So ...

You Want to Know How to Pass

Actuarial Exams?
Advice from Krzys' Ostaszewski
Being an actuary is probably the best profession to have in the United States. You can
find information about the profession at the site: http://www.BeAnActuary.org, and the
web site of the Actuarial Program of Illinois State University:
http://www.IllinoisState.edu/actuary/. While this is a wonderful profession, candidates for
it must pass a series of very challenging professional examinations. Most candidates find
the experience of taking those examinations very frustrating and far more difficult than a
typical university-level class. There are several important reasons for this situation, and if
you want to pass actuarial examinations, you should consider them:

Follow the Money

Actuaries are responsible for massive amounts of other people's money. Billions of
dollars. It makes sense for actuarial examinations to have very high standards. And
actuaries are paid very well, while having prestigious, comfortable jobs, with low stress
levels, and no unemployment. There has to be a catch, and the catch is: it is hard, very
hard, to become a fully qualified professional actuary.

You Was Robbed

Despite massive spending on education in the United States, educational standards have
been lowered over time. If you went to high school in the United States, chances are you
did not study any physics or calculus while being there. Even at the university level,
where the United States remains the world leader, low standards in mathematics and
science are creeping in. You may have to face the reality that while massive amounts of
your own, your parents', and taxpayers' money were spent on your education, you did not
learn enough mathematics and science. If you want to be a respected actuarial
professional, you must have the maturity to face your own weaknesses and overcome
them. Learn to love studying mathematics and its business applications. Be hungry for
knowledge. This hunger will serve you well not just on the exams, but on the job, as well.

Welcome to the Real Life

Once you pass actuarial examinations, you will find that the rewards of actuarial work are
truly great and satisfying. There are other professions that offer great careers: medicine,
law, accounting. People who study those other professions work very hard and pay a lot
of money for their education. It takes far less money to become an actuary. But the
process is equally, or maybe even more so, serious. If you want to become an actuary,
you should never try to do the minimum amount of work needed just to pass. If your
objective were to become a doctor, would you study medicine this way? If a doctor
studied just barely enough to get a medical license, would you want that doctor to take
care of your child? Becoming an actuary is not just about getting a job. This is a
prominent, prestigious profession. Be very, very serious about it. The day you take an
actuarial examination should be as real in your mind as if you were a quarterback playing
in the Super Bowl, an athlete competing for a gold medal in the Olympics, a tennis player
in Wimbledon final, or the Yellow Jersey cyclist in the last stage of Tour de France.

Many actuarial students ask for trick and shortcuts to passing actuarial examinations. I
firmly believe there is only one trick/shortcut:

The BTDT Rule: When you are taking an actuarial

examination, you must be so well prepared that when
you read every problem on the test you say to
yourself: Been There Done That.
This means that when you are taking an actuarial examination and you read a problem,
you will immediately know how to do it. You will not derive any formulas: because you
have them all memorized, by having done hundreds of practice problems and having
reviewed your list of formulas for memorization daily. You will not think about a good
trick to solve a problem, because you have done all thinking during your preparation and
you immediately know what to do. You will be a mean lean problem solving machine.
You will prevail no matter how bad the exam is and no mater how bad of a day you have.

I work very hard to teach students at Illinois State University following the ideas
presented here. I believe our results speak for themselves, just look at this. If you want to
become our student, please contact our Office of Admissions. I have also authored study
manuals for the first three actuarial examinations and post free practice problems for
those examinations every week. Below is the information about these resources.

Course P/1 Examination: Probability

Course P/1 Seminar at Illinois State University
Information about the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1 Examination by
Krzysztof Ostaszewski
Purchase the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1 Examination by Krzysztof
Ostaszewski
Purchase the Supplement to the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1
Examination, containing three additional practice examinations
Purchase the 2nd Supplement to the ASM Study Manual for the Course P/1
Examination, containing three more practice examinations
Free weekly practice practice problem for exam P/1:
http://math.illinoisstate.edu/krzysio/3-12-5-KO-Exercise.pdf and then every week
following March 12, 2005, the date of that first practice problem posted, on every
Saturday, with the link adjusted for the date, i.e., 3-12-5-KO-Exercise.pdf for the first
problem, 3-19-5-KO-Exercise.pdf for the second problem, etc.

Course FM/2 Examination: Financial Mathematics

Course FM/2 Seminar at Illinois State University
Information about the Study Manual for the Course FM/2 Examination by
Krzysztof Ostaszewski
Purchase the Study Manual for the Course FM/2 Examination by Krzysztof
Ostaszewski
Free weekly practice practice problem for exam FM/2:
http://math.illinoisstate.edu/krzysio/KO-FM-Exercise1.pdf and the following
problems are posted with consecutive numbers, e.g., KO-FM-Exercise1.pdf, KO-FM-
Exercise2.pdf, KO-FM-Exercise3.pdf, etc.

Course MLC Examination: Actuarial Models, Life

Contingencies
Course MLC Seminar at Illinois State University
Information about the Study Manual for the Course MLC Examination by Ewa
Kubicka and Krzysztof Ostaszewski
Purchase the Study Manual for the Course MLC Examination by Ewa Kubicka and
Krzysztof Ostaszewski
Free weekly practice practice problem for exam MLC:
http://math.illinoisstate.edu/krzysio/KO-MLC-Exercise-4-21-7.pdf and then every
week following March 21, 2007, the date of that first practice problem posted, on every
Saturday, with the link adjusted for the date, i.e., KO-MLC-Exercise-4-21-7.pdf for the
first problem, KO-MLC-Exercise-4-28-7.pdf for the second problem, etc., but, once
every five weeks a Saturday is skipped.

When you use these study manuals, it is very, very important that you do more than
reading them, you should have paper and pen or pencil ready and reproduce all the work
done in them and make certain you understand every detail. Then you should take
practice exams in them, under time constraint and conditions just like during a real exam.
A score of 70% or better is what to need to pass. Once you are done with a practice exam,
you should study its solutions very carefully. Work very, very hard to make certain that
you understand everything. If you have questions about any of my manuals, you can e-
mail them to me at: krzysio@ilstu.edu.

All information contained here is, to our best knowledge, correct, but it is merely a representation, and should not be considered to be any form
of professional advice. This electronic publication should not be misconstrued as the official position of Illinois State University, or its
Department of Mathematics. We are glad to provide as much information as possible here, but we kindly ask that in any decision related to
matters listed here you seek additional counsel and information. Comments on this page are welcome and should be sent to Dr. Krzysztof
Ostaszewski at his e-mail address: krzysio@ilstu.edu.