I always like to rest the day before the exam. I might flip through the summary sheets a couple of times, but nothing more. I definitely recommend going to bed early. It is likely to take you longer than usual to go to sleep so it helps to get into bed 30 minutes to an hour early. IMO, the worst thing you can do is stay up all night studying. You will likely be tired so the studying won’t be too effective and it could cause you to be tired on exam day too.
On exam day there will be a handful of people with their notes cramming right before the exam. I always thought this was silly. If you don’t know it by the morning of the exam, then you are not going to know it. Plus there is always a chance that you will confuse yourself of something that you do know. I strongly recommend against cramming the morning of the exam.
During the exam try to relax and stay positive. If you have studied hard enough, then it is very likely that you know how to work enough problems to pass. The key is finding those problems you know how to work and getting them right.
Exam Tips
Good luck tomorrow! Two last bits of advice.
1. Stay calm during the exam. There is going to be a couple of problems that trip you up. Don’t let them get you down or ruin your confidence.
2. Relax tonight. The worst thing you can do is stay up all night cramming. Get a good night rest. If you don’t know it by now, then you are unlikely to know it well enough to get a question right.
Exam Tips
I always like to rest the day before the exam. I might flip through the summary sheets a couple of times, but nothing more. I definitely recommend going to bed early. It is likely to take you longer than usual to go to sleep so it helps to get into bed 30 minutes to an hour early. IMO, the worst thing you can do is stay up all night studying. You will likely be tired so the studying won’t be too effective and it could cause you to be tired on exam day too.
On exam day there will be a handful of people with their notes cramming right before the exam. I always thought this was silly. If you don’t know it by the morning of the exam, then you are not going to know it. Plus there is always a chance that you will confuse yourself of something that you do know. I strongly recommend against cramming the morning of the exam.
During the exam try to relax and stay positive. If you have studied hard enough, then it is very likely that you know how to work enough problems to pass. The key is finding those problems you know how to work and getting them right.
Exam Tips
Please see my previous blog post for some test taking tips:
here
Exam Tips
The first sample quiz is available. I’m calling these quizzes because they only have 10 problems. These are original problems created by Dave and myself. I think the life contingency portions of the exam might have turned out a little harder than I anticipated. I would love to hear your feedback on the difficulty of the practice quiz. I hope to make 2 more of these, but I’m not making any guarantees.
MLC students can find their quiz here under Sample Exams > TIA Practice Quizzes > Sample Quiz #1.
3L students can find their quiz here under Sample Exams > TIA Practice Quizzes > Sample Quiz #1.
Problems 4-10 are the same for both MLC and 3L so it is very likely that most of these questions are harder than 3L students should expect on exam day.
It is certainly possible that the quiz contains a defective question. Make sure you treat it like a real exam and don’t let a defective question consume your time. Answer it the best you can and move on.
Exam Tips, Updates
There are 12 sample exams ready for you now. These are all from old CAS and SOA published exams since 2005. I left these out of the problem sets so that you could use them as sample exams.
IMO they make the best sample exams since they were actually exams. Also you can compare your score to the actual (or estimated) pass mark to get an idea of how you faired. Please note that if you are taking MLC that the CAS exams are considered by most to be a good bit easier for the Life Contingency problems. So don’t get a false sense of security if you score really high on the old CAS exams.
If you are taking 3L then go here for the sample exams:
http://www.theinfiniteactuary.com/?page=exams&id=147
If you are taking MLC then go here for the sample exams:
http://www.theinfiniteactuary.com/?page=exams&id=146
Please note that the Stats problems for exams 8-11 are missing on the detailed solutions. Dave Revelle is working on these now and I’ll post them in the next week or so.
Detailed solutions for all of exam 12 is missing. I’ll post them in the next week or so.
I will also be creating 1 original practice exam, but I don’t expect that to be ready for another 2 weeks or so.
Since you will have 13 practice exams and 3 – 4 weeks before you exam (3 weeks for 3L and 4 weeks for MLC) then I recommend doing 3 – 5 practice exams each week.
Exam Tips, Updates
In my opinion, the difference b/w a pass and a fail can often come down to test taking strategy. If you don’t have a good strategy, then you are a serious disadvantage. The first thing to realize is that all questions count the same. That means answering the easiest question correctly on the exam is worth just as much as answering the hardest question on the exam. For that reason, it is imperative that you get to attempt every problem on the exam. You must not run out of time and force yourself to guess on any questions without first having a chance to devote a few minutes to solving them.
What does this mean? You must be willing to skip a problem. If you read a problem and don’t have a clear picture in your mind of how to solve it, then skip it. If you read a problem and you are confused on the wording of even a single sentence, then skip it. If you read a problem, but can’t think of an elegant solution and the one you have outlined in your head is a long a tedious one, then skip it. If you start to get frustrated with a problem, then skip it. Please do not be scared to skip a problem. You are not required to work them in order.
The key to passing the exam is getting all the questions you know how to do right. If you spend 10-20 minutes working on a problem that you likely wouldn’t get even if you had 30-45 minutes, then you made a huge strategical error. That means you have less time to devote to problems that you do know how to work. You will be rushed on the easy problems and could make a careless mistake b/c of it. Don’t fall into that trap.
When the proctor tells you there is 15 minutes remaining make, stop whatever you are doing and make sure you have an answer bubbled for every problem. There is no penalty for guessing and you do not want to find yourself with one minute and stressing over if you have everything bubbled in. (For 3L students I believe there is a guessing penalty, so at this point just make sure you have something bubbled for every problem you want to answer.)
Bring at least one extra calculator. Make sure it is the same model as your other calculator. You would hate to have to switch calculators and be unfamiliar with the 2nd calculator.
Exam Tips
Good luck tomorrow! Two last bits of advice.
1. Stay calm during the exam. There is going to be a couple of problems that trip you up. Don’t let them get you down or ruin your confidence.
2. Relax tonight. The worst thing you can do is stay up all night cramming. Get a good night rest. If you don’t know it by now, then you are unlikely to know it well enough to get a question right.
Exam Tips
I recommend focusing on the published exams that I left out of the problem sets. In other words, the exams released since the Spring 2005. I would review the key concepts every night (those are the “formula sheets” I posted).
If a particular topic is giving you a lot trouble, then I would NOT spend too much time on it now. Instead I would focus on the basics of that topic and review the stuff you know well. During this last week you should be reviewing all the concepts instead of focusing on 1-2 topics.
I think the best approach is to work as many problems as possible during this last week. Just make sure you working a good mix of problems from different sections of the material. If you tackle the recently published exams that should provide a good mix. You might want to throw in a couple of contingent probability and insurance problems here and there.
Exam Tips
I always like to rest the day before the exam. I might flip through the summary sheets a couple of times, but nothing more. I definitely recommend going to bed early. It is likely to take you longer than usual to go to sleep so it helps to get into bed 30 minutes to an hour early. IMO, the worst thing you can do is stay up all night studying. You will likely be tired so the studying won’t be too effective and it could cause you to be tired on exam day too.
On exam day there will be a handful of people with their notes cramming right before the exam. I always thought this was silly. If you don’t know it by the morning of the exam, then you are not going to know it. Plus there is always a chance that you will confuse yourself of something that you do know. I strongly recommend against cramming the morning of the exam.
During the exam try to relax and stay positive. If you have studied hard enough, then it is very likely that you know how to work enough problems to pass. The key is finding those problems you know how to work and getting them right.
Good luck!
Exam Tips