Knowing how to BS is a communication skill, and what will really make you stand out is being able to think quickly and turn any question into something that effectively communicates the idea that the organization will benefit from hiring you. It does, however, take a certain type of personality. Actuaries tend to be perfectionists. You need to be able to find enjoyment in working very hard to achieve a goal.
If you are very good at math and communication and are willing to put in the effort, the actuarial profession could be the perfect challenge. If you are reading this manual, you probably fit the necessary criteria.
But why be an actuary rather than an engineer, a doctor, or a lawyer? The actuarial profession provides much steadier work hours than doctors, many lawyers, and probably many engineers. Life after college will be different than you expect. With any job after college, life is going to change.
After erratic sleep schedules, homework assignments, and different classes every four months, routine and repetition can be disconcerting.
Whatever you end up doing, you are going to have to make some unpredictable adjustments. Finding the perfect profession can be frightening and confusing. You should constantly be asking yourself how you feel about the possibilities you are considering. Always be open to discovering a different way of enjoying the world.
We all grow up mocking our parents for drinking tea and listening to Beethoven, but with an open mind we can eventually uncover what it is that others have found so enjoyable. Actuaries spend a lot of time at computers, at least for the first few years. They have to take many difficult exams, and especially when things like marriages, kids, or family problems show up, exams combined with the job can be stressful.
However, few careers will challenge your intellect constantly, surround you with friendly and intelligent people, provide a comfortable working environment, and compensate you so well for it.
The actuarial profession has consistently been ranked as one of the top jobs by most major surveys for the past few years—there is a reason that many actuaries are happy. Brief as it was, the information in these 20 pages took a few years to come to understand. We truly hope that this guide will allow you to get a good running start at becoming an actuary. The University of Colorado is an incredible place to earn a degree, but makes becoming an actuary more difficult than a university with a full actuarial science major.
However, independent thinking will carry you very far in life, and the individual effort that you put into progressing through the exam process will undoubtedly be noticed by employers—not only that, but you will learn many things that you otherwise might have missed out on. The challenge of becoming an actuary has been incredibly rewarding, and we wish you the best in finding the same satisfaction with your college experience and future career. After graduating from high school, I spent a year at the Colorado School of Mines.
Engineering was not my thing, so I transferred to CU and spent the next four years in philosophy and applied math courses.
During college, I engaged in several extracurricular activities, considered being a lawyer for a little while, and spent two and a half years as president of the CU Philosophy Club. I graduated from the University of Colorado in May with a B. Currently, I am incredibly excited about the actuarial profession, perhaps even too excited, and hope to spend at least the first few years out of college working in retirement and benefits.
I spent my childhood and high school years in Rogers, Arkansas and graduated with the intention of attending college in the great state of Colorado. I quickly discovered my dislike for solving engineering problems and just as quickly turned to the economics and business fields for other options.
I graduated in May with a B. Before college, I held typical summer jobs as a wood preserver and cleaner, and as a shuttle driver for a car rental company. As for the immediate future, I will continue to pursue the A. Search Enter the terms you wish to search for. Other ways to search: Events Calendar Campus Map. Studies Manual. Starting Off Instead of attending three years of law school, or six to eight years of medical school, actuaries take exams while working. Here are a few reasons why taking these exams is such a good deal these are true for most companies : Salary increases for each exam passed, and for reaching A.
The Preliminary Exams Now, on to the important stuff: the exams themselves. Exam P The first exam though you are allowed to take them in any order you choose covers probability. Univariate Probability Distributions binomial, geometric, Poisson, exponential, etc. Multivariate Probability Distributions joint probability functions, moments, the Central Limit Theorem, etc. Exam FM The second exam is a 3-hour, question exam and covers Financial Mathematics—specifically interest theory, annuities, loans, bonds, immunization, and an introductory look at financial derivatives.
You never have class. Your classmates are some of the top analytical minds in the world. There is only one exam. The class is only offered [twice] a year. Repeat that very same process 10 times. Study Advice As we said before, the goal is to be over-prepared when you take the exam. If you apply even a few of the following suggestions to your study schedule, your chances of passing will increase significantly: Start weeks before the exam.
This will allow you to study a more comfortable 20 hours per week. Try to understand every detail your first time through. If you keep some of the ideas in your mind as you go about your daily activities, you will be surprised at how much better you remember them. Keep track of problems that you had difficulty with and write down why you found them difficult and what you learned so that you can redo them once you finish the manual. As you go through the material, keep a running sheet of equations and things you will need to know.
They add up, and this will help you keep track. After every two weeks of studying, set aside hours to go back and do a few difficult problems from each previous section. The repetition will drill the information into your brain. Try to finish the manual with weeks left. Spend a couple weeks reviewing each section and doing problems. For the last month, take many practice exams.
Practice, practice, practice doing problems. This is where you truly prepare yourself. Try to be prepared to take the exam with a week or so left.
Get adequate sleep and eat well the few days before the exam. Take at least the afternoon off before the exam; clear your mind and relax, knowing that you are ready to pass. ECON Econometrics 3 cr. Resumes and Cover Letters When applying online to companies, the first thing that HR or the email recipient will see will be your cover letter and your resume.
Resumes When it comes to getting an internship or a job, the first thing that you absolutely need to do well is to construct a good resume. First, keep the presentation simple and not too wordy, and try to keep it to one page early on. Start off with your name, address, and phone number this might be obvious , but after that you want to organize the information in order of importance.
Often, the first thing a company will consider is the reputation of your college, your major, and your GPA. Thus, put this information first, perhaps bolding information such as a strong GPA, major, or minor.
Early in your college career, you can also put a little bit about your high school GPA and achievements after your college information. Next, it is highly suggested that you display your progress with the exams. It would also be useful to mention that you will have completed your VEEs when you graduate, if that happens to be the case.
After your exams, put any significant coursework and skills that you have developed that might be relevant to the profession you seek.
Experience with any type of computing program such as Matlab or Mathematica is useful, because it signifies that you are capable of constructing things such as loops and other basic algorithms.
In the actuarial profession, you will be working extensively with Microsoft Excel, a little bit with Microsoft Access, and also quite a bit with whatever proprietary software the company uses. After expressing your skills, display any relevant work experience, or any jobs that helped you to develop any important skills such as leadership or communication.
If you happened to have an internship in the actuarial field, it may be wise to place information about this internship directly below your exam information. Finally, display any honors you have received, and then any extracurricular activities such as intramural sports, clubs, newspaper writing, mentoring or tutoring, etc. As we said earlier, always be able to explain how each experience made you into a better candidate for the position.
Cover Letters A cover letter needs to be a concise and engaging explanation of why the organization wants to hire you for the particular position that you are applying for. You should try to split the cover letter up as follows: First paragraph: Describe the position you are applying for, and why you think the position is available.
Express an understanding of both the position and the company itself. Second paragraph and possibly third : This is where you sell yourself. Make sure that you back up any of your abilities with examples. Final paragraph: Use the last paragraph to request either a meeting or to be considered for an opportunity. Express your excitement and optimism about the position as well as for hearing back from them.
This paragraph should also be brief. How to Get an Internship Benefits of Internships An internship is a great way to gain experience and insight into the actuarial field. Getting an Internship By now you might be asking yourself how you can get in on this action.
These occur once per semester and consist of a panel of actuaries in the Denver area who come and talk about their experiences in the actuarial field. Typical topics include the actuarial exams, internships, and 14 different areas of actuarial science. These panels are fairly informal, but you should come dressed in business casual with five or six copies of your resume and cover letter. Contact the Applied Math department for the date and location of the actuarial open houses.
This information is also normally sent out by email to Applied Math majors, so be on the lookout for this great opportunity. This should take you to a pdf list of Denver companies who employ actuaries or offer internships. Check it out at: www.
Start talking to companies as early as possible in your college career. Above all else, if you can make and maintain a contact within an organization, your resume will quickly rise to the top of the pile next year.
Another reason the open houses are so useful is that they allow you to directly communicate with several representatives from different organizations.
This is significantly better than dealing with Human Resources or communicating solely by phone or email. When it comes to contacting a company, try to avoid contacting Human Resources at the company, as they will quickly make a college student looking for an internship a low priority.
Instead, go to the company website and try to find the contact information for an actuary at the company, and if possible, make it the chief actuary at the firm. They will likely have a secretary that will hang on to your resume and cover letter much longer than HR will.
Whatever you do, always call first and email second, never the other way around. A typical employee at a large company might go through about 50 emails a day, and it is very easy for your email to go unnoticed. Practice talking about yourself before the interview out loud so you can hear how you sound; this will also make the phone call easier.
Have your resume in front of you as the interviewer will likely have it in front of them as well. Have the company website pulled up so you can look through it in case of an emergency answer to a question, although you should already have read their website the day before the interview. Sometimes it helps to stand while doing the interview as this projects your voice more and increases confidence.
Extra Advice On top of simply answering questions and talking about yourself, you need to appear friendly and easy to talk to. Ben Davis June 1, How long does it take to study for exam FM? How long does it take to get exam P results? How do I start studying for exam p? How do I pass an actuary exam? How can I pass FM? What score do you need to pass actuary exam P?
How many questions are on the actuarial exam FM? Can actuaries make millions? How much does Exam FM cost? How many times can you fail actuarial exams? How many exams are there to be an actuary? What happens if I fail an actuarial exam? How many years of college does it take to be an actuary? Here are my recommended calculators.
Optional but recommended The Actuary Accelerator Community is a monthly subscription. The price will change over time so you can go here to see the current price. Exam FM is often the first actuarial exam I recommend anyone takes.
Ideally, you should start taking actuarial exams in your second year of college or university. I highly recommend you take Exam P or FM first. Most people take about 14 weeks to fully prepare. There are 35 questions on Exam FM and there is a 3 hour time limit, which means that you should answer each question in less than 5.
Of course, some questions are going to take longer than that and others will take less. It can be very dangerous to allow yourself to consistently go over 5. The amount of time it takes to study for Exam FM varies depending on the person. There are several factors to take into consideration, such as daily study time availability, familiarity with the study material, your study strategy and your ability to catch on to concepts.
But, due to all the factors stated above, it may not apply to you. You cannot register for Exam FM until about Sometimes exam centers fill up but you can check availability on the Prometric website.
To register for the exam, you can go here. And then IFM after that. You can go here to see the historical pass rates for all exams, including Exam FM. You can get my best studying tips and advice sent right to your inbox. Just add your email below. I respect your privacy. My best tips sent right to your inbox!
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