Analysis of Past Exams Updated

The Analysis of Past Exams has been updated to include the fall 2013 exam. This is available in both PDF and spreadsheet format on the SOA Exams tab of the online seminar. 

The Analysis of Past Exams shows all the questions from past SOA exams dating back to the year 2000 that are still relevant to the current syllabus. It breaks each question down by type (calculation vs. verbal) and shows the syllabus source and point value of each.

It’s a great way to quickly find past problems related to specific readings.

You can also use the point values to grab a quick list of questions to work under time-constrained exam conditions. For example, if you have 2 study hours available at work one afternoon and want to practice exam problems, you could select 40 points worth of questions (3 minutes per point) and work those while practicing time management skills.

With the exam now 6 weeks away, this is a good time to begin thinking about your exam-day strategy. During the last 4 weeks, I highly recommend practicing your time management skills as much as possible. 

Forum notes

Just a few notes about the forum. . .

I check the forum at least 3 times a week during the workweek — usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In April, the last month before the exam, I will do my best to check the forum 7 days a week — yes, including weekends. I know how critical it is for you to get answers quickly when time is winding down!

On rare occasions, a forum post will fall through the cracks. If you ever post a question for me in the forum and don’t get a response in 48 hours, feel free to email me.

New website features

I’m happy to announce two new exciting features on our website today.

  1. Evaluate your progress against your peers. The next time you log in, you’ll be prompted to select your exam date. Once you do this, you’ll be able to see how many other people have completed various lessons in the online seminar.

  2. Flag lessons for follow-up. Because the syllabus is so large, I always encourage people to keep moving, especially during the first couple of passes over the material. One way to help keep yourself moving is to flag lessons that you struggle with so you can come back to them later. You can now do this right on the website. You’ll see a flag icon next to each lesson. You can also also filter the lesson view to show only flagged lessons – making it easy to review them later.