Difficult tests

Tomorrow I find out if I passed LTAM. The acronym stands for Long Term Actuarial Mathematics and is 1 in a gauntlet of 7 dragons you have to slay in order to be crowned an “Associate” in the actuarial profession. The arduous process usually takes at least 4 years to complete. That would equates to about 2% of my entire life (no I’m not bad at math, I just have an ambitious life expectancy goal) (For anyone not good at math or anyone who has better things to do with their life, if 4 years was 2% of your life, you’d live 200 years). 

The pass rates on the exams are grim; they are usually close to 50% for all the tests. Putting that into perspective, the first few tests weed out the weaklings, so by the 5th, 6th, and 7th tests, the sample size consists solely of nerds. Only half of that group passes.

To prepare for the exams one must usually spend 3 to 4 months studying. I think my average has been close to 200 hours of studying for each exam. Needless to say, actuaries don’t have a lot of free-time (did I use that word right, it’s not one I’m familiar with).

It’s disappointing when you fail, not only because of the time you’ve put in, but also because of the financial investment. The study materials can cost up to $1000 per test and the test registration costs around $300 per test.

Some of the tests are offered twice a year, like LTAM. So if you didn’t pass you’ll have to wait half a year before you can take it again. Not something you’d look forward to.

Tomorrow it will either be champagne or vodka.