October 2007 Sign-In

[Irish Blues]

I took the All-10 practice exams this weekend ... and I wasn't happy. I scored just over average, but my biggest issue with the exams is that they were nothing like what we'll see tomorrow. Lots of MC and T/F, so it's "all or none" on the scoring - whereas tomorrow there will be absolutely no multiple choice.

The other issue I had was the content of the questions themselves - if the actual questions look something like those practice exams, ... OOPS ON ME! I have about 250 notecards [whittled down to about 50 I don't have committed to memory] and many of the questions had content I don't even have on my notecards - probably because I don't see the exam having that content asked in an open-ended format and/or the content on those test exams seemed much more like minutae in places. So ... I'm skipping the rest of those, and going back to my plan: know high-level details, know the mathematics behind much of the stuff, be able to throw in a handful of standard answers where needed, and catch some list items that could show up.

I feel OK for this, better than I did in April with 5 - but IMO it's going to come down to being able to catch points on the essay questions. I should be able to get half the points without a lot of struggle, and my goal is to get to 70% ... so as long as I can pick up partial credit along the way, I think I'll be fine. We'll also have a clock in the room - something I didn't have for 5 - so I should be able to better gauge time and pick off problems accordingly; as long as the test ends up closer to 45 questions than 55, I think I'm good. I've got today and tonight to finish out DFA, if I can get half the points there I think I know enough on the rest to carry me through to a pass.


I'll let you know how it went this weekend after I've relaxed and caught some other stuff up at work and around the house.

[.Godspeed.]

I'll let you know how it went this weekend after I've relaxed and caught some other stuff up at work and around the house and watching the Patriots vs. Colts, etc.

I fixed your post (I think!).

I wish you the best tomorrow, IB. Knock it out!

[Irish Blues]

OK ... so the verdict.

I feel pretty good about this - certainly better than I did after 5. I answered about 70 points, questions I didn't answer I wasn't going to answer no matter how much time I had. 47 questions in all, but I didn't think it was too long - the 15-minute reading period was a huge advantage for me this time, I had time to arrange papers and pick off the easier questions off the bat. I made steady progress throughout the exam, there were maybe 3 minutes of "wasted" time where I wasn't working on solving a problem ... that, "WTF - I have no idea" time that comes up every exam.

Things that did not get tested: Barnett-Zehnwirth, Steeneck, Kittel/Johnson, ASOP 9, CAS Reserving Principles. There was a tack-on part of a B-F question that involved Mack [explain how the B-F method could be refined ...], otherwise it wasn't tested; Brosius was only tested from the, "when is it / isn't suitable" standpoint. They hit the '''' out of Berquist-Sherman, though.

Last time, it was "... and if partial credit comes through, I think I might pass." Not this time - I think even if I '''''ed up a few of the 1-point questions, I'm in good shape. I had very little B.S. in the answers because I actually knew the answer or gave enough of an explanation that it should show I understood the concept being tested. I think the pass mark ends up around 52-53 because it's been around 51 and the CAS's goal is to get to 70% so they start in that direction, but don't make the leap there in one huge step; if I only get 75% of the points I answered, I'm at 52.5 and I think I ended up closer to 55 [which should be more than enough to pass].

Now back to 5 in a couple months, and hopefully a Christmas present from the CAS in December!

[Irish Blues]

ADD: I think we're going to file an appeal on one question (#41) - it's a Siewert question, and the information given is insufficient to really answer the question. I worked out a solution, but it's based on an assumption that probably doesn't hold in real life and certainly isn't supported by Siewert's paper.

[.Godspeed.]

Now back to 5 in a couple months, and hopefully a Christmas present from the CAS in December!

Hope you had a Christmas present from the CAS.

[Irish Blues]

I feel pretty good about this - certainly better than I did after 5.

Now back to 5 in a couple months, and hopefully a Christmas present from the CAS in December!

And it'll be a great holiday this year.

[.Godspeed.]

I feel pretty good about this - certainly better than I did after 5.

Now back to 5 in a couple months, and hopefully a Christmas present from the CAS in December!

And it'll be a great holiday this year.

Congratulations, IB! I'm sure the IB household was happy for you.

[Irish Blues]

Mrs. IB was incredibly excited when we saw my candidate number; I sat there indifferently saying, "I told you I was going to pass," trying not to crack a smile. [Of course, it just pisses me off even more that I didn't get 5 last time - but that will be remedied this May.]

That means 9 next fall ... but that's next fall. Right now, I'm going to wrap up a VEE and finish those off for good, then move to 5 and start loosely looking at 7 [though I won't actually sit for it in 2008 - it'll be a head-start on preping for it in 2009].