Online exam version of Subject CT9 Business awareness
The Business awareness online exam has been designed to help those joining the Actuarial Profession to understand:
- the business environment they are working in, including the related challenges
- how to tackle business related problems
- their professional responsibilities
- the legal principles relevant to the work of actuaries
The online exam is intended for students living in countries where a face to face practical exam is unavailable.
This exam involves students taking part in a ten day online business game, and submitting seven completed exercises. Students who take the online exam will be required to do advance study involving online tutorials, and also an online exam following the ten days.
The format of Business awareness
What does this subject cover?
The main content of this practical exam involves looking at:
- Industry developments and challenges - an overview covering all practice areas
- Strategic thinking - case studies and problem solving techniques
- Business game - supporting the learning objectives of the course
- Professionalism and ethics - principles and case studies
- Personal development - an overview of lifelong learning and work based skills
- Legal principles
Based on this you will need to do some advance study, which should take approximately 20 hours. This consists of:
- Online tutorials
- Reading material to prepare for the business game
- A case study to analyse on strategic thinking
It is essential that you carry out all the advance work.
By the end of the ten day business game students will submit their seven completed exercises.
The formal exam will be available to you on the Friday four weeks after completing the business game, and should take less than two hours to complete. You need to pass this exam in order to pass CT9, demonstrating that you understood the principles covered in the online tutorials and the business game.
Who must take the online exam and when?
In principle, students need not take the online exam until they are close to qualification as an Associate or Fellow, unless the actuarial society in the country where you work requires you to take it earlier.
This is different to the situation for UK based students who are expected to take the exam within 18 months of joining the Actuarial Profession, assuming they have relevant work experience.
Who can take the online exam?
The online exam has been provided for those students for whom it is not feasible to attend a face to face practical exam. Face to face exams are held in the UK, Ireland, and South Africa and students should attend these whenever possible. Exams are also held in India but we do not recognise these as an equivalent standard to our own and therefore students cannot gain an exemption from us after passing the Indian exam.
How frequently is the online exam run?
Following a review of the demand for the CT9 online exam, this will be run up to seven times in the year. The decision to run any exam will depend upon sufficient students registering and the Actuarial Profession reserves the right to cancel an exam should insufficient numbers apply.