TIA's Exam 8 Blog

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to issue a reminder that no discussion of the specifics of exam questions or solutions is permitted for the Spring 2021 exam at any point. I will also not be answering any questions during the testing window between 5/3 and 5/8, so if you have any last minute questions for me, please submit them ASAP. Best of luck on the exam this sitting!

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

Now that the official testing window is over, I’ve unlocked the forums again. Please keep a few things in mind:

• No discussion of the specifics for the Fall 2020 exam questions or solutions is permitted at any point.
• Some students still haven’t taken their Fall 2020 exam yet as some locations were postponed due to COVID restrictions.

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to issue a reminder that no discussion of the specifics of exam questions or solutions is permitted for the Fall 2020 exam at any point. I will also not be answering any questions during the testing window between 11/19 and 12/9, so if you have any last minute questions for me, please submit them before 11/18. Best of luck on the exam this sitting!

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

The CAS just posted a notable announcement that they will no longer release exam questions or solutions starting with the Fall 2020 exam sitting. The benefits of this are outlined in their article, but I’ll just mention a few reminders here:

• You are no longer allowed to discuss the specifics of exam questions or solutions after taking your exam EVER. This is because the CAS plans to start reusing questions for future exam sittings. This is definitely a big cultural change, as previously it had been common for students to discuss questions and solutions after the designated time window had passed.
• If an exam question appears to be ambiguous or defective, you can now use the comment functionality directly in the Pearson Vue application while taking your exam to note this, and this will be submitted to the CAS along with your exam. Note that commenting does not stop the clock on your exam, so I’d recommend doing this after completing the rest of your exam. There will also still be a post-exam survey, and you could mention ambiguous/defective questions in your survey responses instead of doing it during the timed exam.
• Since the exam questions and solutions will no longer be released, there will be no more appeals process for students to appeal their solutions as valid. There will be a scoring verification request for a $50 fee, but this will only confirm that your scores were recorded, and will not result a re-grading of your exam in any way.
• I will obviously no longer be posting solutions to new exam questions as the questions will no longer be publicly released. I will also not be able to answer questions that are directly about exam questions from Fall 2020 or later. However, I am always willing to help you better understand the syllabus material by answering questions about the specifics of syllabus material that may or may not have appeared on exam questions or that may appear on future exams.

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

Given the recent CAS announcement about Computer-Based Testing, in preparation for the Excel-based exam, I will be uploading Excel versions of all of the problem sets and practice exams in a nearly identical format to what you will see on the actual exam. Each problem set and practice exam will have one file with questions only and a second file with both questions and solutions.

All of the sections and practice exams will be complete in advance of the exam date with enough time for practice.

All of the current material will remain on the website. I’ll also add a video with Excel tips for the exam.

Thanks,
Josh

Hi everyone,

I just finished posting the new section covering the NCCI Circular. As of now, the main content of the seminar has been fully updated for 2020, and I’ve made significant enhancements from last sitting to the Bailey & Simon, GLM, and Clark sections as well. The only items remaining to do for the seminar for this sitting are to update the revised past exams and practice exams for the syllabus changes. I’ll complete those in the coming weeks, so there will be plenty of time to use them as practice exams before the exam date.

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

I just uploaded a completed set of solutions to 2019 exam 8 under the Complete Manual/Exams -> Past Exams part of the TIA site. Also as a reminder, if you think any questions may have been ambiguous or defective, you have until November 14 to submit your comments to the CAS exam committee in a Word document by emailing it to [email protected] so they can take this into consideration in grading (assuming they agree with you).

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

I want to issue a reminder that no new discussion forum posts are allowed after 10PM EDT on 10/29.

I also want to say thank you to all of you, as it has been my pleasure teaching this course. I really appreciate all the feedback, ideas, and thoughtful questions. You’ve helped make me a better instructor, and of course I hope that I’ve helped make you much more prepared to pass this exam.

Best of luck next week, and I hope to see you as Fellows at a CAS meeting in the future!

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

I just posted an updated version of practice exam 1.  I made updates to several questions and point values, and now the exam has 2 IQs as well.  If you’ve already taken the existing version of practice exam 1, then I wouldn’t recommend retaking this new version as most of the content hasn’t changed.  I also left the prior exam and forum posts up for now in case you have questions about the original version.  If you haven’t yet taken practice exam 1 yet, then I would recommend that you take this newer updated version.

I will try and continue to make updates to practice exam 2 in the next few days, however, I am receiving a substantial volume of student questions, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to get done prior to the exam date.  As I’ve mentioned before, the existing versions of practice exams 2-4 still provide good practice content if you want to use them as practice/review, though they currently do not have 2 IQs each and are not as “wordy” as CAS exam questions have been the last few sittings.

Thanks,

Josh

Hi everyone,

The study kit containing the ISO and NCCI manuals is now available for order from the CAS online store. If you already have the study kit from 2018, you can just order the (cheaper) study kit update to obtain the updated ISO manual.

Thanks,

Josh