I wanted to share my progress so students can see what it takes to get through the exam process. I’ve failed plenty of times, and each one felt like a knife to the gut, but this is absolutely normal and I hope students can see that your life isn’t over when it happens. I would consider my progress to be average (my speed index is about 50% from actuarial-lookup.com). I’ve also added a few notes about my preparation, and some afterthoughts.

Note I didn’t include the small exams/modules because they were completed through coursework or in between the big ones. They can be done flexibly (many options and available year round) so I didn’t bother to write about them.

January 2013 – Exam P (Passed)

Preparation Material: Actex, ASM, Guo Yufeng’s manual, released questions
Preparation Time: 200 hours
Thoughts: I thought it was a miracle I passed, but it felt great anyway.

August 2013 – Exam FM (Failed)

Preparation Material: ASM manual, released questions
Preparation Time: 200 hours
Thoughts: Everyone said this was the easiest exam so I didn’t study hard enough for it. What they really meant was this had the easiest material. The exam is still tricky.

December 2013 – Exam FM (Failed)

Preparation Material: ASM manual, released questions
Preparation Time: 100 hours
Thoughts: I was really frustrated and disappointed. Reason I failed again was because I didn’t change my study method. Even the proctor recognized me and said “again?” >_>

February 2014 – Exam FM (Passed)

Preparation Material: ADAPT, released questions
Preparation Time: 200 hours
Thoughts: Buckled down and bought ADAPT, finally passing with a 9. It was an unhappy victory.

November 2014 – Exam MFE (Passed)

Preparation Material: ADAPT, released questions
Preparation Time: 300 hours
Thoughts: Passed the exam without really using any material. I felt pretty confident going in because ADAPT matched the actual question format very well.

April 2015 – Exam MLC (Failed)

Preparation Material: ADAPT, ASM, released questions
Preparation Time: 300 hours
Thoughts: My worst exam attempt ever. The new writing format destroyed me and I was inadequately prepared. Also my first exam taken after starting work. Worst part is I got caught in the Exam S transition because of this failure. Kind of glad I ended up on the CAS side so I didn’t ever have to see this beast again. This is the hardest prelim in my opinion.

October 2015 – Exam C (Failed)

Preparation Material: TIA, ADAPT, released questions
Preparation Time: 300 hours
Thoughts: I was really close to passing this attempt. Felt like if I had one more week to study I would’ve reviewed and remembered how to do the exponential kernel and pass. Work got in the way of studying, but by now failure is just a fact of life.

February 2016 – Exam C (Passed)

Preparation Material: TIA, ADAPT, released questions
Preparation Time: 200 hours
Thoughts: Boom did it, though I should’ve passed last time if I gave myself an extra 50 hours. It’s a hefty exam that required some deep understanding, and it felt like a bigger, harder version of P. Just make sure to give yourself enough time to get through the material thoroughly.

May 2016 – Exam S (Passed)

Preparation Material: Mahler. I love you Mahler.
Preparation Time: 250
Thoughts: This was only the second sitting for this exam, and I was absolutely scared to death with the amount of material on the syllabus. There are like nine distinct topics, and I was also angry I had to redo the time series portion that I completed in school already. Only gave myself 2 months to study from start to finish, so I was pretty much on the verge of a heart attack when I opened the exam booklet in front of me.

October 2016 – Exam 5 (Passed)

Preparation Material: TIA
Preparation Time: 300 hours
Thoughts: This was the most difficult studying period I had to endure because the timing of my projects at work were very unfavorable. 1/3 of the syllabus material was stuff I was familiar with from work already so I (foolishly) felt ok starting my studying late. When the projects came around, it was pretty much GG. In the end I barely finished getting through the material with half a week to go and only completed 2 or 3 practice exams. Comeback win!

May 2016 – Exam 6 (Sitting)

Preparation Material: TIA
Preparation Time: n/a
Thoughts: At the start of your journey, you thought Exam P was the hardest exam you’ve ever taken in your life? Welp, that was just an intro to what would come. Dang Exam MLC is sooo complex? HA! ENTER EXAM C with 4x the material and depth. WHOA. EXAM S JUST CAME OUTTA THE GROUND AND SWALLOWED EXAM C WHOLE…

***OVERLORD HELL MUSIC***

w-WHAT IS THAT??!?!

***THE CLOUDS PART THE SKY***

?!?!?!??!?!??!?!??!?!?!??!?!??!?

***THE EARTH CRUMBLES BENEAT YOUR FEET***

No………..

***ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE***

That’s………..

EXAM 666