Associate qualification

Do you want to apply the quantitative actuarial toolkit to management problems? If so, becoming an Associate of the Profession could be the right move for you. To recognise the changing demands of employers and the financial sector, the Profession is relaunching the Associate qualification, as a career platform in its own right and as the foundation towards a more specialised role as a Fellow. More than 1,000 people are eligible to become Associates and you could be one of them.

• More details

Careers

The academic Spring Term is the most popular time for careers events in schools. Each year the Profession attends the largest UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) fairs in the UK. Caroline Henderson-Brown will attend the UCAS schools fair in Manchester with student actuaries, where upwards of 18,000 school students visit over two days. Also, we will be attending fairs in Bath, Birmingham, Glasgow and London. If you are interested in representing the Profession at one of these events then please contact Caroline at careers@actuaries.org.uk

Examination News

Examination entries Examination entries for the April session are progressing well with the overseas closing date having passed. Over one thousand entries have been made via the Online Examination Entry Programme which is most encouraging. We are now gathering momentum for the printing and despatch of stationery, firstly to the 100 overseas centres followed by the UK centres. Entry permits for overseas students are despatched via the centre, and UK entry permits are sent from Napier House directly to students. UK entry permits will be despatched ten days before the start of the examinations.

The Examinations Team wish each and every one of you all the best in your forthcoming examinations.

2007 examination dates

April 2007 

September 2007 

Examination results for the 2007 examinations

Incident during the examinations

During the examination marking process a possible incident of cheating was noted. The Profession takes these incidents very seriously and discussions with the Board of Examiners led to this incident being reported to the disciplinary team who are currently investigating the matter further.

CT4 and CA1 examinations – special overseas rates

Now that the transitional period for the new education strategy has ended, a decision has been taken to allow students two further attempts at the special overseas rate for subjects CT4 and CA1.

In order to maintain a smooth transition, both from an administrative point of view and to assist students, we are extending this offer to all students sitting these examinations regardless of the number of attempts they may have had previously. We appreciate that some students may have been required to pay the full rate for an attempt prior to this but we hope that this decision will benefit the vast majority of students.

NUS Student Card

We have successfully negotiated eligibility for students of the Profession for Student NUS Cards and hopefully you are enjoying the benefits of this. If you haven’t applied yet then please visit the NUS website for details of how to apply.

Oyster Card

We would like to advise that we cannot offer a discount on the Oyster Card as we do not fall into the scheme criteria.

Student Consultative Committee

The next meeting of the Student Consultative Committee will be on 1 June 2007. Agenda items for discussion are needed by 24 May 2007. If you have any issues you want raised please let your local representative know.

Committee members are as follows:

Please use this forum to have your concerns aired, as we need to be aware of student views on strategy, tuition, examinations and other related topics.

Work-based skills

All new students receive information regarding Work-Based Skills from the admissions team when they join. Over 4000 students have joined the Profession since Work-Based Skills was introduced in July 2004. Please complete the supervisor form. Once this is received at Napier House, review questions are sent to nominated supervisor. Students can then meet with their supervisor and be in a position to start the Work-Based Skills process and begin completing their learning log. You are welcome to submit learning logs on either a six monthly or annual basis for review. Feedback will be given on all logs submitted. Learning Logs can be e-mailed or posted – the e-mail address is: wbs@actuaries.org.uk

The postal address is:

The Actuarial Profession
Napier House
4 Worcester Street
OXFORD
OX1 2AW

If for any reason you are unable to complete your learning log or have a query please e-mail us at wbs@actuaries.org.uk

Modelling (CA2)

Results

Students are reminded that the results from each Modelling Module will be published on the website as soon as they are available and results letters will be posted at the same time. On average this will occur six weeks after the course but timing will depend on the volume of scripts which need to be assessed.

Whilst the pass rate continues to be high, the reasons for failure include:

• Omitting details of what has been done in the audit trail, making the spreadsheet difficult to follow
• Omitting explanations and results in the summary, often with weak conclusions, making the summary incomplete
• Using poor spreadsheet techniques such as "copying and pasting" data, "hard coding" parameters and doing calculations manually

Courses

The demand for courses continues to be high and we have arranged more dates – please see the modelling pages for details.

For students based overseas we have set up an online Distance Learning version of the course for those who cannot attend a face-to-face course. We ran online examinations in December 2006 and March 2007 and more dates will be announced soon. Please see the distance learning modelling pages for details.

Business Awareness Module (CT9)

Post-course online test

Since November 2006, students who fail the online test have had to wait four weeks before being allowed to retake the test. This has resulted in the first time pass rate increasing from 60% to over 80%.

A small number of students who attended the course in May and June 2006 have still not attempted the test. We recommend that students take the test as soon as it becomes available, namely two weeks after the end of the course.

Accreditation arrangements for universities

Under the Profession's new accreditation arrangements for universities, the following courses have been granted accredited status for the subjects indicated.

MSc in Actuarial Finance offered by Tanaka Business School, Imperial College
This two year part time MSc can lead to exemptions from CT2, CT7–8, CA1, CA3 and ST2–6.

BSc in Actuarial Science, Cass Business School
This full time three year programme can lead to exemptions from CT1–CT8. It is also offered on a part time basis.

Diploma/MSc in Actuarial Science, Cass Business School
This full time one year programme can lead to exemptions from up to eight of the subjects CT1–CT8. It is also offered on a part time basis.

Diploma/MSc in Actuarial Management, Cass Business School
This full time one year programme can lead to exemptions from CA1 and any two of the six ST subjects.

MSc in Actuarial Science, Leicester University
This part time distance learning programme can lead to exemptions from CT1–CT8.

Further details of these courses can be found on the universities’ websites.

Contacting us

To contact us, the following should help you:

Hours of business are: Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.00pm.