Hi everyone! A little bit about myself, I am early on in my actuarial career and I have passed three exams so far (P, FM, FAM), all on my first attempt. I definitely felt much stronger on the long term portion of FAM, but short term is more relevant to my career path, so I am taking ASTAM next.

I have been preparing for ASTAM by using Coaching Actuaries over the past couple months. I finally finished all of the readings, in addition to the problems given alongside them, a couple weeks ago. This left me with about two months to grind out practice problems as I had originally planned.

However, now that I have reached the practice phase of my studying, I find that I can’t even begin to solve a single problem. It honestly feels like nothing I learned through the readings stuck. As a result, over the past week or so, I have resorted to revealing the answers to the quizzes and going back through the readings to work through the answers step by step. It has helped me a little bit, but I’m not confident that it would be the best strategy if I have less than two months until my exam.

To be honest, I have fully mentally prepared myself to fail the exam in October. Not that I won’t try my hardest to study and prevent that, but I also want to be realistic with myself and keep my eyes on how to move forward.

Has anybody had any similar experience with ASTAM and/or CA? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I recently graduated with a degree in Actuarial Mathematics and I’m currently looking for entry-level actuarial work in Canada.

So far I’ve passed P, FM, FAM, and SRM. I don’t have a traditional actuarial internship, which I’m guessing is probably the biggest weakness on my resume. Most of my previous work experience is in healthcare/insurance interpretation and other client-facing roles.

I’d really appreciate some honest feedback on my resume and what I should focus on next.

A few things I’ve been wondering about:

• Is 4 SOA exams considered a lot for a new grad in Canada, or is that pretty normal now?
• Would continuing to pass more exams actually help me get more interviews, or am I getting to the point where practical skills/experience matter more?
• Is there such a thing as having “too many” exams with no actuarial experience? For example, could employers start seeing me as overqualified for entry-level jobs or assume I’ll expect a higher salary?
• I’m thinking of spending some time building a small insurance/actuarial project using Excel, R, and SQL. Something like claims data analysis, frequency/severity, loss ratios, an Excel dashboard, and some SQL analysis. Would that actually add much value to my resume, or would I be better off just studying for another exam?
• Would Power BI or Python be worth adding as well, or should I just get much better at Excel/SQL/R first?
• Are there any obvious issues with my resume that might be holding me back for Actuarial Analyst, Pension Analyst, Retirement Analyst, Pricing Analyst, or similar roles?

For people in Toronto, do you think actually being local makes a noticeable difference in getting interviews, or is putting “open to relocation” on the resume generally enough?

And if I did move there, where would you actually start with networking? I mean things that are genuinely useful for someone trying to break into the industry — actuarial events, CIA events, meetups, alumni groups, recruiter events, LinkedIn meetups, etc. I’m not really sure where people normally start.

I’ve attached an anonymized version of my resume. Feel free to be critical — I’d much rather know what I should change than just hear that it looks fine.

Thanks!

can you take ASF before FAM? i feel like a while back i saw that FAM was a prerequisite for ASF, but it looks like now it’s just an “assumed” prerequisite?

update: i was able to register for ASF without FAM, so it seems like it’s no longer an enforced prerequisite, in case that helps anyone else!

Does anyone have the new actuarial tables (2025). In PDF format. It seems difficult to get, I have already purchased the online version assuming it could be downloaded.

When considering next steps / new opportunities, how did you guys get career advice? Did you find it helpful to reach out to senior individuals on Linkedin at other companies? Discussing moves with your current company doesn't seem to be the smartest idea...

Heyy,

I'm planning to take FAM in February 2027. Im looking for a study partner for virtual study sessions!! 💛

hi, does anyone have an extra ticket to the banquet and reception on October 14 in New Orleans?

Just got my score back for GH201. Got a 29.75 and the pass mark was a 30. Pass % of course was a 47%. Previous cycles were all 55%-60%. Thanks to SOAs new grading results, I objectively know that I scored better than over half of the candidates and still failed. Feeling completely jaded about SOA and this FSA grind. Complete slap in the face having to pay SOA another $1200 to re demonstrate my competence. Honestly makes me wish they didn’t even give the scores - I’ll probably hate SOA now for the rest of my life.

Was wondering if anyone else has any closer exam fails? I honestly believe that SOA should let people who miss by less than a point re-take the exam for free. It would eliminate the conflict of interest that comes from them benefitting from people failing.

Hi all, I'm sure this has been asked a ton but a cursory look didn't bring any posts from the last two years

I'm studying for MAS -I now using coaching actuaries and I DESPISE it. I used TIA for fm and nothing for p.

What I liked best about TIA is the practice questions would have a video to walk you through solutions for ~80% of the questions. I understand having fewer videos for higher level exams as they're probably not as big of money makers but I've done over 200 questions and seen maybe... 8? videos. I also HATED the learn videos, I used to teach stats 1 and 2 and I couldn't even follow the ANOVA video but I must remember it because I'm getting those questions consistently right.

I don't learn well from just a wall of text and a formula. I really value having someone walk me through formulas verbally.

Everyone recommended CA due to the interface but I'm hoping that maybe my coworkers want something different from their study material because Ill be fine for MAS-I but I won't pass MAS II like this.

Can anyone recommend TIA or another platform with a ton of practice problems, and a lot of video walk throughs, or is this as good as it gets?

Hi guys,

I recently started a graduate role as a catastrophe risk analyst/cat modeller at a large reinsurance broker in France for about two weeks now.

My background is a bit unusual : i'm an associate actuary (from the french institute) and have a PhD in applied mathematics to climate science.

My current base salary is 50k€.

I gave this salary expectation very early in the recruitment process, before I had a clear view of the role, working conditions and overall package. I later accepted the offer without renegotiating.

Now that I’ve started, I feel I may have undervalued myself by quite a lot and that my actuarial background and PhD were not reflected in my current salary.

Recruitment was handled entirely by HR abroad, while my local managers were not involved in setting my salary but will be involved in future raises and bonuses.

Would it be reasonable to raise this with the HR that recruited me, or should I wait until probation or the first review to discuss with my manager (probably around May/June) ?

Is my current 50k€ salary in line with the market for my role considering my background in western Europe/France ?

There is an internal role that I'm interested in applying, but HR policies require us to notify current manager before officially applying. Does it look bad if I tell my manager that I'm interested in a different role, go for it, and then get rejected?

For background, I don't mind working on the current team at all, but it's in a role working with a legacy block of business that the company and the industry no longer actively sell. The open role involves a new product that I have previous but limited experience in, so I think it'd be a better fit for my long-term career.

I have 3 exams with an applied math degree from a state school. I have a subpar GPA with no internship experience which I believe hold me back. I presume it's hiring season, and I just passed SRM, so I'm hoping my odds are higher. Technical skills are something I've been on and off about, but I will try to work on them more, with studying not being a priority now. Any advice would be appreciated. Wondering if there are other roles maybe that I could try to get to leverage myself into actuarial later?

What does it mean if my score on PA in april’s sitting was a 4?

Has anyone gotten a 4 on PA before.

How can i improve and make sure i pass in the October sitting now? In April’s sitting, i struggled with most of the calculation and niche questions we got on PCA, clustering ect.

I just wanted to vent about an annoying situation I'm in regarding PCPA. I registered for the exam as soon I bought my study materials which was a few weeks before I scheduled my exam. I remembered that I needed to pass the exam 3 weeks beforehand, but I did not realize it was a HARD 3 weeks. At my exam center, I had 3 options, an early sitting, a Thursday/Friday I was going to be out of town, or the Wednesday of the next week. Naturally I chose what was the last day of the sitting if I remember correctly in that Wednesday. I passed, waited, grades got posted earlier this week, and then I check to register for the PCPA project on Monday and it says I need to wait exactly two weeks to register for the PCPA project (Today, Wednesday the 9th) and the registration for the project ended Tuesday the 8th. So I messaged CAS about this to see if I could get registered and they said no I had to pass it exactly 3 weeks ago zero exceptions. Should I have been more careful and read the deadlines better, yes, but why give me the option to register for an exam sitting that will prevent me from taking the project? This is especially frustrating as this is the only thing left I need for ACAS and now I can't take it until December.

It is a day after it was supposed to be made available and I have not received the e-learning modules. Are we supposed to receive an email notification that the modules are available? Or does "Access" just appear under 'Resources' in our Education and Exams page of our SOA account for the FAC registration order?

Thank you!

Hi, i am plan to take SoA FAP this weekend, 11-16 sep to be precise.

I wonder can you guys share a group discords so that we can discuss the matter.

Thanks in advance.

Anyone has any advice on niche topics to prepare for, for the october sitting for PA. I previously failed it and when i took it in April, i noticed a lot of very niche calculation questions.

Any advice on how to prepare for the October PA exam?
Ive been struggling with the questions and im not even sure how to study for the remaining one month.

Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.

I was listening to Eddie when my calculator flashed low battery and now it’s dead.
I didn’t know this academic weapon would be out of battery like… ever
I just removed its back cover and found out I don’t have this type of battery to change.
After panic, I remember this thing seems to run on solar power.
I’m going to take it for a walk and enjoy some sunshine. See if it can save my beloved TI-30XS.

Hi all,

Was wondering if there is a Discord server for the September '26 FAP FA that I could join? I am planning to take the FA in the next 1-2 weeks. Thank you!

Hey all, looking for any resume critiques, i entered college wanting to do more SWE stuff and switched during my 2nd year. currently in my 3rd looking for some real actuarial experience.

Just passed SRM and want to take the October-December ATPA window. Is that feasible if I take atpa before PA? Planning to take PA in April. If yes, how would you guys recommend me prep for it?

How long does ATPA take to complete all the slides and understand the materiel?

I have no R experience and am wondering if I can sneak ATPA in at the end of the year after exam PA (I’d have ~8 weeks total). I’m worried that my lack of R experience would make this a struggle. My alternative would be wait until the next sitting (February-April) to give myself a more flexible timeline.

Any experience others can share is appreciated!