My blog on becoming an ASA in one year

[mandersonjr]

I decided lately that I want to become an ASA as soon as possible because of the current job market. I've been a member of this forum for about 6-8 months, and I have learned a lot of things from experience actuaries like nomoreexams and whoever else post daily on this forum. I am planning on taking p/1 and mfe/3 in Nov and fm/2 in December. Ill be using TIA for all three exams, and also the derv. market 2nd edition. Then Ill take 4/c and mlc/3 in may, and somewhere in between Ill finish the fap and VEE credits.

A little background on me: 21 year old male and I work full time for a bank. I do not have any other obligations (such as kids or being married).

I have taken: Intro to stats, macro eco, and micro eco I have never taken calc, but I have textbooks and I study them all the time.

** I also want to show people or for them not to get discouraged if they haven't taken calc 1-3

I've also read on this forum how having to many exams and little experience may hurt your chances of getting hired or internships. With this economy, I am willing to take that chance, hopefully companies will see me as motivated.

I have only studied about 5 hours for p/1 so far, but starting next week I'll be studying 30-45 hours a week. By no means do I think its going to be easy to complete all these exams by next September, but I'm willing to try my hardest.


Feel free to post any comments:wink:

[mtg]

That's like cramming four years of college into one month... good luck

[mandersonjr]

What is like cramming 4 years of math into one month?

[mtg]

No, please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it can't be done, I just know that I could never (and would never want to) do that. Those exams are very difficult and if that's what you want to do then really, good luck.

[mandersonjr]

Oh I didnt take it the wrong way, I am open to what your trying to say, but I just didnt understand exactly what you meant. But I would have to say the infinite actuary online seminar/classes are excellent. I have learned 10x faster with TIA then with ACTEX 2009 edition.

[Sinjin]

OP: Did you finish school and get a degree, or have you just taken a few classes?

[mandersonjr]

I have about 1- 1.5 years to go.

[Sinjin]

So you are going to school and also have a full time job?

[mandersonjr]

I work full time and yes I am taking one class this semester (communications-gen ed) no biggie

[Y2A]

What is the average time it takes someone to become an ASA? 2-5 years? Yet with no mathematical background + working full-time you expect to become one in a year. You need to take an exam and then you can have a realistic outlook on how long it might take you to accomplish this goal.