Examination News

April 2007 examinations

Thank you to those students who completed a Comments form. Feedback given on these is extremely useful to the Examinations Team – some of the items raised, such as external noise, are often out of our hands but some of the other items raised we are able to actively pursue to make improvements for future sessions.

All Mitigating Circumstances that are submitted within the given timeframe are acknowledged and submitted to the relevant Examining Teams for consideration.

If at anytime you have concerns about the conduct of any of the examinations please let us know.

We hope that you found the examination administrative process ran smoothly, but your feedback is always welcome in order to help us to improve our service to you. Any feedback can be e-mailed to the Examinations Team.

Refund of examination entry fees

With effect from the April 2007 examinations a refund of examination entry fees will only be granted as follows:

• an administration fee of 20% is charged for all refunds made, in cases where you could not sit the examination because of a medical condition or bereavement
• it should be noted that refunds are only granted because of a medical condition or bereavement where supporting documentation is provided
• no refunds are given for Special Overseas Rate entries.

Further information regarding mitigating circumstances, refunds and special arrangements is available.

Online entry system

Thank you to all students who used the online entry system for the April 2007 examinations. Feedback given has proved useful in making changes for the next release which will be available from the end of June to all students for the September session.

Entry via the online systems ensures immediate registration, confirmation and receipt. To access this service, you must log in to the members’ section of the website and click on the link for "Exam Registration". To log in students require a username (their ARN) and a password (their date of birth in dd/mm/yyyy format).

In the "Exam Registration" section, you will need to go through the steps to select your examination entries and centre before confirming and paying for your entry. Payment can be made using a valid debit or credit card. Please note that the usual closing dates apply for this service.

The online entry service will be available from the end of June. We will still send out the examination entry forms in July, and they will also be available to download.

Receipts for the examination entry payments can be accessed from the members’ section after the transaction has been processed.

The online service will also be available for ASSA members.

Examination results

The examination results will be released as follows:

If you do not receive your results letter within seven working days for UK based students or 14 working days for overseas students please e-mail the Examinations Team for a copy. Please remember to quote your ARN and ensure the subject line clearly states the nature of your request.

Examination history

We have completed a major part of our on-going work in updating the examination history area. Your new updated examination history will be available after the final release of the April 2007 examination results.

September 2007 examination dates

Four attempts rule

After careful consideration by the Education and CPD Board it has been decided, with immediate effect, that the four attempts rule for CT subjects is no longer applicable.

Examination centres

Please note that Dublin and Guernsey are considered UK examination centres and the UK examination closing date applies to those students who wish to sit at either Dublin or Guernsey. This change in status to the Guernsey centre applies from September 2007.

Special arrangements

If you require Special Arrangements you will need to complete the Request for Special Arrangements forms and submit with your examination entry. Please note there is no reference to Special Arrangements on the Examination Entry form. The only examination centre that does not accommodate special arrangements is the London centre.

Calculators

With effect from the 2008 examinations copies of actuarial tables, including a list of standard formulae, will be available to candidates in the examination room. Candidates may use electronic calculators in all the examinations subject to the following conditions:

• Candidates must provide their own calculators
• The following calculators are permitted:
  • Casio FX85MS
  • Hewlett Packard HP9S
  • Hewlett Packard HP 12C Platinum
  • Sharp EL531WB
  • Texas Instruments BA II Plus
  • Texas Instruments TI-30XIIB
• Any stored data and/or stored program facilities must be cleared before the calculator is taken to the examination room.
• No extra time will be allowed for candidates who do not use calculators or whose calculators break down in the course of the examination.

Examinations dates from 2009 onwards

The examinations dates from 2009 onwards will be fixed as the last two full weeks in April and the last week in September/first week in October.

Specific dates for 2009 will be published on the website shortly.

Other News

Since the scheme started in July 2004, there are just over 4,000 students who need to undertake Work-Based Skills. So far only 1,200 students have returned a supervisor form giving details of their nominated supervisor. To date only about 400 students have submitted learning logs for review.

We are now coming to the end of the three year quality assurance period and are reviewing the scheme. Further details will be given in the next Education Noticeboard.

If you joined the Profession as a student after 30 June 2004, to be able to transfer to Class of Fellow not only do you need to have completed all your examinations but you also need to have completed all the criteria for Work-Based Skills. If you have not completed a supervisor form and returned this to us or informed us why you are deferring completion then you will not be able to enter for the April 2008 examinations.

If you need further assistance please contact wbs@actuaries.org.uk.

Core Reading

Whilst you are still studying for the September 2007 examinations it is worth noting that the Syllabus and Core Reading for the 2008 examinations is now available. This is the material the examiners use to set the 2008 examination papers and it is your responsibility to ensure that you are familiar with the material and in particular any changes from the 2007 material. A lack of knowledge of changes to the Syllabus and Core Reading cannot be used as a claim for mitigating circumstances, which we have seen from several students this session.

Business Awareness Module

Dates for 2008 will be released in July.

There is still availability on the following dates:

Modelling Module

At the annual review meeting we considered all of the feedback received from students, employers and assessors. As a result we have made a number of improvements to the course material. The main changes are:

• A worked example of a past examination assignment is now on the modelling pages.
• The session discussing what is needed to produce a good summary now has been developed to make this session more effective.
• A new session has been added to review aspects of "failed scripts" with (anonymised) examples from the recent past.
• The mandatory planning time in the examination has been reduced slightly to half an hour. Students’ scripts are now identified by ARN.

Students are reminded that the whole of this course is an assessment and that any inappropriate behaviour, including putting software onto the computers, or other misconduct, will be treated seriously and may result in expulsion.

Many more dates are now available for courses — please see the application form for details.

We have also set some more dates for the Distance Learning version which is intended for students who cannot attend a face-to-face course — please see the distance learning application form for details.

Student Oyster Cards

Only students in full time education – i.e. doing at least 15 hours of led tuition a week for at least 14 weeks are eligible.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants and other such professional bodies are no longer on the approved list as their students, similarly to ours, are in full time paid employment and therefore do not qualify. Only educational establishments are now included.

Student Handbook

This will be available on the website from 1 July 2007.

Misconduct during the examinations

Recently we have reported that any alleged cheating in the examinations is taken very seriously. The outcome of the disciplinary investigation into one such incident has been reported in the June edition of The Actuary magazine. While there have been very few cases of alleged cheating in examinations, anyone caught attempting to cheat will be risking their job and Professional membership.

Qualifying in 2007

Are you likely to qualify after taking an examination in September 2007 and want to appear as a 2007 qualifier? If you are, and either Work Experience or Work-Based Skills is applicable to you, then please note that there is a very tight deadline between the results release date and the end of year, which is when we need to have received your paperwork and sign it off. To ensure deadlines are met we would recommend you get your Work Experience/Work-Based Skills log signed off before the results are released.

If you need a Work Experience form these are available to download.