Analysis of Past Exams spreadsheet updated for fall 2018

The Analysis of Past Exams spreadsheet in the Supplementary Materials section has been updated to include the spring 2018 exam. We also made several other updates noted on the Key Changes tab of the spreadsheet.

The purpose of the spreadsheet is to break down every relevant exam question going back to the early 2000s. By my most recent count, there are over 450 individual sub-questions (over 80 hours in point value) still on syllabus. This is way more than the average person can (or should) work, but one way to use it is to look for problems from specific readings (e.g. calculation type problems).

Just be careful with your time. Sometimes I see people spend weeks and weeks working the older CSP exams. While there are certainly many relevant questions in those older exams, the problem is that you will end up spending many hours practicing a fairly small percentage of the current syllabus. 

Another pitfall to avoid: Do not use this spreadsheet as a prediction tool for future exams. The testing frequency of past readings is highly biased toward readings that have been on the syllabus the longest. Some readings have been on the ILA syllabi for over a decade, while MANY others have been added only in the last 1–2 years. 

A better use of your time: I would save at least the most recent two exams to work in their entirety if you can — especially under exam conditions. These are still 100% on syllabus making them a valuable exam prep resource, especially if you use them to sharpen exam-day skills. Use older exams for topic-specific practice as you have time, but be sure to continue studying the entire current syllabus. Assume anything on the current syllabus will be tested with equal probability.

Also, please remember that I have solutions for many, many past problems posted on the SOA Exams tab of the online seminar. I will be posting solutions to the spring 2018 exam in the next two weeks as well.