[Jelkin]

(Original post by Mustard-man)
He couldn't. It depended on the value of the multiple which was undecided at that point in time. So I guess they expected you to discuss about that.

I just hope the pass mark is lower than normal due to the nature of the paper. I've heard CT2 can be around 70% to pass :/ Think I royally screwed up CT4, so this is my only hope.

Thanks... If only I had written it that well. Time pressure is always a problem that you never write what you can potentially write.

Yeah, I've been hoping that. Although I was thinking about CT3 earlier and I reckon that's the one I'm least likely to pass. I just want to know! And I wish you got your answer sheet back like with mocks, that would be great.

[Matty919]

(Original post by Jelkin)
I know, but I don't understand the relevance wrt this thread. Not that this thread has been 100% on track.

It's a bit relevant.

[Tokyoround]

(Original post by Mustard-man)
I just hope the pass mark is lower than normal due to the nature of the paper. I've heard CT2 can be around 70% to pass :/

I hope it's nowhere near 70% for this exam. I struggled a bit tbh and was rushing to write as much **** as possible near the end.

[Jelkin]

So you can access the papers we took on the Profession website now. Slightly depressing ...

[Loggah]

Hi everyone,

First up, thanks a lot for the golden nuggets within this thread so far - really helpful and nice to get a bit of an insight from those in the know.

First up I'm 2nd year Aero & Astro Engineering at Uni of Southampton and just secured a summer internship in total rewards and benefits with a big 4 firm. Extremely happy and can't wait to get started.

Going back a few pages and weeks to the post regarding SHL numerical tests.....
Having an engineering background, I assumed they would be easy, however, the math required and exam technique is different to what I had experienced before, or rather practiced.

As a recommendation, try to practice your general arithmetic, ratios, graph interpretation and percentages, etc. That can be done through the practise tests quite easily and will help with the learning. I think for most as well, its the time pressure that is hardest. I would recommend trying to develop a 'number sense', i.e. when asked to figure out which company had the greatest percentage change in gross earnings between x and y years, don't go through every company in the table calculating the percentage difference. If for example, one company's earnings in year x are £1497834, work with it in your head as £1500000, and the same with year y. Rounding the numbers and discounting obvious ones. Then if a couple look vaguely similar do the calculation for those two/three. That helped me a lot and saved quite a bit of time. I apologise for the poor example and explanation. It goes without saying, practice makes perfect.

For general 'number sense' as I called it, a really good book is 'How To Calculate Quickly' by Henry Sticker.

The verbal reasoning tests I found more challenging as I tend to over think the questions and find communicating in person far easier, as you can infer meaning from tone, pitch, etc. Also being able to ask questions helps lol!

A good book that I read was 'How To Pass Professional Level Psychometric Tests' by Sam Al-Jajjoka. I didn't actually do the practise papers, but it gave a good insight into the style of the tests and what they are trying to test. Forewarned is forearmed yada yada yada.

Also, with regard to coming from an alternative route to the Actuarial Science degree, etc, I really wouldn't worry. Being able to demonstrate that you have the potential to pass the professional exams and have a genuine career interest is the minimum really. If coming from, for example music, you may just have to work a little harder in order to do so, hence the CT 1 exam is a good starting point. I did justify in the interview why I am motivated to become an actuary and how my current course relates, the transferable skills my course has developed and how my other work/non-work experience demonstrates my motivation, etc.

In my interview and with other companies as well, I felt my work history, positions of responsibility and commercial awareness were of far greater importance to the interviewer than my course content. Having genuine examples of competencies off the top of your head is a massive bonus.

Also, to those thinking they would rather wait a year or whatever before doing the internship in order 'to present themselves in the best light', forget that! Get in and do the internship and get the experience that they are designed to give! I would be interested to know what percentage of actuaries and student actuaries actually come from an actuarial science background. Obviously employers employ outside of that degree and so have specific training organised and suitable expectations. For example, I asked what prep I can do before the internship and was told that I am not expected to have a knowledge of pensions, certainly not actuarial science, training will be given to get me up to speed and just to keep up to date with pension news and UK pension types.

I apologise for the long post, just thought I would add to the thread as there is obviously a lot of fantastic advice from further up the food chain and thought a different angle might help coming from someone (nearly) at the start.

Thanks again for your posts so far and if I can help in any way, let me know.

[Loggah]

And another thing lol!

Good luck everyone in your exam results! May the force be with you!

[Kernel]

Great post StuPro. Good luck with the internship.

[Loggah]

(Original post by Kernel)
Great post StuPro. Good luck with the internship.

Hi Kernel, thanks for that. I am a little worried though that your post wishing me luck is your post number 666! Fortunately I'm not superstitious lol.

How is everything going with you work wise now? I was getting worried today I killed this thread!

[Tokyoround]

(Original post by StuPro)
Hi Kernel, thanks for that. I am a little worried though that your post wishing me luck is your post number 666! Fortunately I'm not superstitious lol.

How is everything going with you work wise now? I was getting worried today I killed this thread!

I repped your post when you made it but couldn't be bothered replying

The "active" people in this thread work/study pretty hard so it tends to go through brief periods of activity. Doubt it'll die though as most Actuarial related stuff can be found here.

[ninegrandstudent]

(Original post by Tokyoround)
I repped your post when you made it but couldn't be bothered replying

The "active" people in this thread work/study pretty hard so it tends to go through brief periods of activity. Doubt it'll die though as most Actuarial related stuff can be found here.

I hope not! I'm an aspiring Actuarial student still in A2s, its been a hugely useful thread so far!

[Mustard-man]

(Original post by StuPro)
How is everything going with you work wise now? I was getting worried today I killed this thread!

Don't flatter yourself

[Loggah]

(Original post by Mustard-man)
Don't flatter yourself

Haha! Killed it for all the wrong reasons I meant!

[wanderlust.xx]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
... But saying that, if you're still at uni then no wonder you're struggling to get anything out of agencies. Wait until you're graduated until you start seriously talking to agents. And don't get downhearted if the search for an all-elusive grad scheme doesn't come along, honestly you have way more options than that if needs be. I really wouldn't worry about it if you don't have a job lined up for you before you graduate - I didn't and look at me now!

Just wanted to ask you (or anyone else than can answer) a quick question. I'm in the same position as the other dude, still technically at uni (waiting to graduate) and interested in a career as an actuary but I've not got a job lined up beforehand.

How did you go about finding your first job once you graduated? Just used a recruitment company and applied to places?

Also as a general note, is there any point trying to chase up work shadowing or experience from the directory of actuarial employers, or is this not as important?

[JohnnySPal]

(Original post by wanderlust.xx)
Just wanted to ask you (or anyone else than can answer) a quick question. I'm in the same position as the other dude, still technically at uni (waiting to graduate) and interested in a career as an actuary but I've not got a job lined up beforehand.

How did you go about finding your first job once you graduated? Just used a recruitment company and applied to places?

Also as a general note, is there any point trying to chase up work shadowing or experience from the directory of actuarial employers, or is this not as important?

I applied to a couple of grad schemes, but most of my focus was on recruitment agencies.

I personally don't think work experience in tge field is generally important, but by all means go for it if you like! All i'm saying is it's probably not going to be the difference between ecuring interviews and not securing them (unless you're fairly bad on paper or are against increxceptionally strong competition).

Edit: ... Typed on my Android device

Best of luck!

[Jelkin]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
I applied to a couple of grad schemes, but most of my focus was on recruitment agencies.

I personally don't think work experience in tge field is generally important, but by all means go for it if you like! All i'm saying is it's probably not going to be the difference between ecuring interviews and not securing them (unless you're fairly bad on paper or are against increxceptionally strong competition).

Edit: ... Typed on my Android device

Best of luck!

Excellent.

[m:)ckel]

I'm adding that word to my browser dictionary right now.

[JohnnySPal]

Bloody young uns these days, no respect what-so-ever. Damn whippersnappers, back in my day...

[Jelkin]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
Bloody young uns these days, no respect what-so-ever. Damn whippersnappers, back in my day...

I meant it! I am all about word creativity.

Got negged though

[JohnnySPal]

(Original post by Jelkin)
I meant it! I am all about word creativity.

Got negged though

... I hope the negative rep contributes to your final CT marks

[Jelkin]

(Original post by JohnnySPal)
... I hope the negative rep contributes to your final CT marks

I hope that when I do badly you feel terrible about making that comment ...

In other news, CT5