I am sure if you follow the above exercise you will surely succeed in the exam.

Please be realistic

The exams are difficult and accept that they are. Also be thankful that they are difficult to pass and that is why a qualified actuary gets the deserved respect and recognition. Keep a positive attitude. Know that it is a time commitment and be prepared to commit that amount of time, energy and grey cells to the cause. The sense of satisfaction, achievement and fulfilment on passing an exam as tough as the actuarial exams is immense. Nothing in life comes for free and neither does the pass mark in an actuarial examination.

That’s it. This is all I wanted to share.

If you find this article helpful, please share it further!

Thank You.

Actuarial Exams - Part 2 (Sharing my old write up)

Guidance for Actuarial Exams

I would also like to share a few tips that have worked for me in passing my actuarial exams or kind of guide you. I would like to start from selecting the right subject and end on actually writing the paper in three hours time.

Selecting the right subject

The most crucial thing is selecting the right subject for exam. Fresher may well opt for CT1 or CT3 as these are extreme basics but beyond this you should select your paper wisely. The syllabus of every subject is written on website of the institute. Before selecting the subject go through the syllabus topics completely. Selection of wrong subject may prove very expensive as it will cost you your precious time and efforts. Please go through the perquisites for example before selecting CT5 make sure you have passed or at least studied thoroughly CT1 and CT3 as these are the prerequisites. Such pre requisites are given on the initial few pages of the study material. Make sure that you read these things carefully before going ahead with the subject. There are some subjects which can be studied better along with practical work experience. Also good guidance from fraternity regarding selection of subjects is advised.

Preparation

Once you have selected the subject which you will appear next, go ahead with its preparation. Devote some time daily for its preparation. Prepare from the study material carefully, If you find the language very technical you may well opt for the reference books whose list you will again find in first few pages of the study material, these are recommended by ActEd. The more you learn about the concepts the more you will be eligible to pass the exams. This is a well-known fact! You can never pass an actuarial examination until you are thoroughly familiar with the actuarial concepts. Only if one has understood the concepts clearly, can one apply them to a numerical problem. Understanding concepts right from the first exam is very necessary as several examinations of later series build on concepts covered in earlier exams so it is important to have clarity of concepts right from the beginning.

Know you concepts right and practice more

As the saying goes “The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in war”. Don’t omit any concept, learn everything. After getting your concepts right, practising on regular basis is very important. Practice is key to success. It is important to recognize that the actuarial examinations are not testing one's knowledge of actuarial concepts presented in the study material; but they are testing one's ability to apply those actuarial concepts in practical situations. They achieve this by testing students on numerical problems and case studies. To that extent, these examinations can be classified as application exams rather than theoretical exams. So as application based exams, you have to know how to apply the concepts to numerical problems. The best way to do this is by doing lots of practice problems. Solve problems from all available past exams or from reference textbooks. Don't glance through the problems but actually solve them - this helps improve speed of solving problems and helps clarify concepts further. Solving questions from Question papers of past exams, question banks, x series etc are very important to get a feel of what will be asked in exams. It will also help you in Time-management. Well if you don’t practice, there are great chances that you may go blank in exam or may not be able to complete paper on time.

As students, it is very easy to remain focused only on the numerical details of the problems in the exam or on the specific formula to be learned without looking at the big picture. I used an effective method as follows: When you tackle a new concept, take a few minutes to think about what is the logic behind the concept, how does it co-exist with other concepts that you have learned about covered in the same or prior exams, have you faced this concept at work or heard any of your senior colleagues talk about it. Taking some time to dwell on this helps put things into perspective. Many students feel that it is not very necessary to do this, learning the formula or method to solve a problem by rote is mostly sufficient – but incorporating this method into your studying helps you retain this information longer and apply it with ease in the examination.

Also, Some Actuarial concepts may be complicated and may take some good time to seep in. Hence it is advisable to start preparing for exam early (around 4 or 5 months) to give good time to yourself and avoid any last minute panic which invariably fails to serve the purpose. Keep the last two weeks before the exam exclusively for revising concepts and solving old exam problems. Don’t try to cram any material at last minute Your brain will not accept it and may only muddle it up with other concepts learned. Relax your brain one day before the exam – it deserves the rest if it has to function at its best on the exam day.

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Actuarial Exams - Part 1 (Sharing my old write up)

Actuarial Exams in India has been a topic of never ending discussion in my life since the day I decided to have a career in Actuarial Profession. I have come across many people who aggressively discourage or sort of scare students or Aspiring Actuaries about the pattern of exams. After listening to all and actually passing certain actuarial exams, I have come to certain conclusions and I would like to share it with you all today. The most important thing I have learned is that patience is all it takes to pass the exam other than hard work and determination.

Yes, it can be well agreed that these exams are not like any other professional exams in India. These exams are different from other exams in more than one way. I will describe it all here. If you are a fresher in this field and yet to write your first actuarial exam yet, then this article will give you a detailed idea of what kind of challenges you will have to face in taking your exams and if you have already given exams you may well agree with me on these points and will also help you in taking exams in future.

Why are Actuarial Exams Different?

To start with, I would like to talk about the most interesting fact about this exam. It’s certainly passing marks; Students go and attempt the exams without knowing the passing marks for the exam. Candidates do not have a specific boundary to be crossed in front of them when they go and sit for exam.  They sit for exam to give their best in terms of knowledge rather than just writing answers to score a minimum specified numbers to pass the exam. If actuarial exams are compared with other professional exams you will find that candidates in other profession have a certain number of marks to be scored in exams i.e. a boundary to be crossed.  If a race is of 1 kilometres and runners are told that you will be declared winner on running 1st 400 meters than obviously nobody will bother to run next 600 meters and will prepare for 400 meters run only. Similarly in other professional exams students are supposed to score a minimum marks for example 40% in individual subjects and 50% or so aggregate. Most of the students then only study adequate to score this much. While candidates in actuarial exams have no such boundary to be crossed or specific target that is to be achieved. They are unaware of how much is to be scored and hence are left with no option but to prepare full 100 marks. They have to study every topic and be prepared for everything that comes in their way.

Another unique thing about actuarial exams is that the questions asked are more or less practical and very challenging in nature. These questions are not which anyone can attempt by just mugging up the books. Candidates should be prepared to tackle any challenging questions in a stipulated period of time. This practice of examiners make sure that only eligible candidates are offered success rather than the non deserving candidates who has the habit of cramming without understanding the concepts of the subject. Also there are no options in number of questions of “either-or” that is to be answered. Students are left with no scope to omit topics to be asked in exams. This is confrontation before candidates but this is where the whole crux of actuarial exams lies. In real life, complications in actuarial work do not come with option, so is the essence of actuarial exams.

Third most interesting thing about actuarial exams that need to be appreciated and applauded, which also coincide with my earlier point is that successful as well as unsuccessful candidates don’t know how much they have scored. Many would argue that if marks were displayed it would give candidates a better idea of their success and failure; they would know how much more to practice. I feel that this practice keeps candidates humble and grounded and makes sure that they don’t get over confident about their success (in case they pass with overwhelming margin over passing marks) or get very discouraged at failure. The grading system for unsuccessful candidates is well justified. This practice of institute keeps competition away and keeps the purpose of exams intact without allowing it to distract to other irrelevant topics of competition, toppers or runner ups etc.

This was all about theory exams of the institute which constitute 12 out of 15 exams of the course. Not to my surprise there are 3 practical exams and these practical exams are conducted to test various other skills set required by an actuary other than his numerical skills and his ability to write exam papers. Obviously an Actuary should be excellent not only at numerical skills but also in his communication and presentation skills. CT9, CA2 and CA3 are these three practical exams which briefly and very reasonably test the other knowledge level of an aspiring actuary through a unique exercise. Great details of these exams are available on website so I need not talk about how the exam is conducted but I would appreciate the pattern of exams. Obviously these exams are also not very easy to clear but not very difficult either. Difficulty levels are just reasonable. These exams collectively test various skills of candidate like his communication, concentration ability, listening skills, writing skills, team work, computer skills etc.

Well these are my observations; every one may or may not agree with me.

In general, if you have good skills to write the exam, determination to become an actuary and most importantly patience to work hard and crack the exams, you will never find the course over demanding or extremely difficult to get through. If you get put off by the syllabus or the duration of the course, well this profession is not fit for you. As this profession will require lifetime learning and will demand good amount of quality hard work. The career is very challenging and so are the exams and syllabus. Take is as a challenge and get through it. Don’t complain but appreciate the hard work required. Of course you have all right to keep your point but some time complaining distracts you from your goals.

Sometimes it happens that your paper goes well still you may see your result as FA, FB etc. You may not be declared as pass. In such cases there is definitely something which needs to be worked on. Don’t get put off by failure but get ready for another exam and take it as an opportunity to get even better with the concepts and come out stronger. Personally, failures in actuarial exams have never put me off, of course it makes me sad but then it also can’t discourage or demoralise me from moving ahead in actuarial career. I always take it as an opportunity to get better. And I need not say this that success in actuarial exam is a moment of utmost pride for all of us. The broad smile which may not vanish or get any smaller for at least next few days is all that encourage me to take the challenging challenges of Actuarial Exams.

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