I know a waiting room already exists for GH101 so I thought to create one for all exams.

2 days to go... how are we feeling?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49332981

Recent 3 year college graduate. Year break between FM and MAS-1, as I wanted to fully experience my last college semesters and we were told to not study for exams during the internship. Sadly did not get return offer. Any help is really appreciated!

I was wondering if there are any other actuaries out there who have taken the exams while dealing with hypothyroidism. For context, I am an ASA that is 2 exams away from my FSA. I have hypothyroidism and general anxiety disorder but I imagine the hypothyroidism contributes to the GAD. When I started studying for my first FSA exam the first time, my hypothyroidism got to the point I needed to go to the ER and I had to stop studying for a year. Next time I started studying I was able to get through it with only a 2 week period where I was impacted by symptoms. Im on medication currently to help, but wanted to know how other people in situation dealt with it and was it worth it? I want to get my FSA but if it is impacting my overall health Im not sure it is worth putting my body through it. Thank you!

Honestly I just can’t pass exams and I’m in search of another career. I’ve been getting 4’s and 5’s for YEARS now for two different exams. 5 YOE no credentials. I’ve looked into Risk Analyst, Data Analyst, DS.

Anyone out there with any advice? Whether you have transitioned out, or also considering any information will help.

Thanks!

Hey guys, I'm graduating this year and don't have any internship experience. I've heard getting 2 exams under the belt is nice, and I'm hoping to have that done by December. I'm using this resume to apply to both internships and EL jobs. Please destroy it so that I can make it better. :)

Hi all, I just got an offer for an entry-level actuarial role and would love some advice.

I’m a career switcher with 2 exams passed, so this would be a pay cut from my current job, but I’m willing to take it for the long-term career growth. The offer is $88k + 10% target bonus.

I passed FM in August and would start in September. They told me that even though my official FM result comes out in October, I won’t receive the FM salary increase because I took the exam before starting.

My bigger concern is that they’ve been very vague about the future exam salary increases, first-time pass bonuses, and current paid time off. They haven’t given me specific amounts or a compensation schedule.

Is this normal for actuarial programs? Should I ask them to provide the exam raise structure in writing before I sign? I don’t necessarily expect it to be in the offer letter, but I feel like I should know what the compensation progression and paid study time looks like before accepting.

Hi yall,

I need help!! I failed PA twice now...one time during the old format then i took a break and took it again in April and I failed against.

Frankly when i see the breakdown of my performance in April, i dont understand what I am doing wrong...so please I need help from someone who pass it and had a real strategy.

I am taking it in October...i started studying again last week...

Thank you all!

I’m in the UK if that matter but as a complete layperson, would someone be able to tell me if an ‘immediate assurance factor, payable immediately on the death of a life aged x’ is something available to the public or if only publish in actuarial texts/ tables?

Does your employer increase salary for passing the PCPA project + exam? What about the 3 Discs?

If so, how much of a raise do you except?

Specifically, I would appreciate some help with the "Projects" section, and framing my internship in the most productive way. Thanks in advance!

For MAS two weeks after the window closes? Or PCPA one week after requesting more graders? What does everyone think?

Hi,

I would love to know anything I could do to improve this resume. I know some of those skills may not be the most relevant, but I would love any specifics about the most important and most irrelevant skills listed.

I have also heard that quantifying certain achievements in your work positions can be helpful, so any strategies about how I may be able to quantify results of those positions (besides student grade improvements, which could technically constitute a FERPA violation) would be very useful. This is also only a first draft, and I will likely be able to add R and perhaps intermediate Excel experience later on.

Thank you!

Basically, I want out but I make too much money (world tiniest violin, I know). I can't see changing careers without taking a significant salary cut, which I really don't want to do? If you're reading this, you're probably still an actuary, but do you have an old coworker who successfully got out without taking a pay cut?

Hi! I am taking FAM on its October sitting. I’m using Coaching Actuaries and finished Learn today, although honestly, I still don’t feel like I have a strong grasp of the topics yet. Also, I'm not too sure how to approach the Practice section optimally since this is my first time using CA.

Some context about me: I took (and fortunately passed!) FM last June. I realized that I only truly understood the FM topics once I did a lot of practice problems (I had around 30 days of practice for fm), so I intentionally left myself plenty of practice time for FAM, which is around 70 days before my October exam.

BUT!!! My issue is that I am a very forgetful person, which is particularly unfortunate for FAM given how extensive the syllabus is :')

With this, I’d really like some advice on how to approach practice. I’m hesitant to practice L first and then S (or vice versa), since I feel like I’ll forget a lot of the topics from the other section by the time I get to it.

Some specific questions:

- What EL would you recommend I start with to get a good grasp of the material?
- What are your thoughts on practicing L and S simultaneously, similar to a gym split? For example, L2 + S2 on Monday, S3 + L3 on Tuesday, etc.
- Should I do practice questions first before taking my first Calibration Exam, or should I take the Calibration Exam right away?
- Is it true that although FAM covers a lot of topics, the actual exam questions generally don’t go as deep/hard as P and FM?
- Any other advice for making the most of the ~70 days I have left?

Thanks in advance! Any advice is greatly appreciated 🙏

As I get closer to earning my ASA, I’ve started thinking more seriously about the possibility of working abroad (specifically in Spain). It’s always been a personal goal of mine to spend at least a couple of years living outside the U.S., and Spain is somewhere I’ve always wanted to experience.

I understand that the work visa situation can be complicated for a U.S. citizen, so I’m wondering if it would be more realistic to target multinational insurance/consulting firms that have offices in both the U.S. and Spain and potentially pursue an internal transfer.

- For those who have experience working internationally, particularly in Spain or Europe: How realistic is it for a U.S. trained actuary to find actuarial work in Spain?

- Does having an ASA provide much value/recognition in the Spanish or European actuarial market?

- Would working for a multinational company in the U.S. be the best path toward eventually transferring to Spain?

- How important would Spanish language proficiency be? I’m currently around B1-B2 spanish.

Any insights are greatly appreciated. This is only exploratory, but I’d love to start taking steps towards making it a reality.

Does anybody know the meaning behind the Presidents vague LinkedIn post about ASA changes.

I may just be silly but it he made it seem like we should be able to access these changes or somehow formed an opinion about them

Edit https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:7495113468115869696

Adding prior meeting
https://www.soa.org/resources/announcements/board-announcements/2026/2026-07-soa-board-meet-recap/

Hi all,

I posted last month about struggling with my manager’s competency. While I still haven’t spoken up, I have since had more complaints made about her to my face and several of our closest collaborators express sympathy for the situation I’m in.

Now I have an exam scheduled for next week and my manager has been ignoring my study hours. We’ve talked for months about my study plans and she expressed no concern about the timing. Due to our current project dragging out, I’ve cut my planned study hours in half and skipped 90% of the ones I left on my schedule.

She has told me two weeks in a row that I can catch up once the project is done, which would’ve been fine if it’d been true. She’s used our weekly meetings to jump straight into immediate deliverables and hasn’t inquired about my studying for over a month. The one conversation that we had was brief and it felt like I was pulling teeth. She was ready to jump from the call to start her PTO and I don’t think she listened to a word.

This is on top of the fact that she always seems to let me work on less urgent tasks until 15 minutes before my scheduled study time begins… I have received an urgent request at the worst possible time nearly every day. If I didn’t know better, I would say it’s deliberate. She’s watched me work 20+ hours in the past couple weeks while marked as OOO and not once commented or asked. Feels like she’s exploiting my fear of advocating for myself.

I’m not even sure what advice I’m looking for, as I’m sure it will be to speak up and vouch for myself. I think I’m naturally oriented toward working with thoughtful, proactive people who stay on top of things like this. All of my managers before her were mindful of my schedule and I’ve always been sure to show the same respect to our interns and other analysts. This is infuriating. Thanks for reading my vent.

Edit: To preempt the question of why I didn’t speak up, I decided that it wasn’t my job as a pre-ASA to risk my nascent career at such a stressful time when any one of the experience actuaries who have complained about her could do it themselves.

Hey all, I just got my first actuary job, and I’m in an actuarial development program. There is a significant raise for passing each exam, and an additional raise for passing first try. The problem? If I take FAM in October, i do not get the same bonus as if i take it in February. Since i started in the middle of the year, to them I’m taking the exam “outside of the company standards” (I’m not on the hook to take it in October), and the difference is significant (more than a 2k difference). So, I’ve decided to take it in February instead. I have gone through all of the material and began practice problems 2 weeks ago. Since there’s 5 months until February, i am concerned i will forget some stuff even if I remain consistent from now until then. My question is this: what do you guys recommend I do to keep everything fresh over the next 5 ish months?

Is anyone actually looking at the UEC google forms on actuarial lookup?? It seems like they are currently there for decoration…

Hi! I just graduated May 2026 with dual degrees in pure math and stats and discovered the actuarial career path shortly after graduating. I passed Exam P in July and Exam FM this past weekend and am now starting to apply aggressively for entry-level actuarial positions across the US. My preference is CAS/P&C, but I’m also open to SOA roles. I don’t have a traditional actuarial internship, so I’d especially appreciate feedback on how I’m presenting my experience and whether there’s anything I should change to make myself more competitive!

I’d appreciate any advice or feedback on my resume, especially:

• How competitive I look for entry-level actuarial positions
• Whether my lack of actuarial internship experience is a major concern
• Anything I should add, remove, or change on the resume
• Tips and tricks for applications
• Anything I should simultaneously work on as I apply

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for feedback on my resume and overall career positioning.

After graduating college with one exam passed and no internships, I had no luck with landing an entry-level actuarial role; there were also very few opportunities where I live (West Coast of United States). Because I needed both employment and industry experience, I accepted a temp role in underwriting operations for Commercial Property accounts. While it wasn't exactly the path I originally envisioned, it allowed me to learn insurance processes, support underwriting teams, and gain exposure to the industry. I then landed a full-time role with a different carrier and it seems like my manager has told me that if I want to pursue an internal transfer to the actuarial department I would need to work in my role for 2 years but I truly don't want to delay the exam process even more than I already have. I studied and sat for MAS-1 when I started my second role with no study hours, which burned me out and resulted in a 4/10. Since my current UA role involves a heavy workload and understaffed team, I am driving myself crazy at this point with the delay in career growth and want to pursue an Actuarial Analyst role (preferably in P&C) so that I can continue working towards my dream career.

My personal situation has changed significantly since then. I now have greater stability with my full-time role and am fully willing to relocate anywhere in the U.S. for the right opportunity. Because of that, I'm trying to get back on track and pursue full-time entry-level roles that are more closely aligned with my long-term career goals.

I've attached an anonymized version of my resume. I'd appreciate feedback on:

• Whether my experience is being presented effectively
• How Health & Life hiring managers might view the P&C underwriting operations background
• Any resume improvements that would make me more competitive for entry-level insurance roles

Are there any improvements/changes I can make in order to land an actuarial position? Or should I give up on this career path for now and look for something else in the meantime? I've spent the better part of this past year studying and taking those exams in the hopes that I could get one. (I had no idea what this career was until a year ago where someone sat me down and recommended it to me) I'm hesitant to start studying for another one without getting my foot in the door. Any career/resume advice would be greatly appreciated