“Spring 2020” FSA exams got pushed back to mid-July, and that puts students in a strange situation for Fall 2020.
Spring results don’t come out until mid September. If you wait until results day to decide what’s next for you, unless you’re super-human, you’re probably not going to have time to take a full FSA exam for the Fall 2020 sitting in early November.
You have a few options, but you need to start thinking about your plan now:
- Take the Fall 2020 sitting off – wait for your results from the Spring 2020 exam, and in the meantime, work on the FSA modules
- Sign up for a new exam – you can sign up for the next FSA exam in your path. You then take this exam whether you passed the last exam or not. For example, if took GH DP in Spring 2020, you would sign up for GH FV or Specialty for the Fall sitting. When results come back in September for the GH DP exam: if you passed, then you’re a step ahead and already very prepared to take the Fall 2020 exam. If you failed, this doesn’t put you behind. You just focus on the new exam for this sitting instead of re-taking GH DP with very limited study time. Then for Spring 2021, you can decide which exam makes sense in your situation.
- Sign up for the same exam – go ahead and sign up for the same exam you are taking now for the Fall 2020 session. Before you do this, I would recommend contacting customer service at the SOA to confirm. Some students have been told that they can sign up for the same exam for next session, and if they end up passing the exam in Spring 2020, then they can cancel the fall registration and get a refund. This may make sense if it’s your final exam requirement.
Signing up for Computer Testing Centers – Do It Now.
Fall 2020 exams will be given on computer at Prometric centers. You first need to register for your exam with the SOA, and then you need to find a Prometric testing center near you for the available dates of your exam. Some sites and time slots may sell out, so I recommend registering for your next exam as soon as possible!
TIA Seminar Considerations
I think you’ll have more than enough time to be fully prepared for the 5 hour or 2 hour exams if you start in July. A lot of people do start studying at this time and have been successful in passing their exams. This is especially true for the 2 hour Specialty exam. However, if you plan to take a Fall 2020 exam after your Spring 2020 exam, get started as soon as possible!!! Take a little sanity break, but don’t make it too long and then get back into the materials and study mode.
As always, you can purchase your next TIA course before getting exam results and will let you pause it indefinitely if you need to go back to the previous exam. If you’re taking a July exam, this will give you the ability to immediately begin studying for the fall exam (if you wish). If you get bad news about your July exam in September, you’ll have the choice of pausing the new course and going back to the previous course (provided you have a free extension available), or you could just stick with the new exam and try to knock it out (and return to the previous exam in spring 2021).
To be clear, there is no right or wrong decision this year. 2020 is a very unusual year to say the least, and I think it’s up to each of us to decide what’s best for us and go forward from there. As they say, it’s not about making the right decision, but about making the decision right. Make the most of the time you have, and try to continue moving forward in some way on your journey to fellowship. Good luck, stay safe, and always stay positive!