Exam 5 Intro

How is Exam 5 Different

There are a few things to be aware of if Exam 5 is your first upper level exam. The more you know about Exam 5, the more likely you will be successful.

Exam 5 is a short answer exam. How is that different from a multiple choice exam?

• You can get partial credit for any given problem.

• There is a greater emphasis placed on "showing your work".

• Exam graders focus on (1) do you understand the process? and (2) do you communicate it effectively so someone else can follow what you did?

• On multiple choice exams, there is only 1 correct answer. Many problems have steps that require judgment and there can be a range of acceptable answers, or even the question may be unclear. If you are not sure, then state your assumption or how you are interpreting the question.

• In a long multi-step problem, it’s sometimes difficult to get all the way to the end without making a small mistake. Don’t stress over this. If your method is correct, you’ll get most of the points for the problem.

A short answer exam requires a change in study strategies.

• You need to be able to recall information vs recognition. It takes longer to memorize for recall than it does for recognition. Give yourself enough time to review and test yourself frequently.

• Short answer tests focus on understanding in addition to memorization of facts.

• Use the quizzes to initially learn the material, then use active studying by explaining the concepts in your own words.

• Build test writing skills. Learn what you need to write to get full credit. Be thorough but concise. You don't need to take time making things look neat. Writing bullet points is quicker than typing full sentences. You should virtually never write a whole paragraph. Look at the point value of the question to determine how long your answer should be. You should roughly have one bullet point or one significant answer for each quarter of a point.

• Use commonly used abbreviations to save time on exam day.

• Practise, practise, practise! The more problems, and more importantly, the more types of problems you solve, the better prepared you’ll be.

Other things to know about Exam 5.

• Some people who have easily gone through the earlier exams, can still be thrown off by 5. The more you know what to expect and how to adjust your study style, the less likely this will happen to you.

• Exam 5 covers more material than earlier exams.

• Exam 5 has a lot of calculation problems.

• Exam 5 focuses more on specific actuarial techniques that involve simple arithmetic vs highly theoretical math topics found in earlier exams. You need to switch from number crunching to analyzing a scenario and presenting a recommendation in a short space of time.

• About 25-35% of Exam 5 is short-answer essay-style questions. You must learn to write complete yet concise answers to these types of questions.

• Time management on exam day is especially important! People say the hardest thing about Exam 5 is time management on exam day.

The good news is that you purchased BattleActs. We’ve custom built our system for the unique challenges of Exam 5, so you have all the resources and tools you need to crush your first upper level exam.

Points to Keep in Mind for the Computer Based Testing Environment.

• In the Pearson platform, you won't be able to write out formulas in the same way as with paper and pencil. So you have to be more careful how you lay out your solutions. It has to be clear what steps you follow so the grader will know you understand the method, even if you don't do the whole problem correctly. For a more complicated calculation, try to avoid putting the whole calculation in one cell. If possible, break the calculation up into two or three cells so the graders can clearly see your steps. You want to label your calculations so the grader understands what you are doing. Remember, the graders will see the formulas you put into the cell.

• You don't need to spend time on formatting such as underlining or bolding.

• Something that hasn't changed for the CBT format is the need to justify any judgmental selections. Common examples are LDF and trend selections. All you need is a phrase in the cell next to your selection such as, "based on an upward trend" or "based on seasonality". It can be short but you have to at least mention the key point you used in making your decision.

• On past exams, it was sometimes required to draw diagrams or graphs as part of your answer, or to provide mathematical derivations of formulas. This cannot be done in the Pearson platform. Note however that drawing a diagram on your scrap paper may assist you in solving a problem even if the diagram cannot be included as part of your answer. (An example of this is drawing current rate level diagrams in Exam 5.)

The BattleActs Difference - Common Sense

Here are a few things you should keep in mind:

• We analyzed prior exams and have identified the topics and specific questions that are repeated from year to year. This frequently tested material is your fundamental base. We’ve highlighted all of this for you, and you need to know it REALLY, REALLY well.
• Once you feel confident with this fundamental base, you can move on to historically less frequently tested material (time permitting.)

This is all just common sense.

Studying for Exam 5

Take a little extra time up front to get organized and you will save yourself a lot of time in the end.

1. Focus your study time. Use the Ranking Table for this. We’ve ranked the readings and indicated how much time to spend on each one!! Tip - For Exam 5, you can start with either topic but you must do the chapters in order because later chapters depend on material from earlier chapters. Not all topics are tested equally, so they don’t deserve equal amounts of your attention. Take a look at the suggested study time to guide you in how much time to spend on each chapter.
2. Set up a study schedule. Look at a calendar. See how much time you have until exam day. Based on the ranking table, draw up a study schedule. Leave the last few weeks for review and practice exams.
3. Start studying. We recommend you do a quick read through of your chosen wiki article, then scan the source article and go back again to the wiki article for in-depth studying. Some people choose to skip reading the source material.
4. Memorize and practice the fundamentals. Do the quizzes and calculation problems. Use the BattleTables to easily see what is most frequently tested in each article. Once you have mastered this material, move on to what is less frequently tested.
5. Test your retention. Our BRQ (Battle-Readiness Quotient) in the navbar next to your name. This provides you with an objective measure of how well you know the material. It starts at 0% and rises as you work through the quizzes.
6. Stay motivated. Use the Leaderboard to see how you're progressing versus everyone else. Crush your friends! (You can appear anonymously if you wish.)

The BattleActs Scoring System

The table in Quiz Scores table provides two critical pieces of information for each paper:

• BRQ score out of 10. This score gives you an objective measure of how well you know the material. Note that your score tends to drop for each day you don't attempt a BattleCard. This is to simulate the fading of memory over time. By exam day, try to get your score around 9 for the higher ranked readings and around 8 for lower ranked readings.
• A lapse statistic which represents the number of days since you last attempted a particular BattleCard.

You can use these features to decide what to review based on your quiz scores and the average days lapse.

Helpful Hints

• When you're doing the quizzes, your retention is improved by writing or typing out the answers. Practice writing or typing clear, concise answers so that on exam day, the answers will come to you quickly and automatically.

• Note that some BattleCards are actually old exam questions. Anywhere you see E, you can click to see the indicated exam question and examiner's report answer, just for that question.

• There is more information on how the BattleCards work that you should read at least once. It's short.

Last 3 Weeks Before Exam

Use this time to review and do at least one practice exam. We keep one exam as a hold-out sample from the BattleCard database, so you can use this exam for fresh practice .

• Read the On BattleDay article. These are simple tips, yet will save you a lot of precious time on exam day.

• Use the quiz subscores to identify your weak areas. You can also use the Battlecard filtering function page for this and to filter and display questions you need to practice more. Prioritize your weak areas based on how likely they’ll show up on the exam. The color-coding of BattleCards is a popular feature!

• Do at least one practice exam. We keep one exam as a hold-out sample from the BattleCard database, so you can use this exam for fresh practice. When doing a practice exam, you will want to duplicate the exam situation as closely as possible. Go somewhere where you will have 4 hours of uninterrupted time. Time management for this exam is KEY. Even if you know the material 100%, but don’t manage your time on exam day, you will put yourself at a huge disadvantage. Make sure you feel comfortable with the format of the exam.

Next Step

Read about how the BattleCards and scoring systems works in About the BattleCards

Or you can return to BattleActs Main Page. You can also use the links in the sidebar for navigation to heavily used pages within the BattleActs website.

Disclaimer

The BattleActs study system is designed to help you focus on what we believe to be the most important and most frequently tested topics on the exam. Questions may come up from material not covered in our study system. We suggest that you use your own judgement where to use your time when reading the source material.