Around this time, I often get asked a question from many students — what is the best way to prepare the month before the exam?

Here’s some advice of things you want to do in the month before the exam:

• Review – make sure to take advantage of the review tab of the seminar. This includes going through all review videos (technical and non-technical) and also going through the “Exam Day Checklist and FAQ”, which will teach you the 3 minute per point strategy. Additionally, make sure to read the Supplemental FAQ DSG in the Detailed Study Guide tab of the seminar.
• Practice Time Management and Writing – if you haven’t already, start timing yourself when working through past exam problems. Practice writing for long periods of time — you want to be prepared for writing for 5 hours on exam day!
• Formula Sheet – print out the formula sheet and start getting familiar with it! To confirm, you will be given it on exam day.
• 2nd Pass – try to make a 2nd pass through the syllabus if you have time. It can be a quicker review, but I’ve found for myself and many others, going through the syllabus a second time is a great way to review and solidify your knowledge of the material.
• Past SOA Problems – there’s no doubt that working practice problems is a great way to solidify your knowledge. But,  I wanted to add my personal take here and some caveats that it’s very likely we will see questions on topics not covered by past SOA exams, especially because the QFI Quant exam is new! Therefore, while working past exam problems is important, keep in mind having a broad understanding of the syllabus and going through a 2nd pass is a great way to make sure you have a well-rounded understanding of the syllabus. When you do work exam problems, make sure it’s under as close as possible to exam day conditions (i.e. time yourself!). Also, past SOA exams unfortunately do have numerous errors — solutions are not perfect, and try not to let this get you too frustrated or bogged down.
• Chin Practice Problems – I do HIGHLY recommend working through these, because the SOA tends to pull exam questions from the recommended problems on the syllabus
• TIA Practice Problems – the practice tab of the seminar has lots of ways to solidify your knowledge. Try the 110 exam level questions with solutions, the drill problems, and also the problem sets in the practice tab for the MFD textbook and QFI-109. If you are in a time crunch, it is ok to do something like odds only, evens only, etc.
• Quality Study Time – watch the review video on active learning, and make sure you are focused during your study time. Try to minimize distractions (TV, social media, etc.)
• Breathe – FSA exams require tremendous effort, and it’s perfectly normal to feel stressed. Try to keep a positive attitude and not get discouraged.

Good luck on the exam!