All posts by lee

Direct Link to CAS Demo Exam Sample Spreadsheet

Yesterday, Pearsonvue.com/CAS got an update that includes a direct link to the Sample Spreadsheet.  So now you can go directly to the spreadsheet to practice and you don’t have to click all the way through the Demo Exam’s 15 introductory screens if all you want to do is test something in the Exam Spreadsheet Scratchpad.

It looks like this spreadsheet has more lines in it than what you have available during the exam, but anyway, it is really nice to be able to just bookmark this in order to get back to it easily.

SAMPLE SPREADSHEET

C.2 Updates complete

I have completed updating the C.2 lessons, summary sheet and flashcards.   This also included updating the problems, solutions and video solutions as well.

The update both added the use of spreadsheet commands to do probability and critical value computations throughout, and also made significant improvements to the explanations and the choices regarding what to explain.

Even if you have watched the old C.2 lessons, I would suggest watching these new ones and planning to incorporate spreadsheet computations into your practice on hypothesis testing problems.

I do plan to update the C.2 review lesson, as well as to review all of the solutions to the sample exam problems to incorporate spreadsheet techniques.  Since these are tools that are more widely used in the weeks leading up to the exam, my goal is to get these rolled out by late March.

I’m also hoping to update a few other lessons to incorporate more spreadsheet techniques over the next few weeks.

C.2 lesson updates underway

With the addition of a spreadsheet tool for use during the new CBT style MAS-I, we now have access to functions that can precisely compute many probability distribution values.

Last fall, I created a series of quick example lessons that live in the prerequisite material section of the course to illustrate how several of these spreadsheet commands work.   I also updated the video solutions from the Fall 2019 MAS-I exam to include spreadsheet methods.

Although there are various places throughout the course where these new methods can be helpful, by far and away the section where they appear most is C.2, Hypothesis Testing.

Today I began rolling out updated versions of the C.2 lessons that take advantage of these new spreadsheet functions.  I uploaded a new C.2.0 lesson which serves as a quick overview of C.2, as well as two new lessons C.2.1a and C.2.1b which are replacements for the old C.2.1 lesson (and some of the content on the current C.2.2, which will itself be replaced soon).

These are also just better lessons, as the explanations have been improved from having addressed questions that students have had about the old lessons in the forum over the past couple of years.

I have already completed updating all of the video solutions in the entirety of the C.2 section to include spreadsheet computational methods wherever needed.

My plan, for now, is to continue updating the C.2 lessons.  Once that is finished, I’ll move on to updating the video solutions for any sample exam problems for which spreadsheet methods would be helpful or more efficient.

 

Spring 2021 MAS-I Administration

The CAS just released the dates for the Spring 2021 MAS-I Exam.  The exam will be given at PearsonVue sites from April 26th through May 3rd.

The announcement also includes the following important information:

Registration for spring 2021 exams will open on December 15, 2020, and candidates who register early will have more options for selecting their preferred site, date, and time than candidates who register later in the registration window. While we understand that candidates who sat for a fall 2020 exam may not want to register for their spring 2021 exam before knowing their exam results, candidates whose plans for the spring sitting are more certain should take advantage of the opportunity to register and secure their Pearson VUE appointment when registration opens. The window for registration will close on April 9, 2021, and the refund deadline is April 16, 2021.”

I believe that this means that you should register for whichever exam you think that you are most likely to take in the Spring as soon as the registration window opens and schedule your exam with PearsonVue as soon as possible.   If you end up having to change later you will have to cancel your scheduled slot and try to obtain a new one, but at least if you are correct about which exam you will take then you will have locked in an appointment while the most flexibility for choosing appointments is available.

The release time for Fall 2020 results is still listed as “during Q1 2021″.

Fall 2019 solutions updated, Sample Spreadsheet Scratchpad added

I just finished uploading updated video solutions for the Fall 2019 MAS-I Exam, problems, #12, #13, #15, #20, #21, #23, #31, #33, and #44.   Each of these now has a spreadsheet solution as well as a calculator solution.

I also went through all of the Fall 2019 exam and made up a sample of what my Spreadsheet Scratchpad might have looked like at the end of that exam, using the spreadsheet to calculate nearly everything and hardly picking up my calculator at all.  This is included next to the pdf solutions for this exam in the Sample exams tab.

From here on out, I’m going to work on producing as many additional video solutions for practice problems as I can leading up to exam day.  Feel free to let me know about any specific problem that you’d like me to prioritize on the list for getting the video solution completed.

CBT updates complete

Today I made the last of the main updates following on the changes I announced in the previous announcement.

In the end there were 15 short spreadsheet example lessons, and those have been placed in the Prerequisite section of the course.

I’ve now rolled out CBT versions of each of the four TIA Sample exams, as well as for the four released MAS-I exams.

I updated the Sample exam strategy video and Scheduling videos to include the Fall 2019 released exam and to remove references to snacks and the 15-minute read through, neither of which are part of the new CBT setup.

I’ve added a new video to the strategy section, “Watch me first”, to address the things that are changing with the PearsonVue CBT system, how those relate to what you can do to practice with the TIA CBT system, and how to adjust your sample exam experience to help you prepare for the new CBT setup.  Please watch this one in addition to the Strategy and Scheduling videos prior to starting the Sample Exam phase of your studies.

I also completed the updates that were needed for the four Review lessons for B.4, D.1, D.2, and D.3, following on the lesson updates that took place for those sections last winter.  This makes the Review lessons for MAS-I complete again.

Next up, I’m planning to update several of the video solutions from the Fall 2019 exam to add methods for computing results using the spreadsheet.

CAS MAS-I Going to CBT

As you are probably already aware, the CAS is moving MAS-I and MAS-II to a Computer-Based Testing (CBT) format. The first sitting in this new format will take place this fall on November 10th. With this format, you must first register for the exam with the CAS and then schedule your exam as soon as you receive your authorization to test (ATT) email from Pearson VUE.

Many details regarding the test-taking experience and an Exam Demo, are available on the Pearson VUE CAS specific website, here:
[https://home.pearsonvue.com/cas]
More information is available in the CAS CBT pdf file:
[https://www.casact.org/admissions/syllabus/CBT\_Exams\_Information.pdf]
Which currently seems to be the same as the FAQ:
[https://www.casact.org/cms/files/CBT\_Fall\_2020\_FAQ\_1.pdf]

I suggest that you read these carefully. Some highlights include:
– You can only take one calculator into the exam, nothing else. A locker should be provided for your other items.
– You will have a laminated legal-sized gridline scratch paper notebook with five pages (9 usable sides) (8.5”x14”) with a felt-tip pen (Staedtler Lumocolor, probably the 311 superfine point) (no erasing) for scratch work. I believe you can get up to two more of these to use during the exam if needed. Here is a video showing what this looks like:
[https://vimeo.com/423395167]
– The 15 minute reading period seems to have gone away. You will have 30 minutes for the exam tutorial, agreeing to the discipline policy, an introduction, and the post-exam survey. The exam itself will be 4 hours.
The exam Demo posted at the bottom of the page here is very valuable for us:
[https://home.pearsonvue.com/cas]
– Begins with a quick tutorial
– It allows up to 30 minutes to answer the 5 sample multiple-choice questions (from a MAS-I exam from a year or two ago).
– Most functionality (flagging, review, navigation) will be familiar from the SOA preliminary exam CBTs.
– Includes an on-screen version of the TI-30XS Multiview Calculator.
– Includes an on-screen “scratchpad” spreadsheet, with similar features to Microsoft Excel.
– Provides the ability to Highlight or Strikethrough question text.

First of all, the most important advice: Don’t Panic! Except for using non-erasable laminated scrap paper and answering the questions on the computer, it would be possible to ignore the other changes that are taking place. That’s comforting if you have been preparing for the exam in its traditional form – nothing you have learned needs to go to waste, and you can still rely on your calculator and the exam tables to compute everything that will be required on the exam. In fact, the overwhelming likelihood is that the exam you will see on November 10th is the exam that was written to be given in Spring 2020 before that sitting was canceled – so the exam writers probably had none of the new Pearson VUE functionality in mind when they wrote the Fall 2020 exam questions.

That said, I think we should try to take advantage of the spreadsheet scratchpad features as much as we can.
– Do even basic computations in the spreadsheet so that we can easily verify our values and more quickly return to our calculations throughout the exam.
– Lean heavily on the spreadsheet features for any problem that we would previously have considered using the DATA table in the calculator.
– Consider computing more exact values for our probability distribution and cumulative distribution functions instead of using the exam tables.

Here are my plans for addressing these issues in the TIA MAS-I course leading up to the Fall 2020 sitting on November 10th.

1. Bring all sample exams into the TIA CBT format (which reflects the SOA preliminary CBT exams). Goal: Early October
– Includes the ability to flag/mark problems
– Similar problem navigation and Review options
– Includes exam tables in image form, NOT pdf form.
– Will NOT include scratchpad spreadsheet
– Will NOT include an on-screen calculator
– Will NOT include highlighting/strikethrough
– Solutions will NOT be updated to include spreadsheet usage for the Fall 2020 sitting. I will try to update some of the videos where the spreadsheet will be the most useful, if possible.

2. Create a short series of PreRequisite Lesson videos in a new chapter called “From Calculator to Spreadsheet.” Each lesson will treat a common type of computation that we do either on the calculator or using the exam tables, and show how to do that kind of calculation using the ScratchPad Spreadsheet. Goal: Throughout September

3. Update the “Sample Exam Strategy Video” to include more information about using practice exams effectively to prepare for the new CBT experience. Goal: Early October

I’ll be back with more announcements to let you know about progress toward these course updates and address any other ideas or concerns that arise.

CAS CBT Information

According to the CAS, if you were registered for the Spring 2020 MAS-I sitting, you should be automatically registered for the Fall CBT sitting.

HOWEVER!!!! You will still have to schedule your exam with Pearson VUE.   The CAS says that you should receive an email with information on registering by Friday, June 26th.    They seem to be saying that the website for scheduling your exam will open on June 29th, but I think I would start checking it as soon as I have my email with scheduling information in hand.

I would suggest that you schedule your exam at the earliest possible moment to ensure that you get a slot in the Pearson Vue location nearest to you.

Please read the complete details that are available from the CAS MAS-I website.  Especially the two pdf files under “Computer-Based Testing” on that page.

If you are registering for the Fall exam for the first time (not an automatic registration from the Spring), you should get your email within 2 days of registering.

That means that if you want to be able to schedule a time with Pearson VUE on the 29th as soon as available, you will need to register for the MAS-I Exam with the CAS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

There are a number of other changes that will be coming for the Fall CBT MAS-I exam which I will address as the date approaches, perhaps in large part with an updated Sample Exam Strategy video.

 

Updates progress report

Since the previous report, the Summary sheets for the updated D.1, D.2, and D.3 have been completed, and are available in the Before You Begin section of the course.

Today I finished reconstituting the problems sets for the new lesson based on the old lesson problem sets, with many small updates to the problem typed solutions.

There was a significant change to the way that the new lessons handle the F-test from the old lesson D.3.6 and D.3.7 to the way that it is now handled in D.3.3 and D.3.4.    The new way is simpler and easier than the old way, and it also more closely conforms to the method used in the Dobson textbook source material.

Because of this significant change, the solutions to the problems in new D.3.3 and D.3.4 are pretty different than the old solutions.   Since some folks have already learned the method in old D.3.6 and D.3.7, I’ve left the existing copies of those problems that required updating in those lessons, and added new copies of those problems with updated typed solution into the new D.3.3 and D.3.4 lessons.  As a result, there are now a few duplicated problems in the problem system with different answers.    I don’t know of a good way around this without insisting that everyone learn or relearn from new D.3.3 and D.3.4, so my plan is to leave things this way until the next sitting passes.   Please be aware of this situation when you are practicing problems – each problem tells you which lesson it is from, so if you see a problem that you think you know how to do and the typed solution is completely foreign, check the lesson that the problem is from to see if the reason for this is that the problem is from the lessons that you did not use.

Next on my list is to update the Flashcards for new D.1-D.3 (B.4 is already done), fix the solution tab to reflect the updated problems, and add the relevant problems from the past Exam S sittings into the lesson level pdf problem sets and the practice system.  A bit later on, I also plan to update the Review lessons for B.4, D.1, D.2, and D.3.