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.
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