CA3 etc.

CA3 – Communications 
a.k.a “free food, free accommodation, 15-min presentation and a 500 word essay.”

Having smashed all the CTs and the first 2 CAs in the last 2 years, CA3 was a nice treat – a two day break in the pretty little town of Oxford, all paid for by my company. Sure, some of that had to be spent doing exam-type stuff, but it was still nice. I had a very tasty pizza.

Prior to the course, CA3 asks you to fill out a workbook full of various communication related tasks. For example, explaining a complex term using simple language and no jargon. This workbook then provides the basis of the first day of the course, which goes through each question in detail explaining why everything you wrote was complete nonsense – this day is mainly to help build your confidence for the presentation on day 2.

At the end of day 1, the topic of the presentation is revealed and you are asked to produce the slides you will present on day 2.

The majority of day 2 is free time – at some random time between 09:00 and 15:00 you will need to give your 15 min presentation. After 15:00 you will need to write your 500 word essay on some random topic. The rest of the day you can enjoy the sweet freedom of exam stress.

And then after the exam you have a lovely 12 – weeks to wonder how it went…

What better way to spend 12 weeks than to get some more exams out the way?

 

ST7 & ST8
General insurance: reserving and capital modeling & General insurance: pricing

After the mind rape that is CA1, the return to more mathematical papers that directly related to my work was a joy.

13 down, 3 to go, 100% pass rate still intact.

Final stop – SA3 and P3…
 

…bugger…

“Dave,” I was told, while enjoying a nice drink after work, “your name isn’t on the list – you didn’t pass.”

Goodbye pass rate, hello Loserville.

The next day it was confirmed by post – I received an FA (which means you failed, but out of all the failures you did one of the best, so we’re giving you an “A”) for CA3 – an FA! That meant I was within 5% of the pass mark. So close.

So – next stop CA3 retake.

CA3 retake
The retake is very much the same as the first time, except you skip the workbook and the training and go straight to the stressing out.

Also, it wasn’t in Oxford and I didn’t have pizza.

It did not go well. And not just because of the pizza. Although the presentation was probably an improvement, the essay topic asked a question I didn’t know the answer to. Communication becomes a lot more tricky when you have no idea what your suppose to say.

Still, what better way to spend 12 weeks waiting to be told you’ve failed than to get some more exams out the way?

 

P3
General Insurance UK Practice Module

Not technically needed to qualify, but its online multiple choice, you get the result immediately and it can be used to help revise for SA3 as it covers similar ground. Nice.

14 down, 2 to go, 93 and a third percentage pass rate… nope, that just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “100%”…

 

SA3
General Insurance

A delightful blend of everything you’ve ever learnt about GI from the previous exams, plus anything else worth knowing. SA3 can ask about anything GI related, and as such you are recommended to read EVERYTHING. Magazines, journals, conference papers, everything from everywhere.

But not only do you need the breadth, you also need depth as the paper is generally only 2 – 3 questions long.

I opened the paper and my heart sank – all 3 questions are the same topic – I know the answers, but I can’t think of 100 things to say on one topic…

The Results:

CA3 – FB – well, at least it wasn’t agonisingly close…

SA3 – FC – bugger… I mean… bugger… a “C”?!? … bugger…

14 down, 2 to go, 82.3529% pass rate.

Enough is enough. Cue the Rocky music.

If I had to read everything, then I would bloody well read everything. Starting with every single past paper…
 

…bugger!!!!

So it turns out, if I had gone back far enough with the past papers for SA3, I would have found half of the paper I failed, complete with model solutions. I mean word for word, the same question that counted for half the exam I failed – complete with answers.

…bugger…

Still, live and learn.

The RESULT
SA3 – passed.

15 down, 1 to go, 83.33% pass rate.

CA3 – third time lucky.

16 down. 84.21%.

Next stop – pub.

… I don’t remember much after that…