Information for employers

Mentoring

Students can benefit from the support and supervision of a qualified actuary, if this actuary can give sufficient time and effort.

Tuition

Most employers rely on outside sources of tuition. Please discuss with your students any needs for separate internal tuition or mentoring, if you are able to provide this.

Examinations

Please discuss with each student the order in which they will take the exams, and how many they will take at any one time. This is to ensure they are not too stretched or working below capacity. Please take into account any other commitments they may have, in and out of the workplace. You could discuss these as part of a mentoring scheme.

Retakers

It is common to reduce study leave following repeated examination failure. However, please consider giving a reasonable level of support to retaking students who have failed an exam only once.

Consistency

Please try to ensure you adopt consistent policies across different departments.

Study leave

The actual amount of time each student needs to spend on a particular subject will vary. Quality of study time is far more important than quantity. However, we suggest the following guidelines:

• Core technical subjects (CT1-CT8) - between 125 and 150 hours depending on the subject and an individual student's past educational background in the subject
• Business awareness module (CT9) - at least 20 hours plus two day practical exam
• Actuarial risk management (CA1) - 400 hours
• Model documentation, analysis and reporting (CA2) - 50 hours
• Communications (CA3) - 50 hours plus two day practical exam
• Specialist technical subjects - 200 hours
• Specialist applications subjects - 300 hours
• Specialist applications subjects, taken with UK practice modules - 320 hours.

A reasonable workload for any one study session from September to April might be:

• three core technical subjects
• Actuarial risk management
• two specialist technical subjects
• one specialist technical subject and the chosen specialist applications subject with the relevant UK practice module
• some other comparable combinatio.

The study session from May to September is shorter and so it may be difficult for a student to study at the same rate. A student who studis every session with no failures could be expected to attain Associateship within two years and Fellowship within three years.

Order of study

There is no formal requirement relating to the order in which exams are taken. However, we recommend the core technical subjects are at least studied, even if not passed, before a student attempts the core applications, specialist technical and specialist applications subjects. These later subjects build upon material taught in the core technical subjects.

Practical experience

We expect a practical approach in all subjects. While we don't demand evidence of practical experience, it may help the candidate. However we do expect breadth of knowledge and evidence of judgement of candidates taking the specialist applications subjects.

Students with special circumstances

Students with disabilities may require special consideration when planning their study support. We make special facilities available for students with disabilities such as RSI, dyslexia, sight impairment, long-term injury etc. They will need to provide us with medical evidence the first time they require special facilities, and at exam sittings. We reserve the right to ask for further medical information at appropriate intervals.

Encouragement

Please show an interest in your students' progress and encourage a positive approach to the exams, offering moral and financial support. Students tend to perform better in a culture where both they and their employers expect success.

Pay

Most employers link pay increases to both exam success and job performance. Please bear in mind that good performance in one may be at the expense of the other.