I have finally decided to take the exam and ofcourse i get to take the first one (exam P/1) in Sept InshaAllah (right after the wedding ). From waht i gathered from the Society of Actuaries webpage www.soa.org , the Fall exam is going to be on the new format. Does anyone have any info on what the material covered is going to be? I called the SOA and they werent very helpful, saying that I should call back in June or check the website back then when they come out with all the information. I mean come on, someone surely must have SOME idea of whats going on. 3 months seem to little a time to prep for the darn thing.
So help me out if any of you have heard anything from professors, friends etc etc.
Ira,
I doubt we have any actuaries/students on GS, and I'm only somewhat familiar with the Canadian exams.
Isn't there an online students forum of some sort that you can join. Most professional associations have them and people tend to be really helpful. Sometimes you can even hookup virtually with someone who's preparing for the exams.
Good Luck anyways and do share your experiences with us.
Ira,
good to know youre plannign to take on the beast :)
as Umer bhai said, there arent many ppl familiar with actuarial studies on GS and even in real life, still!
about the revised SOA exams, last i got updated was few months ago and i heard they were just revising their paper structures which might effect the total no of papers to be taken for associateship and fellowship, how deeply it may affect the content, depth and comprehensiveness of each paper wasnt stated and as you say they told you, would be only confirmed once they have finalized the revisions in a few months. so until then i think you could and should just prepare yourself for whats stated on their syllabi now, as whatever chnages take place, they would be close to what exists right now. so i hope there shouldnt be any reasons to worry much.
and, where are you situated?
Umar, Thank you so much for replying and nicely informing me of the lack of Actuarial folks on GS. I hadnt thought abt an online forum specifically targeted for people interested in it, so will look into that and post any info i do find here. Shaid kisi aur kay kaam ajaye, sometime down the road.
Haris,
yeah so far i am only planning, have chickened out like a million times already :D Ok not really. But i guess the only option i have right now is to stick with the old syllabus and go by that. From what i had heard a few months ago, they were letting you take credit for certain classes instead of getting tested on them although i may be wrong. but yeah should stick with the old format.
Btw, i am in Chicago. I think you are at karachi??? Would you mind sharing how you are interested in the process or is it just by info?
yeah Haris/Ira, I personally got interested in Actuarial Sciences back during my A-Levels cuz my Math Prof. was pursuing it at the time and I'd researched a lil more into it to get an understanding of what it was - khair, needless to say, family/friends/folks din't have a clue as to what the hell an Actuary was... and didn't let me pursue the program at Uni.
and later when it was ranked the second on the list of most profitable careers in Canada for three years in a row, ppl started to appreciate it then.
In any case, I might pursue the path myself out of self-interest in a year's time or so, and hence am interested in knowing more about the process. I think the preliminary Models, Probability and Financial Mathematics exams are first on the list to get associateship - right? then I'm looking at the SOA specialty track in finance hopefully inshaAllah.
well, i too was initially intersted in the profession while i was finishing school. i did seriously consider it as i had been quite influenced by a reference who was an actuary, perhaps he was one of pakistan's earliest ones having qualified in the late 70s or 80s or so and was working in the middle east, where we knew him. and just saying that the man was reaping the best fruits would be saying too little :D
but i never serioulsy considered it as an option until the end of high school and then a few friends too went for it. earlier a cousin who later went to Harvard dropped the idea of pursuing actuary after qualifying a few initial exams saying it was too much!
after much contemplations i wasnt sure whether i was in the right gear for it, so decided not to go in...some friends are doing pretty well in it now. some with the SOA some with IOA (uk) so again some time ago i had the urges to jump in when a few ppl formed a group here and wanted to join together so we could support each other...so aagin much thinking, but still no decision...though i've been interested all long and keep up with the developments and changes. lets see...
raelly good to know youre going for it. the SOA has the best structures i think among other bodies. the IOA (uk) is the stiffest i think. and there's a PSA too! theyre just a body meant to keep the actuarial comunity togther and offer support anf guidance. no exams or regulations doen by them, so far...
the Univ of Karachi is i think became the first Pakistani univ to start a 4 yr bachelors programme in actuarial sciences 2 yrs ago. there are still very few students going in.
Umer bhai,
cool! really nice to see youre planning to slay the dragon! i'm sure if you step into it you'll be able to get it done without much trouble, keeping in view your past experiences and qualifications. it's true the profession is still at the top among the worlds top most rewarding professions for a long time.
your right about the core subjects at the assciateship stage with a bit of economics and abit of financial reporting here and there. wiht the finance specialty being a top of the line versatile qualification! one could jump right into any thing!
may God have mercy on our careers and make somethign good out of them :)
Umer, I have heard actuarial networks are harder to comeby in Canada than in the US.PLus there seems to be a lot more competition in Canada for jobs, so you should have a good GPA, internship/work experience nad have passed more number of exams as compared to the US where passing the first exam seems to help most folks land their first job.
Haris, as far as you know, what is the scope of actuarial jobs in Pak, if there is any?
btw, for anyone who would like to know, there seems to be a pretty good message board for actuarials out there called www.actuarialnetwork.com. They seem pretty organized and folks have given very good advice to anyone who has any questions at all.
I will InshaAllah keep referring back to this thread during my preparation for the first exam and the job hunting process just to share and help out any guppies who would like to see that in the future.
Ira,
In pakistan the largest scope for Actuaries at the monent seems to be in the Insurance sector. with the largest companies like the State Life, EFU, Adamjee, New Jubilee etc having expanding actuarial depts. these cos also offer guidance and support to students and offer placements and jobs at all stages.
then there is the management consultancy sector with very few firms having actuarial depts in their consultancy wings. but more and more leading firms are incorporating actuarial depts and empoly actuaries to work alongside CAs, CPAs, CFAs etc in the investment and consultancy wings. the leading firm being Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates, a wing of Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder Qamar, a member audit firm of Ernst and Young and among Pakistan’s top 3. the senior partner and director of the actarial dept there is Mr Omer Morshed, a Fellow Chartered Accountant and Fellow Actuary! he’s some guy!
then A.F Ferguson the leading auditors and consultants members with PWC also have a new actuarial dept and a pvt firm Akhtar & Hassan Actuaries is doing business for quite some time now. so though the trends are still setting in, qualified actuaries and students, though few in Pakistan, do get due rewards on international scales and opportunities and scopes are expanding every day.
thanks for that link :k:
and yeah do keep us posted on the progress.
btw, how did you get interested in the field? whart areas did you grad in?
). From waht i gathered from the Society of Actuaries webpage www.soa.org , the Fall exam is going to be on the new format. Does anyone have any info on what the material covered is going to be? I called the SOA and they werent very helpful, saying that I should call back in June or check the website back then when they come out with all the information. I mean come on, someone surely must have SOME idea of whats going on. 3 months seem to little a time to prep for the darn thing.