Canadian 2012 seminar updates [Canadian]

All syllabus changes since the previous ILA-DP-C exam have now been incorporated into the 2012 ILA-DP-C online seminar. Here is a summary of changes.

Dropped Material

  • VUL Secondary Guar: Catalyst for Sales Rebound, Product Matters (formerly lesson A.3.2)
  • Predictive Modeling for Life Insurers: Application of Predictive Modeling Techniques in Measuring Policy Holder Behavior in Variable Annuity Products (formerly lesson B.2.11)

New Material

  • Guaranteed Uncertainty: Socioeconomic influences on Product Development and Distribution in the Life Insurance Industry (new lesson E.4)
  • Level Term Lapse Rates – Lessons Learned Here and in Canada, Product Matters (new lesson B.2.12)
  • Expected Mortality: Fully Underwritten Canadian Individual Life Insurance Policies, CIA Education Note, July 2002 (new lesson B.2.11). Note: If you’ve taken the ILA-CSP-C seminar, you’ll recognize this study note and lesson. The Expected Mortality note is now on both syllabi, and it is exactly the same on both.
All handouts were also updated to reflect the changes above. Rather than combine the outlines into a single PDF as I’ve done in previous sittings, I decided to zip up the individual lesson files. They are named by lesson (e.g. B_1_01_Outline.pdf). This will make it easy to download the handouts for only the updated material in case you already downloaded the previous handout files.
 
If you have any questions, please post them on the ILA-DP-C seminar forum or email me. Good luck studying!
 

New TIA forums now open!!

We are very excited to announce the launch of the TIA forum!

In the past, using TIA to study for exams has been a relatively solitary endeavor. You watched the videos, worked the problems, and occasionally emailed your instructor for assistance. If you prefer to learn that way, then don’t worry, you can still do it that way. Think of the forum as an additional (and optional) way to enhance your learning. You might just browse other student’s questions, and decide to give it a try later on.

Although a few TIA members have gone out of their way to interact with others by posting on the Actuarial Outpost or other public forums, the TIA forum makes it incredibly easy for all of us to interact with other members. Any time you have a question or a topic for discussion, you can immediately enter the subject forum and make your post. Everyone else that is subscribed to the seminar will see that there is a new post in that subject forum, and can respond immediately, seconding or answering your topic. Watch the short video posted in the “Introductory Material” section of the course to see how the forum works.

Making your experience at TIA more interactive will result in much more powerful and effective learning. But another terrific aspect of the forum is that it will act as a growing and changing knowledge base of answered questions. As your instructor, I’ve found that I answer the same question by email many times. The forum will allow me to post answers to questions in a way that will remain readily available to all seminar users. After a while, you’ll find answers to many of your questions instantly in the forum, instead of needing an email response.

But the forums aren’t just for my answers to questions. As you probably know, there is no better way to test your knowledge than to try to answer the questions that other learners ask. You should try to answer the questions that other members post as often as you can. Other members can chime in to ask more about your answer too, and I’ll be keeping an eye on things to make sure that all the questions receive accurate and useful responses.

As always, we want your learning experience here at TIA to be a positive one. When interacting with each other on the web, please be sure to maintain a cheerful attitude and encourage your fellow learners. Feel free to immediately flag any post that you feel would discourage anyone from interacting.

The forum is open now, so go ahead and watch the introduction video and get started! You could start by introducing yourself in the “Introductory Material” subject forum.

Jeremy

Exam day tips

Congratulations. You’ve made it to the final week of your exam prep. It’ll be over soon. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you approach the big day.

Get a good night’s sleep before the exam. Six hours of writing requires energy and focus.

Use your 15-minute read-through time wisely. Look at every question. Make a mental note of questions that you know you know. You’ll want to be sure you get to all of those, especially toward the end.

Know the time. It is very easy to lose track of time on exam day. Time management is critical to passing, however. Routinely look at the clock, or make a note of the time at which you need to move on for each question. For example, for a 5-point question, add 15 minutes to the current time, and write that at the top of the exam question page.

Relax. There will be parts of questions that you don’t know or seem difficult. You do not need to answer every question perfectly. Do your best, then move on. Don’t waste too much time on questions that seem hard. You’ll want to spend that time on questions you know.

Answer every question. Even if you are totally clueless, write down something. No one ever got any points for white space.

Be easy on the grader. Clearly write the number of each question (or sub-question) at the top of the page. Write in lists. Write legibly. Write out formulas. Write out acronyms that the grader may not know.

Be positive throughout the exam. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt. Don’t get discouraged if you encounter several difficult questions in a row. Remember that everyone is taking the same exam.

Focus on each question. Block out thoughts about past questions while you’re working on a question. However, if an answer pops into your head about a previous question, it’s ok to jump back and write a little more. Just keep up with the time!

Good luck. It’ll be over soon!

Practice problems and case study [Canadian]

Jeremy’s summary of the case study is now available on the Canadian seminar, too.  I am currently going through Jeremy’s latest practice problem update to identify those specific to the Canadian syllabus.  I will post them as soon as I’m done.  Look for them in the next week or so.

Welcome to TIA’s 2011 ILA-DP-C online seminar! [Canadian]

Welcome!

And great news. . . the 2011 seminar is nearly at 100%, and it’s only June!  All old material has been removed, and new videos have been added. If you see [2011] in the lesson name, that means it’s new for this year. Overall, there were very few additions, however.

What’s coming next (in order of priority):

  • Revised handout bundles. I have not yet updated all of the PDF handouts to reflect new and dropped material.
  • Video for ILA-D614. This video will be posted in the coming weeks.
  • Solutions for published exams. Currently some of the 2007 and 2008  solutions are not posted. I will add the missing ones.
  • Solutions for the 2010 published exam.

If you have any general questions or questions about material that I cover in the seminar, please contact me. If you have questions about any of the material covered by Jeremy, please contact him. You can use the links on the right side of this blog to email us.

Good luck, and welcome aboard!