Online courses for EA-1A Exam?

[Guest crosseyedtester]

I'm planning to take the EA-1A Exam in May 2003 and was just wondering if there is any kind of online course or study program to take since travelling to (or paying for) courses is not an easy possibility for me.

Thank you.

[david rigby]

Never heard of any. Not sure I would recommend it anyway. My recommendation is twofold: find someone to study with, and try to get in one of the classes taught by Rick Groszkiewicz . Look him up in the Directory of Actuarial Memberships at http://www.soa.org .

[actuarysmith]

I agree with the last post. I don't know the individual mentioned in the last post, but I would try and find a review/ cram course somewhere.

The real benefit to the class, in my opinion, is not so much the instruction (although that is great). It is getting away from family, friends, kids, hobbies, home projects, TV, office, etc. etc. for a few days to focus on nothing but passing the enrollment exams.

The after class discussions around a glass of beer with the other students is usually very benficial as well - you compare knowledge, actual working techniques, networking opportunites, etc.

It is a safe bet that more than one actuary has been known to find a job through networking with old classmates.

It has been about 15 years since I sat for the exams, but I am relatively sure that the pass rates are such that the majority of candidates fail each sitting. Anything you can do to "up your odds" is extremely well worth it!

Look, it may cost you $1,500 to attend a seminar (i.e. airfare, meals, room, etc.) However, if it saves you a year or two of sudying (because you avoid retaking the exam a couple times) it is worth every penny!!

Good Luck !

[David]

I am not aware of an online course for EA1. I took a couple of EA courses (which I had to travel to) taught by Dave Farber and I thought he did a really good job. I thought he had a very practical approach to teaching the courses. He lets you know what topics to focus on based on past exams and teaches shortcuts or alternative methods for solving some of the exam problems. The courses are sponsored by ASPA. Their website is www.aspa.org. Overall, I feel that the money I spent for the course, travel and hotel was worth it (and it came out of my pocket for the EA1 course).

I will add that I took EA1 last May and although I managed to pass the exam, they really changed their focus from prior years. Probably the worst case was that they must have had 4 or 5 problems using force of mortality compared to seeing one force of mortality problem every few years on the old exams. I think there may have been a couple of other things on the exam that I didn't remember ever seeing on any of the old exams I had (and I had a lot of them). That being said, I don't think anyone would have reasonably anticipated that kind of "swing" even though the exams have been getting harder lately, and it doesn't change my recommendation on the classes.

Good luck.