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Registration for the Business Awareness Module

To undertake the Business Awareness Module (Module), an application form for Subject CT9 must be completed and sent to: Business Awareness Module, The Actuarial Profession, Napier House, 4 Worcester Street, Oxford OX1 2AW.

The Profession recommends that the module should be undertaken within 18 months of you joining the Actuarial Profession. It may be undertaken any time after 6 months, and 15 months is regarded as ideal. Your employer must sign the application form to confirm that you are ready to take the module.

You will only be allowed to undertake the module within 6 months of joining at the discretion of the Profession, and if your employer confirms that you are ready.

The application form must arrive at Napier House at least 6 weeks before the start of the two-day course. Later entries will only be accepted if places are available.

Normally no more than six applicants from the same employer will be accepted for one particular course.

Pre-course online tutorials and reading material

On applying for the module, you will be sent confirmation of your course date and venue. A notification of codes that will enable the pre-course reading materials and online tutorials to be accessed will be sent out 8 weeks before the course starts. If you apply within 8 weeks of the course date notification of the codes will follow as soon as your place is confirmed.

Internet access with sound will be required to study the online tutorials.

You should allow 25-30 hours to study all the pre-course reading material.

The Registry will be able to monitor how often you access the online pre-course study material.

Two-day course

You will receive an attendance certificate for attending the two-day course. In order to qualify for a certificate, you will have to be actually present for all sessions of the course, and on time. The certificate will be presented at the end of the course.

If you are unable to attend the whole course, a letter of explanation must be sent to the Registrar at Napier House. A decision will be made on whether an attendance certificate may be awarded, or what action you must take in order to gain one.

If, in the opinion of the course presenters, you have not met the attendance requirements described above, the circumstances will be reported in writing to the Registrar. A decision will be made on whether the attendance certificate should be awarded to you or whether you will be required to re-take the whole, or any part of, the course.

If you have to cancel your course, a revised booking may be made subject to an administration charge. Details of the cancellation policy can be found on the application form.

The Profession reserves the right to cancel any particular course for any reason not less than 10 working days before the start date of the course. The most likely reason will be because an insufficient number of students has booked. You will then need to choose another date, for which there would be no additional cost to you.

Post-course online exam

The online exam will be available two weeks after the course finishes.

The Profession recommends that the online exam should be taken within 2 to 4 weeks after the course.

The exam is not timed but should take less than two hours to complete.

You are required to take the exam without assistance from another person. The assessment regulations of the Profession apply except that you may refer to any of the material covered during the course.

The exam may be taken on any computer convenient to you, e.g. on company premises (subject to employer approval, where applicable), at home, at someone else’s home, or at an internet café. Internet access with sound will not be required for the exam, only for the tutorials.

The exam will be available on the same website as the online pre-course tutorials.

You will be advised online whether you have passed or failed the exam, immediately after completing it.

If the exam is failed it may be retaken four weeks later, or at any later date within 18 months of the original provision of codes, at no additional cost. You may take the exam as many times as necessary in order to pass it.

You should be aware that access to the online legal material will expire six months after the provision of codes to access it.

The Registry will be able to monitor how many times a student takes the exam before passing it but this will only be used for generic management information purposes.

Final completion of the module

Completion of the module is achieved once you have received an attendance certificate for the course and have passed the online exam.

A pass list for the module will be published on the 1st of each month, unless this falls on a weekend when it will be published on the following Monday. You must have passed the exam on or before the 25th of the month to be included in that month's pass list.

If you have not completed the module successfully within 18 months of being given the access codes, it will be necessary to discuss the situation with the Registrar. This could result in an additional fee becoming payable.