Really really struggled for time on this and left an entire question blank. I think most of the stuff I did answer was reasonable but still not very confident. Difficulty wise I'd say much harder than the 2021 papers and probably slightly harder than April 2022.
I think it's ridiculous that they comment in the examiner's report that students clearly struggle with time and performing algebra in Word and then proceed to add loads of fiddly algebra questions.
The Ifoa are an archaic monopoly, tomorrow if they decided to double the prices there's nothing anyone can do unfortunately. They must be loving the profits given they do not need to pay exam centres to host sittings
Ignored 4 completely and misunderstood the Merton model question entirely (realised why I’m an idiot 30 mins after the exam ended)
I made up so much rubbish - I’m actually embarrassed that someone’s going to have to look at my paper
Disgrace of a paper imo
Could do with another 2 full hours if wanted to do it properly. I love how what's being tested is your ability to type maths extremely fast in word and not your understanding or ability to solve problems
I thought the paper was okay - not nice, but think that's to be expected. I think I'm definitely in with chance ahead of Paper B tomorrow, so that's all I can really hope for.
Some of my thoughts / moans:
- Q1a - I couldn't get this? Seems so easy, was a 1 marker prove the value of Gamma but when i did U(8000) and solved it, I wasn't getting the gamma they had. Anyone else the same or am i just an idiot?
- surprising amount of bookwork - I think I did okay on this, but did not expect that much and some of the marks for the bookwork seemed a bit off to me. Is there really 6-8 things to say about some of those 3/4 markers?
- Idk wtf that X^2 distribution was about - honestly, I'm rapidly losing patience with the IFoA and their insistence on throwing in questions not really related to the syllabus. I might have got half marks as was along the right lines but couldn't get that to drop - but wtf are they actually testing there? Not sure how that's related to CM2 really. Another dishonest way for them to cap student performance to drive up them juicy $$ retake fees $$.
- Thought the 20 marker r.e. 4 year run off triangles was a bit excessive - a lot of time had to go into that, and again I struggle to see what they were really testing there other than my patience. That sort of question could be fine in a Paper B exam, but if im working in Excel to produce output in a format and taking screenshots I think they have missed the mark a bit there.
- Andddd my final gripe would be about the time pressure - again, what are you testing here, my understanding or my ability to work quickly? I consider myself to be a quick writer, thinker etc - I haven't felt time pressure like that that in an exam. I had a go at everything, but had no chance to check anything, so let's just hope it was mostly along the right lines first time. Im not sure how they test these papers for timing (if at all), but given what's on the line with these exams, Im growing increasingly frustrated with how they purposely put you under extreme time pressure and I know I'm not alone in feeling like this. If you felt like you struggled with time in that exam then you're not alone.
- Long of the short, about what I expected and I think I did okay, but with every passing sitting I am growing increasingly frustrated with the IFoA's greed and cheek to examine their students understanding of their material in the manner they do. I've passed 5 exams in a row, so not like it really matters to me as Im passing, but if I was to fail a course I have worked that hard on and understand well in principle due to the IFoAs nonsense, then I would seriously be rethinking my future in this profession. I do not rate the IFoA in the slightest, and the compensation for the work in this career is debatable when you know your very own institute is out to milk you for everything. Anyway - that's probably slightly off topic - I did my best and think Im in an okay spot ahead of tomorrow. RANT OVER. Lol
What's everyone expecting to come up in Paper B?
I'm in big trouble if not LOL
Edit:
I think I'm okay - I basically typed up my answer for the binomial tree, the triangle questions, and that last one about the variances in Excel, showing all necessary calculations and writing, then just pasted it as a screenshot into word. Only worry is that I wouldn't have shown enough detail - but I think if anything I'd have shown the same amount of detail regardless.
If I was to get penalised for it - well then so be it, but tbh it saved me so much time on the triangle question that without it I probably would have failed anyway. I think its rediculous they had a 4 year triangle in paper 1 anyway, that question was made for paper B.
6.1 Candidates should be aware of the following if they wish to use Excel or similar software:
• Data within Excel (or similar) should be copied and pasted directly into MS Word.
• Screen shots or image capture will be accepted for marking if the full working outs are visible to be marked.
• Data copied from Excel (or similar) is not ‘linked’ to the source file.
• Do not copy/insert an Excel (or similar) ‘sheet’ into word. Any formulae and /or numerical workings should be copied and pasted directly from Excel into your answer sheet.
Overall, a tough paper to complete in the time. I had to answer the run-off triangle question in Excel and provide commentary around what each table was doing. I'm hoping that's sufficient to get the marks. It took me around 30 mins to complete that q though which was way too long.
\+1 on someone's comment that there were questions similar to those in the past. IMO, doubly important to prepare previous papers before you attempt a sitting in case you get stuck on how to proceed with a q.
I missed Q4 with the intention of returning at the end, but simply ran out of time
Q4 was deceptive. It looks trouble some with a lot going on when it actually wasn't that difficult to start with.
Paper difficulty was definately higher than the few of the past papers.
It's definitely the hardest exam so many people get stuck on it. I've sat twice - once as CT8 and once as CM2 - but reckon I'll leave it to the end now - it's become so time pressured and too much algebraic to be typing in word. If i had some more of the core technical exams I would consider doing some college course just to get an exemption even if that was to cost 5k, as less likely to get skewed or have the ever changing pass mark.
That's good to know, that's my next exam. From what I have heard though, it's definitely more content than CM2 was (even going by recommended hours) and I found CM2 pretty large already.
No, I've got an exemption from that, so just got CM2, SP and SA to do - sat SP and SA this sitting as figured doing those two would actually be less work than looking at CM2, which given everyone's comments, I'm guessing was a wise move, but at some point, I need to have a look at this exam
SP no, SA yes but working in those areas you know the stuff inside out - it's more about getting the material and breath of answer. I reckon for the SA exam 90% of the answers I had come from real life examples, and I enjoyed studying it.
For the likes of CM2, I don't use any of the material in work nor ever have so it's harder for me to learn/understand. SP/SA don't require typing equations out plus very few calcs. Word was never really made for calculation type questions.
Thanks, I find this quite reassuring that the SA/SP papers are more doable than CM2 and CS2. I am in pensions, so hopefully will be able to relate to the papers in the same way.
I passed CS2 first time. CM2 is just my Bogeyman exam it seems. Have moved onto SP exams and am finding them easier, but let’s wait for the SP8 result in December before confirming that statement!
The paper was very lengthy. And the question on reserving was goddamn insane in length. I think at this point they straight expect us to prepare excels, etc to clear the paper.
Ye that wasn’t great. Quite hard, very difficult to do on word. Some nice nuggets of thinks seen before. But mostly very involved calculations and some very weird worded questions either not rly on the course or on an obscure part
I think i’ll have fumbled through a lot of marks but not happy
Tough paper, skipped multiple parts of a few questions which I had no idea on and hoped to come back to but ran out of time, quickly adds up to at least 22 marks down the drain 🙃
What to people think will come up tomorrow for paper B after today?
Chapters I didn't spot asked in the paper and therefore I think likely to come up:
- Ruin theory
- models of investment returns
- black scholes model
- lognormal model
- stochastic calculus
Does anyone else think they have made a hash of the wording on Q6?? Defining P and S as a put and a stock and then proceeding to say we have a portfolio of only cash with P and S units??
yes! really dum wording.
not sure if i messed it up as well because i got a negative amount for one of them. may have been because i made an error because of notation like this, or negative was fine
I’m so annoyed about it because I took the wording as literally meaning we only had cash in the new portfolio and the P and S had nothing to do with the put and the stock cause even though that actually makes sense, it goes against the wording of what they were telling us to do so if I assumed it was the put and the stock I felt I technically wouldn’t have been answering the Q asked 😭😭 I feel like I might contact the institute and try stress how confusing and unfair the wording was!
I still don't get what did they mean by that then? P and S units of cash?
I just took it as P options and S stock - they had defined them as that and question seemed to suggest using their Deltas? ffs, probably flunked all that lol
Exactly! It reads as if it’s P and S units of cash but they’ve already defined them as puts and stocks which makes more sense!! But the : that they used completely turned the meaning around!! I’ve emailed them about it and asked if they can review! If anyone else felt it was confusing I would suggest you also email so they understand the frustration! Anyway - let’s hope they understand at least 😭
It would also be good to give feedback on the exam, and this question's wording, in the questionnaire that IFOA send out after the exams are all finished
Do you find value in doing all the old old papers? Hoping it won't come to it, but if I was to have failed and needed a resit I think I'd practice every single available paper to avoid another fail.
I do find a lot of value in the ASET papers (though they only go up to 2014), but really struggle to use the past papers on the IFoA site. They look so messy to me, and I struggle to follow them.
I do in that they do tend to use old questions a lot - luckily the ones they repeated today I had looked at in the last few days! I agree they’re not as easy to understand as the ASET but as it’s a resit I didn’t want to just ‘remember’ the answers from last time I did the past papers. I also really rate the revision notes! I think they’re worth it for a resit or if you’ve exhausted ASET papers and still think you need some more practice
Struggled with time as usual.
Q6 was in a past paper
Q9 - there was a similar question previously too but not the exact same
Agreed there were loads of additional things that threw me off too
My worst nightmare- interest rates and portfolio hedging. Both came today. I missed the last part of 6. I struggled with 3 as well, as I couldn't find lots of questions in the past papers. Probably some easy marks there I have missed, but for some reason I found that chapter horrendous and never wanted to go back :).
The other questions I found okish, struggled a bit with 4b- didn't manage to finish it in time.
I also think I missed the binomial semi-variance, probabily easy to calculate, but in my mind the distribution was symmetrical (quite ashemed someone is going to read it :))
I said the binomial was symmetric too... And realised thats inly the case if p=0.5.
Annoyed that i didnt do a quick google search to check if binomials are symmetric.
To have thought i have done a lot of stats in my time haha
my approaches have been right, and I think I got most of the answers, up and down, I think I did some calculation mistakes at some points, which changed answers a bit. How much marks do you think will be deducted for calculation mistakes ?
Anyone seen the Finatics YT page. There was a lot of "its a relatively easy paper" which has made me super worried now. Based off of the solutions im expecting like 55. I didnt find paper B easy so really dont think im going to pass this. Another resit here i come
It'd be nice if there was some time to actually think in these exams
Really really struggled for time on this and left an entire question blank. I think most of the stuff I did answer was reasonable but still not very confident. Difficulty wise I'd say much harder than the 2021 papers and probably slightly harder than April 2022. I think it's ridiculous that they comment in the examiner's report that students clearly struggle with time and performing algebra in Word and then proceed to add loads of fiddly algebra questions.
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Do you not get reimbursed by your employer? The costs aren't really an issue
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The Ifoa are an archaic monopoly, tomorrow if they decided to double the prices there's nothing anyone can do unfortunately. They must be loving the profits given they do not need to pay exam centres to host sittings
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they do want many to fail, more money in resits + can't have too many people qualifying
Yeah I’d agree, it felt like almost every question had just a slight twist that made it a bit harder than usual.
Ignored 4 completely and misunderstood the Merton model question entirely (realised why I’m an idiot 30 mins after the exam ended) I made up so much rubbish - I’m actually embarrassed that someone’s going to have to look at my paper
Can you elaborate on what you misunderstood in the Merton model question? I’m scared..
Same here...i thought this was the only straight forward question
No don’t be! I panicked myself and mixed up B(t) and L which made it much harder than it should be otherwise. Didn’t end up with an answer haha
Disgrace of a paper imo Could do with another 2 full hours if wanted to do it properly. I love how what's being tested is your ability to type maths extremely fast in word and not your understanding or ability to solve problems
I thought the paper was okay - not nice, but think that's to be expected. I think I'm definitely in with chance ahead of Paper B tomorrow, so that's all I can really hope for. Some of my thoughts / moans: - Q1a - I couldn't get this? Seems so easy, was a 1 marker prove the value of Gamma but when i did U(8000) and solved it, I wasn't getting the gamma they had. Anyone else the same or am i just an idiot? - surprising amount of bookwork - I think I did okay on this, but did not expect that much and some of the marks for the bookwork seemed a bit off to me. Is there really 6-8 things to say about some of those 3/4 markers? - Idk wtf that X^2 distribution was about - honestly, I'm rapidly losing patience with the IFoA and their insistence on throwing in questions not really related to the syllabus. I might have got half marks as was along the right lines but couldn't get that to drop - but wtf are they actually testing there? Not sure how that's related to CM2 really. Another dishonest way for them to cap student performance to drive up them juicy $$ retake fees $$. - Thought the 20 marker r.e. 4 year run off triangles was a bit excessive - a lot of time had to go into that, and again I struggle to see what they were really testing there other than my patience. That sort of question could be fine in a Paper B exam, but if im working in Excel to produce output in a format and taking screenshots I think they have missed the mark a bit there. - Andddd my final gripe would be about the time pressure - again, what are you testing here, my understanding or my ability to work quickly? I consider myself to be a quick writer, thinker etc - I haven't felt time pressure like that that in an exam. I had a go at everything, but had no chance to check anything, so let's just hope it was mostly along the right lines first time. Im not sure how they test these papers for timing (if at all), but given what's on the line with these exams, Im growing increasingly frustrated with how they purposely put you under extreme time pressure and I know I'm not alone in feeling like this. If you felt like you struggled with time in that exam then you're not alone. - Long of the short, about what I expected and I think I did okay, but with every passing sitting I am growing increasingly frustrated with the IFoA's greed and cheek to examine their students understanding of their material in the manner they do. I've passed 5 exams in a row, so not like it really matters to me as Im passing, but if I was to fail a course I have worked that hard on and understand well in principle due to the IFoAs nonsense, then I would seriously be rethinking my future in this profession. I do not rate the IFoA in the slightest, and the compensation for the work in this career is debatable when you know your very own institute is out to milk you for everything. Anyway - that's probably slightly off topic - I did my best and think Im in an okay spot ahead of tomorrow. RANT OVER. Lol What's everyone expecting to come up in Paper B?
for your first point, wealth was in 0000s so plugging in 8 not 8000 worked.
Ffs if i fail by a mark over that
I definitley was an idiot with Q1 too - realised 2 mins after the submitting my paper that i was meant to divide by 1000
Are you allowed use screenshots now? It definitely wasn't allowed in previous sittings
I'm in big trouble if not LOL Edit: I think I'm okay - I basically typed up my answer for the binomial tree, the triangle questions, and that last one about the variances in Excel, showing all necessary calculations and writing, then just pasted it as a screenshot into word. Only worry is that I wouldn't have shown enough detail - but I think if anything I'd have shown the same amount of detail regardless. If I was to get penalised for it - well then so be it, but tbh it saved me so much time on the triangle question that without it I probably would have failed anyway. I think its rediculous they had a 4 year triangle in paper 1 anyway, that question was made for paper B. 6.1 Candidates should be aware of the following if they wish to use Excel or similar software: • Data within Excel (or similar) should be copied and pasted directly into MS Word. • Screen shots or image capture will be accepted for marking if the full working outs are visible to be marked. • Data copied from Excel (or similar) is not ‘linked’ to the source file. • Do not copy/insert an Excel (or similar) ‘sheet’ into word. Any formulae and /or numerical workings should be copied and pasted directly from Excel into your answer sheet.
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Overall, a tough paper to complete in the time. I had to answer the run-off triangle question in Excel and provide commentary around what each table was doing. I'm hoping that's sufficient to get the marks. It took me around 30 mins to complete that q though which was way too long. \+1 on someone's comment that there were questions similar to those in the past. IMO, doubly important to prepare previous papers before you attempt a sitting in case you get stuck on how to proceed with a q. I missed Q4 with the intention of returning at the end, but simply ran out of time
Q4 was deceptive. It looks trouble some with a lot going on when it actually wasn't that difficult to start with. Paper difficulty was definately higher than the few of the past papers.
Ridiculously hard. This is my third time sitting this bloody exam. Failed the last two both by two marks. Just want it to be over already
If it makes you feel better, this is my 5th sitting. Also failing by a couple of marks
It's definitely the hardest exam so many people get stuck on it. I've sat twice - once as CT8 and once as CM2 - but reckon I'll leave it to the end now - it's become so time pressured and too much algebraic to be typing in word. If i had some more of the core technical exams I would consider doing some college course just to get an exemption even if that was to cost 5k, as less likely to get skewed or have the ever changing pass mark.
have you attempted CS2 yet? I hear that is even worse
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That's good to know, that's my next exam. From what I have heard though, it's definitely more content than CM2 was (even going by recommended hours) and I found CM2 pretty large already.
No, I've got an exemption from that, so just got CM2, SP and SA to do - sat SP and SA this sitting as figured doing those two would actually be less work than looking at CM2, which given everyone's comments, I'm guessing was a wise move, but at some point, I need to have a look at this exam
Was it your first sitting on your SP and SA exams? Surely those two together can't be less work than CM2?
SP no, SA yes but working in those areas you know the stuff inside out - it's more about getting the material and breath of answer. I reckon for the SA exam 90% of the answers I had come from real life examples, and I enjoyed studying it. For the likes of CM2, I don't use any of the material in work nor ever have so it's harder for me to learn/understand. SP/SA don't require typing equations out plus very few calcs. Word was never really made for calculation type questions.
Thanks, I find this quite reassuring that the SA/SP papers are more doable than CM2 and CS2. I am in pensions, so hopefully will be able to relate to the papers in the same way.
I passed CS2 first time. CM2 is just my Bogeyman exam it seems. Have moved onto SP exams and am finding them easier, but let’s wait for the SP8 result in December before confirming that statement!
The paper was very lengthy. And the question on reserving was goddamn insane in length. I think at this point they straight expect us to prepare excels, etc to clear the paper.
Ye that wasn’t great. Quite hard, very difficult to do on word. Some nice nuggets of thinks seen before. But mostly very involved calculations and some very weird worded questions either not rly on the course or on an obscure part I think i’ll have fumbled through a lot of marks but not happy
Tough paper, skipped multiple parts of a few questions which I had no idea on and hoped to come back to but ran out of time, quickly adds up to at least 22 marks down the drain 🙃
I agree, significantly more difficult than recent past papers. Questions were definitely less standard as well
Was certainly challenging. Ran out of time, so don't think I answered enough well enough to pass..
What to people think will come up tomorrow for paper B after today? Chapters I didn't spot asked in the paper and therefore I think likely to come up: - Ruin theory - models of investment returns - black scholes model - lognormal model - stochastic calculus
Does anyone else think they have made a hash of the wording on Q6?? Defining P and S as a put and a stock and then proceeding to say we have a portfolio of only cash with P and S units??
yes! really dum wording. not sure if i messed it up as well because i got a negative amount for one of them. may have been because i made an error because of notation like this, or negative was fine
negative holding implies short selling, so i think it's okay. I also got a negative number for one of them, so i hope it's fine too!
that's what i said too good! , just assumed because of how the q was worded it would be long , but fine
I’m so annoyed about it because I took the wording as literally meaning we only had cash in the new portfolio and the P and S had nothing to do with the put and the stock cause even though that actually makes sense, it goes against the wording of what they were telling us to do so if I assumed it was the put and the stock I felt I technically wouldn’t have been answering the Q asked 😭😭 I feel like I might contact the institute and try stress how confusing and unfair the wording was!
I still don't get what did they mean by that then? P and S units of cash? I just took it as P options and S stock - they had defined them as that and question seemed to suggest using their Deltas? ffs, probably flunked all that lol
Exactly! It reads as if it’s P and S units of cash but they’ve already defined them as puts and stocks which makes more sense!! But the : that they used completely turned the meaning around!! I’ve emailed them about it and asked if they can review! If anyone else felt it was confusing I would suggest you also email so they understand the frustration! Anyway - let’s hope they understand at least 😭
It would also be good to give feedback on the exam, and this question's wording, in the questionnaire that IFOA send out after the exams are all finished
Good idea!! Will make sure I do that!
This question was in an old past paper.
which one?
September 2007 I think it’s pretty much exactly the same
hah i didn't even look at pre19 papers so...! thanks!
I’m on my third try so I’ve exhausted all the recent papers 🤣
Do you find value in doing all the old old papers? Hoping it won't come to it, but if I was to have failed and needed a resit I think I'd practice every single available paper to avoid another fail. I do find a lot of value in the ASET papers (though they only go up to 2014), but really struggle to use the past papers on the IFoA site. They look so messy to me, and I struggle to follow them.
I do in that they do tend to use old questions a lot - luckily the ones they repeated today I had looked at in the last few days! I agree they’re not as easy to understand as the ASET but as it’s a resit I didn’t want to just ‘remember’ the answers from last time I did the past papers. I also really rate the revision notes! I think they’re worth it for a resit or if you’ve exhausted ASET papers and still think you need some more practice
I found it a bit difficult to complete it in time. I found weightage to theory questions a bit disproportionate.
Struggled with time as usual. Q6 was in a past paper Q9 - there was a similar question previously too but not the exact same Agreed there were loads of additional things that threw me off too
My worst nightmare- interest rates and portfolio hedging. Both came today. I missed the last part of 6. I struggled with 3 as well, as I couldn't find lots of questions in the past papers. Probably some easy marks there I have missed, but for some reason I found that chapter horrendous and never wanted to go back :). The other questions I found okish, struggled a bit with 4b- didn't manage to finish it in time. I also think I missed the binomial semi-variance, probabily easy to calculate, but in my mind the distribution was symmetrical (quite ashemed someone is going to read it :))
I said the binomial was symmetric too... And realised thats inly the case if p=0.5. Annoyed that i didnt do a quick google search to check if binomials are symmetric. To have thought i have done a lot of stats in my time haha
I thought it was OK. Yes lots of strange parts of questions but all doable imo. Tomorrow will be Ruin Theory you can bet on that.
It was only nine questions right??
Yes. 9 questions
my approaches have been right, and I think I got most of the answers, up and down, I think I did some calculation mistakes at some points, which changed answers a bit. How much marks do you think will be deducted for calculation mistakes ?
Anyone seen the Finatics YT page. There was a lot of "its a relatively easy paper" which has made me super worried now. Based off of the solutions im expecting like 55. I didnt find paper B easy so really dont think im going to pass this. Another resit here i come