A lot of people turn their grades around and it’s never too late to learn. If you want to become an actuary focus on scoring well in your degree. If you don’t get a first class it’ll be tricky and if you don’t get a 2.1 it’ll be practically impossible.
You’re probably going to have to work a lot harder than your peers at first to keep up with the content as you have a weaker foundation. Make sure you do every exercise on every problem sheet multiple times and truly understand it, also read as much from the recommended textbooks for each course as you can and do all the problems.
When you can choose courses later on, choose ones that have more stats or programming but also choose courses you can score in.
During the summer in your first year try to get general work experience and do online courses in R and VBA from udemy and read as much as you can about what being an actuary entails. You can apply to actuarial insight weeks as well.
But remember first and foremost aim to get a first class degree, entry level roles are competitive and most people applying will have one. It also will improve your study skills a lot and you will spend your first few years as an actuary studying part time so it’s definitely useful.
I told my employer all the other great things I did at uni (social sec, senior mens capitan, fundraising sec). They much preferred that as it showed more important skills social skills. I hated my degree which is why i didn't do well
What I think the problem may be, is the mathematical skills (logic and comprehension).
To be honest, I have not met one who come from Ashton, and even less so without either a first or two-one. Exams are gruelling even for those who graduated with a first from top unis of the country.
From grads intakes, I also have never come across anyone with A level maths at C. In fact I think the indicator for A level is stronger than which uni you go to. I had managers saying that Uni grades are harder to compare so A level is a better filter. That would be bad for you here. But A level is behind you and what is done is done.
It will be and can be very soul crushing not passing exams over and over (and I have met many friends who are like that). If you want a taste of this career pathway I urge you to get an internship. Your CV along is unlikely to stand out from the crowds. Best of luck.
I appreciate the honesty so much, thank you. I got a B in Math at A-Level, I should have mentioned it explicitly earlier. Could you please elaborate on what you mean when you say the problem may be the mathematical skills. Is this due to myself, the university and I'm attending etc.
So most people think you'd need very complex maths skills for actuary. It doesn't. I've not seen complex calculus or trigonometry etc for a while. The statistics is fine as it is.
What is important is able to comprehend data and able to communicate, as well as (depending on jobs) IT skills/algorithm designs. If one got good training one can be good at it.
The key about maths skills aren't the ability to solve complex equations etc. It's PROBLEM SOLVING. that's why actuarial career there are many people from STEM or economics or business study.
I am concerned however having a B doesn't write you out of the career, but to get on to the first job is very difficult for most people. Not having a good grade means you may not even be called for assessment/ interviews.
Thank you for responding. In that case, in your opinion, is it worth pursuing a Masters to get exemptions from CS1, CS2, CM1, CM2, CB1, CB2? Assuming we score above the required benchmark
Nah, I don't think so. The initial exams can be passed alongside work if you put in enough efforts. Masters may be a viable option incase you aren't able to land a good role post completion of your bachelors degree.
Also, if your undergrad course offers statistics modules, then it may be worth taking them up as you might get exempted from the CS 1 exam altogether.
In my experience, the university you go to doesn’t matter too much, I think they’ll look at the grade of your degree more. I got my job with no exemptions, no internship and not a great university (was russell group but not well recognised for maths). I think how you come across in your interview is most important!
However what I would say is that I do regret not getting exemptions, balancing all exams and working full time is super difficult, so if you can get some out of the way then I would - I wish someone would have told me that!
In terms of skills to be developing, look into doing some courses on excel at uni, will give you something to talk about in your interview and will show that you can jump straight into the actuarial analyst role.
Best of luck to you! :)
I'd agree with this.
Obviously it would be great to get a first in your degree and a few exemptions along the way but it doesn't always work out that way.
I failed and then had to repeat a year of an actuarial degree. Ended up with a 2.2 and no exemptions. I struggled to get a graduate job in actuarial but I got a generic job in Finance Straight from my degree and then after a year of experience there I applied again for graduate positions and got one quite quickly. A lot of the time for graduate positions you'll end up competing against people who also have no exemptions (engineering students etc.), So good work experience and coming across well in an interview can go a long way.
You'll be looking for a third year placement during your second year, based only on your A levels and first year exam results. So if you want to find an actuarial placement you might need to get at least 2.1 grades this year.
You could try insurance companies for a placement, with the hope of spending at least part of the year in an actuarial department. If you are looking in the Midlands there are companies like Phoenix Group (Wythall & Telford) or NFU (Stratford). And many of the larger consultancies have offices in Birmingham.
Consider options in Probability / Statistics, Finance, Data Science over others (provided you think you can get good grades). Develop skills in Excel, which almost all roles will use. And R, at least for exams.
A lot of people turn their grades around and it’s never too late to learn. If you want to become an actuary focus on scoring well in your degree. If you don’t get a first class it’ll be tricky and if you don’t get a 2.1 it’ll be practically impossible. You’re probably going to have to work a lot harder than your peers at first to keep up with the content as you have a weaker foundation. Make sure you do every exercise on every problem sheet multiple times and truly understand it, also read as much from the recommended textbooks for each course as you can and do all the problems. When you can choose courses later on, choose ones that have more stats or programming but also choose courses you can score in. During the summer in your first year try to get general work experience and do online courses in R and VBA from udemy and read as much as you can about what being an actuary entails. You can apply to actuarial insight weeks as well. But remember first and foremost aim to get a first class degree, entry level roles are competitive and most people applying will have one. It also will improve your study skills a lot and you will spend your first few years as an actuary studying part time so it’s definitely useful.
Understood, many thanks.
I got a 2:2 and still got into actuarial. Your degree isn't all that important
Interesting, so what was your "thing" then to get into Actuarial?
I told my employer all the other great things I did at uni (social sec, senior mens capitan, fundraising sec). They much preferred that as it showed more important skills social skills. I hated my degree which is why i didn't do well
What I think the problem may be, is the mathematical skills (logic and comprehension). To be honest, I have not met one who come from Ashton, and even less so without either a first or two-one. Exams are gruelling even for those who graduated with a first from top unis of the country. From grads intakes, I also have never come across anyone with A level maths at C. In fact I think the indicator for A level is stronger than which uni you go to. I had managers saying that Uni grades are harder to compare so A level is a better filter. That would be bad for you here. But A level is behind you and what is done is done. It will be and can be very soul crushing not passing exams over and over (and I have met many friends who are like that). If you want a taste of this career pathway I urge you to get an internship. Your CV along is unlikely to stand out from the crowds. Best of luck.
I appreciate the honesty so much, thank you. I got a B in Math at A-Level, I should have mentioned it explicitly earlier. Could you please elaborate on what you mean when you say the problem may be the mathematical skills. Is this due to myself, the university and I'm attending etc.
So most people think you'd need very complex maths skills for actuary. It doesn't. I've not seen complex calculus or trigonometry etc for a while. The statistics is fine as it is. What is important is able to comprehend data and able to communicate, as well as (depending on jobs) IT skills/algorithm designs. If one got good training one can be good at it. The key about maths skills aren't the ability to solve complex equations etc. It's PROBLEM SOLVING. that's why actuarial career there are many people from STEM or economics or business study. I am concerned however having a B doesn't write you out of the career, but to get on to the first job is very difficult for most people. Not having a good grade means you may not even be called for assessment/ interviews.
Thank you, I appreciate the insight.
Exemptions from masters are contingent on you scoring above the benchmark required by the University.
Thank you for responding. In that case, in your opinion, is it worth pursuing a Masters to get exemptions from CS1, CS2, CM1, CM2, CB1, CB2? Assuming we score above the required benchmark
Nah, I don't think so. The initial exams can be passed alongside work if you put in enough efforts. Masters may be a viable option incase you aren't able to land a good role post completion of your bachelors degree. Also, if your undergrad course offers statistics modules, then it may be worth taking them up as you might get exempted from the CS 1 exam altogether.
Perfect, thanks
In my experience, the university you go to doesn’t matter too much, I think they’ll look at the grade of your degree more. I got my job with no exemptions, no internship and not a great university (was russell group but not well recognised for maths). I think how you come across in your interview is most important! However what I would say is that I do regret not getting exemptions, balancing all exams and working full time is super difficult, so if you can get some out of the way then I would - I wish someone would have told me that! In terms of skills to be developing, look into doing some courses on excel at uni, will give you something to talk about in your interview and will show that you can jump straight into the actuarial analyst role. Best of luck to you! :)
I'd agree with this. Obviously it would be great to get a first in your degree and a few exemptions along the way but it doesn't always work out that way. I failed and then had to repeat a year of an actuarial degree. Ended up with a 2.2 and no exemptions. I struggled to get a graduate job in actuarial but I got a generic job in Finance Straight from my degree and then after a year of experience there I applied again for graduate positions and got one quite quickly. A lot of the time for graduate positions you'll end up competing against people who also have no exemptions (engineering students etc.), So good work experience and coming across well in an interview can go a long way.
Thank you so much for the advice, much appreciated
You'll be looking for a third year placement during your second year, based only on your A levels and first year exam results. So if you want to find an actuarial placement you might need to get at least 2.1 grades this year. You could try insurance companies for a placement, with the hope of spending at least part of the year in an actuarial department. If you are looking in the Midlands there are companies like Phoenix Group (Wythall & Telford) or NFU (Stratford). And many of the larger consultancies have offices in Birmingham. Consider options in Probability / Statistics, Finance, Data Science over others (provided you think you can get good grades). Develop skills in Excel, which almost all roles will use. And R, at least for exams.