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Author Archive

March 3 Update

March 3rd, 2019

The rest of the Taylor material was just posted:
Review Note (including Book 3)
Exercises (10)
Flashcards (27)

Updated Flashcards are in the app and online. I’ve left the print ones up on the website, but these are not updated.

The updated practice exams will be posted over the next 2 weeks.

There have been some corrections to material; you can see these changes in Other Info/Books-> Errata

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January 8 Update

January 8th, 2019

All of the manuals and lessons are up, except for the new Taylor paper.
The Books have also been published. The purpose of the books is to put a bunch of papers together into a single PDF for easy printing. They are about 300 pages each, for easy binding at your local print shop.

The books have the following papers:
Book 1 - Week 1
Book 2 - Week 2 & 3
Book 3 - Week 4 & 5 (this book is pending on the Taylor manual)
Book 4 - Week 6 & Goldfarb
Book 5 - ERA papers (Weeks 7-9)

I’ve also posted a version of each book with just the Manual (no exercises or past exam questions)

Verrall has been completely rewritten. I finally took a couple of classes on Bayesian statistics, including Bayesian MCMC. The new manual and lessons do a better job at explaining the underlying material.

I’ll be writing the manual for Taylor, and creating the lessons over the next couple of weeks.

The forum has been pretty quiet lately - I check everyday for questions.

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2019 Course - Welcome!

December 27th, 2018

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the 2019 TIA CAS Exam 7 course!

The manuals and lessons are nearly completely updated now. The pending ones are the new paper Taylor, which should be ready around January 15th.
Verrall and Sahasrabuddhe are also pending - I’m rereading the source, to see if I want to make any updates to those manuals and lessons. These will be ready in the first week of the new year. I’ve left the 2018 versions up until the new ones are ready.

A recommended study schedule has been posted under Other Info / Books -> Study Tools.

For those who took the course last year, I’ve also published a document that points out any changes in the material from last year. This is in Other Info/Books -> Study Tools.

The Manuals and Lessons are prepared with the goal of explaining the concepts to you. These have the most value where the material is particularly technical, difficult to read or follow, or lacks context.
There are a number of exercises for each paper, and the past problems are also included in the manual.
I also prepare “Books” that are just the manuals for several papers into a single pdf, so you can download and print. These are ideal for binding. These will be ready the first week of January.

For the Review stage of preparation, there are three types of material for you to use:
- Flashcards
- Review Notes
- Past/Practice Exams

The Review Notes are intended to cover the major points of each paper, in just a few pages - including major concepts, lists, algorithms, and formulas. These are not explanatory documents, but rather intended for review. I like this, because I can review the entire contents of a paper relatively quickly. It’s also a good source for looking things up.

I’ll be on the forum nearly daily; and should be able to get back to you within a couple of days, if not sooner. This may be delayed when I’m traveling. I’ll post travel on here a week in advance.

Good luck! I look forward to helping you pass exam 7.

-Alejandro

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Updating Material for 2019

November 30th, 2018

I’m currently updating the material for the 2019 sitting.

It’s easier for me to upload once everything is completed. On the other hand, if you are studying now, you may want to have access to the material as it’s updated.
Therefore, I’ve labeled all the 2018 material, with “2018″ in the name of the section; and will post new material as it’s ready.

In addition, there will be a log of changes made from the 2018 version of the material - changes to manuals, review notes, and video lessons. This is under Other Info/Study Tools/2019 - Updates to TIA Material
This will be updated as things are changed.

Everything should be up by January 1; except maybe the new paper - Taylor - which will be up by January 15.
Updated Practice exams will be posted later.

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Syllabus is Up!

November 27th, 2018

The CAS posted the 2019 Exam 7 Syllabus.

The only change is an addition of a new paper - Taylor - “Stochastic Loss Reserving using Generalized Linear Models”.
A knowledge statement was added, and a learning objective was changed.
No change to weights this year.

A summary of the changes can be found in Other Info / Books -> Study Tools

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Welcome to 2019 Exam 7 Review

November 4th, 2018

Welcome to those of you who are accessing the material early.

Over the next 2 months I’ll be updating the manuals. The main changes this year are:

  • Add Taylor paper
  • Add Solutions for 2018 exam
  • Update practice exams to include Integrative Questions
  • Update material where new explanations are useful
  • Changes from the 2018 manual will be documented clearly

If you have any questions, please post them in the forum. I will check there regularly.

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Forum Questions

April 2nd, 2018

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately, I had to travel to Asia last week for a last-minute family event, and didn’t answer questions for about a week.

I’ve cleared about 1/3 of the backlog this morning. I’ll work on clearing up the rest over the next couple of days.

I apologize for the delay in answering questions.

-Alejandro

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Meyers - more Exercises

March 24th, 2018

I’ve added 13 new exercises for the Meyers paper in section
A.12.1a

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Past Exams & Travel

March 11th, 2018

The solutions to the CAS exams from 2011 to 2014 are posted in section F.2
I’ll be posting 2015-2017 this week.

I’ll be attending a conference and traveling March 19-22, and will not be very responsive these days.

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Practice Exams & Travel

February 18th, 2018

There are 3 practice exams that are posted. Only minor changes were made to them from last year.

I’m starting working again on Tuesday. I’d taken the last nearly 3 years as a sabbatical. Thus, my travel is going to pick up some.
I’ll be on the road February 20-23, and also February 27 - March 2nd. Responses to questions will take a little longer while I’m traveling.

-Alejandro

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