A Visit to the Cooperators

The U of R internship program gives students the opportunity for a 12-16 month work experience between their third and fourth year classes.  I am in the process of doing on site visits with the cohort of 5 interns who started their 16 month work terms in May 2011 and the one intern who started a 12 month work term in September 2011.  All five return for their last year of classes in September 2012.  I suspect that the cultural change from work place to class room (not to mention the loss of a pay check) will a shock to them.

I did an on site visit with two of our interns at the Cooperators yesterday, Chelsea Valois and Erin Dodd.  Chelsea and Erin are in the last semester of their 16 month work terms.  By all accounts they are having very positive experiences.  It was also nice to touch base with U of R grads working at the Cooperators.  Chelsea's supervisor is Thomas Wood who was one of the first U of R interns and a student in the very first ActSci class I taught (ACSC116 bass in the Fall 2002 term).

Next week I will visit two more interns at Cooperators, Colin Billet who is finishing a 16 month work term and Jing Lu who is finishing a 12 month work term.  

The fifth intern is Emelita Tejeda who is on a 16 month term at the WCB.  She gets an on site visit from me every week, due to my role as internal actuary at the WCB!

SOA Exams At U of R and Poll

We had 5 candidates write exam P on the 15th and 4 write exam C on the 22nd.  No one signed up to write exam FM at the U of R, but I know of at least one person doing it via CBT in Saskatoon.

I've posted a poll on exam writing - do you prefer the old fashioned pen and paper or that new fangled computer based testing method?

What to Bring to an SOA Exam

I've just spent 20 minutes signing in a group of fresh candidates writing their first SOA exam.  Remember the following things for your exam.

DO bring

1. Your letter of acknowledgement from the SOA (2 candidates appeared without these today).
2. An SOA calculator (I had to supply two candidates with calculators because they brought the wrong one) - and know how it works!
3. Photo ID; and
4. Pencils and an eraser.

DONT

1. Leave your cell phone on so that it rings during the exam;
2. Bring food to the exam - drinks are ok as long as they don't "cause a disturbance" (I'm still figuring that one out);
3. Use a pen; or
4. Keep writing after time is called.

Good Luck to Our Interns

Belated good luck wishes to our third year students setting out on internship this summer.  The cohort of students setting out on 16 month internships is as follows.

• Courtney Clifford at Sask. Workers Compensation
• Shelby Herman at Great West Life
• Lauren Mazurkewich also at Great West Life
• Mwiti Njagi at Co-operators Life Insurance
• Stephen Wallace at SGI

In the fall, Pornpyia Vikiset will be starting a 12 month internship at Co-operators Life Insurance.

I'm sure that all 5 students will do us proud.

Spring SOA Exams

I will be supervising the pen and paper versions of the SOA preliminary exams again this spring and fall.  Dates, times and locations are as follows. 

Exam P/1
May 15, 2012 8:30-11:30 CL416
September 13, 2012 8:30-11:30 Location TBA

Exam FM/2
June 4, 2012 8:30-11:30 Location TBA
October 8, 2012 8:30-11:30 Location TBA

Exam MFE/3F
August 1, 2012 8:30-11:30 Location TBA
November 7, 2012 8:30-11:30 Location TBA

Exam C/4
May 22, 2012 8:30-12:00 CL416
October 19, 2012 8:30-11:30 Location TBA

How Will Accreditation Apply?

I've been getting a lot of questions on this, so lets look at the exact requirements.  Here's what students need.  Two quick reminders - there's no backdating of exemptions for courses taken before the Fall 2012 term, and you need the minimum mark in each course under each exam (an average won't do it).


EXAM FM/2
In order to get an Accreditation exemption for FM/2, a student has to achieve the following grades
ACSC116 80%
ACSC216 80%
That's two U of R courses, both with a mark of 80% or more.

EXAM MLC 

In order to get an Accreditation exemption for 

MLC

, a student has to achieve the following grades

ACSC216 75%

ACSC317 75%

ACSC456 75%

That's three U of R courses, all with a mark of 75% or more.

CAS EXAM 3L

In order to get an Accreditation exemption for 

CAS 3L

, a student has to achieve the following grades

ACSC216 75%

ACSC317 75%

ACSC419 75%

ACSC456 75%

That's four U of R courses, all with a mark of 75% or more.

EXAM MFE/3F

In order to get an Accreditation exemption for 

MFE/3F

, a student has to achieve the following grades

ACSC316 80%

This is a new course that was offered for the first time as ACSC390AC in Winter 2012 and will be offered each year as ACSC316 from now on.

EXAM C/4

In order to get an Accreditation exemption for C/4, a student has to achieve the following grades

ACSC318 80%

ACSC417 80%

ACSC419 80%

That's three U of R courses, all with a mark of 80% or more.

CIA Accreditation Process - How Will It Apply to You?

I've had questions from current and former students on eligibility.  The bad news is that there is no grandfathering of exam credits for any courses taken prior to Fall 2012.  The rationale is that the CIA can validate course content from Fall2012 onwards, but not for prior years.

• If you are entering your second year of classes and plan to take ACSC116 in the Fall of 2012 (or later), you can potentially get CIA exemptions for SOA exams FM, MLC, MFE and C.
• If you've taken ACSC116  but no higher level ACSC courses, you can potentially get CIA exemptions for exams MLC, MFE and C.  You can't get an exemption for FM without retaking ACSC116 (which would delay your graduation by a full year).
• If you've taken ACSC116 and ACSC216 but no higher level ACSC courses, you can potentially get CIA exemptions for exams MLC, MFE and C.  In this case, you can't retake 116 once you've passed 216.
• If you have completed ACSC217 but no third year courses, you can potentially get CIA exemptions for exams MFE and C.  You won't be able to get credit for MLC or FM.
• If you have completed ACSC318, you can potentially get CIA exemptions for exams MFE.  You won't be able to get credit for C, MLC or FM.
• If you are an ACSC graduate or will graduate prior to the Fall 2012 term, sorry you cannot get CIA credits for any courses.

Notice than in each case, CIA accreditation requires that you meet the minimum standard in each course mapped to the CIA exams (more on this in future posts).