Three hour exams
These exams (which are also known as the session based exams) are held in April and in September/October each year. They come in four stages.
Core technical
In this stage there are nine subjects, and you need to pass or be exempted from all of these. The subjects listed below are examined by three hour exams. In addition you will need to take the practical subject CT9 Business awareness.
Core applications
This stage covers actuarial concepts. For CA1 Actuarial risk management, you will take two three-hour long papers, and the marks are added together to give a single mark. You need to pass or be exempt from this, as well as the two other separate practical exams at this stage.
| CA1 Actuarial risk management |
Specialist technical
There are nine Specialist technical subjects, and you need to pass or be exempt from two of the following:
| ST0 Alternative specialist technical (not examined*) | ST1 Health and care |
| ST2 Life insurance | ST3 General insurance (no longer available**) |
| ST4 Pensions and other benefits | ST5 Finance and investment A |
| ST6 Finance and investment B | ST7 General insurance: reserving and capital modelling |
| ST8 General insurance: pricing | ST9 Enterprise risk management |
*We award ST0 Alternative specialist technical if we exempt you from a Specialist technical examination because you have undertaken alternative study for a professional qualification, and gained that qualification.
**ST7, ST8 and ST9 were introduced for the 2010 examinations. If you've already sat ST3, and are taking ST7 and ST8 we have agreed some transitional arrangements.
Specialist applications
There are seven Specialist applications subjects and you need to pass one of the following:
| SA0 Research dissertation (not examined*) | SA1 Health and care |
| SA2 Life insurance | SA3 General insurance |
| SA4 Pensions and other benefits | SA5 Finance |
| SA6 Investment |
The Specialist applications subjects typically assume knowledge of the corresponding Specialist technical subjects, though you don't necessarily need to have passed one to take the other.
*We award SA0 Research dissertation if we exempt you from a Specialist application examination because you have undertaken a research dissertation as alternative study. You will need to discuss this with us before you embark on a dissertation. Dissertations written as part of previous study are not eligible.