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Hi all,
So who passed FM already during this exam time-frame? If you did, congratz. If you did not, don't feel so bad either, i personally felt that the exam was quite challenging and not easier than any of those practice exams provided.
I just took exam FM last saturday Oct 13th and passed it on the first try myself. So i thought i would share some experience that i had while studying for it.
I started the preparation about 4 weeks prior to the exam, and got serious the week after. At first i didnt think i had enough time to cover the material, but i was wrong
It was tough cuz i studied a lot, but it was doable
I used TIA (The Infinite Actuary) notes and i really liked how the materials were explained in there. The downside of TIA is the price. It is about 4-5 times higher, if not more, than the regular manual that we could buy off the market. Also TIA only provides 2 practice exams, but they give thoroughly explained video solutions to study over the courses. I did borrow my friend's ACTEX manual to go over 2-3 more practice.
It depends on what kind of learner you are, and how much you could afford. TIA offers 50% off for college students, so that may help ya a bit for consideration. I found ACTEX's manual to be a bit harder to follow, but it is ,regardless, readable and understandable.
Memorization is definitely a bonus. The more you memorize the important formulas, the easier it is for the test. Also make sure to understand the subject matter as there will be conceptual questions. Most the time, those are designed for you to save time on the math problems, so we have to take advantage of them. And for practice problems, do not give in to look at solutions so soon. I struggled through few problems for couple of hours before i finally gave in to solution. And each solution that you go through, make sure to thoroughly understand it, so if something similar to that comes up, you could do it fast.
Overall, my last advice would be quality over quantity. There's no reason to spend so many hours on studying if you're not doing it effectively. Find a method that works for you and stick to it. Also no reason to practice 100's of problems but only learned a few thoroughly. It is better to do 30 but knowing them superbly well.
And best of luck for future FM test takers
So who passed FM already during this exam time-frame? If you did, congratz. If you did not, don't feel so bad either, i personally felt that the exam was quite challenging and not easier than any of those practice exams provided.
I just took exam FM last saturday Oct 13th and passed it on the first try myself. So i thought i would share some experience that i had while studying for it.
I started the preparation about 4 weeks prior to the exam, and got serious the week after. At first i didnt think i had enough time to cover the material, but i was wrong
It was tough cuz i studied a lot, but it was doableI used TIA (The Infinite Actuary) notes and i really liked how the materials were explained in there. The downside of TIA is the price. It is about 4-5 times higher, if not more, than the regular manual that we could buy off the market. Also TIA only provides 2 practice exams, but they give thoroughly explained video solutions to study over the courses. I did borrow my friend's ACTEX manual to go over 2-3 more practice.
It depends on what kind of learner you are, and how much you could afford. TIA offers 50% off for college students, so that may help ya a bit for consideration. I found ACTEX's manual to be a bit harder to follow, but it is ,regardless, readable and understandable.
Memorization is definitely a bonus. The more you memorize the important formulas, the easier it is for the test. Also make sure to understand the subject matter as there will be conceptual questions. Most the time, those are designed for you to save time on the math problems, so we have to take advantage of them. And for practice problems, do not give in to look at solutions so soon. I struggled through few problems for couple of hours before i finally gave in to solution. And each solution that you go through, make sure to thoroughly understand it, so if something similar to that comes up, you could do it fast.
Overall, my last advice would be quality over quantity. There's no reason to spend so many hours on studying if you're not doing it effectively. Find a method that works for you and stick to it. Also no reason to practice 100's of problems but only learned a few thoroughly. It is better to do 30 but knowing them superbly well.
And best of luck for future FM test takers