Today's Exam...

[cknapp1]

So I knew how to work my first 20 questions on the exam (at least I think I did them correctly), but 3/4 of the answers I got were not options on the exam.. Most of them not even close. I figured I was just really nervous? To make things worse I had already eaten up over 2 hours at this point because I had done every problem 2+ times...

By the time I got to my 21st problem it was a trivial annuity problem that required no thought - simply plug it into the calculator.... So I did.. the answer was wrong....

So I went into my calculator settings and saw that the "default" for the BA-II-Plus sets c/p to 12.. I think this has to do with compounding interest 12 times per period?? Still not really sure, but I changed it to 1, and got as much done as possible.

Anyway I failed. As much as I prepared, I cant believe I overlooked that. So if anyone is looking for exam advice - know your default settings. Also, if I had written my work clearly in the first place (and not scratched stuff out 2 or 3 times out of frustration) then it would have been easy to redo the problems with the right keys...

Oh well, on to P next month :wink:

[jamesy628]

[QUOTE=cknapp1;51699]

So I went into my calculator settings and saw that the "default" for the BA-II-Plus sets c/p to 12.. I think this has to do with compounding interest 12 QUOTE]

What is c/p????

[cknapp1]

Just looked into it

"The BA II Plus defaults to 12 payments per year (P/Y) and 12
compounding periods per year (C/Y). You can change one or both of the
settings to any number."

I got it from this pdf http://home.earthlink.net/~chatteram...s/gideBAII.pdf when I searched yahoo.

[cknapp1]

..It seems strange that it is the default

[CAStudy]

even stranger, on some the default is 12, and some the default is 1.

On the practice exam I did yesterday I luckily made that mistake by changing the compounding periods for one problem , and never changed it back so I was forwarned. The link on the syllabus page to Broverman's review of calculator functions was extremely helpful. I only wish I had thought to look at it earlier.

http://www.soa.org/files/pdf/FM-23-05.pdf

I only really started using all the special worksheets this past week, before that only the time-value, and they save a lot of time but you need to be vigilant about clearing the worksheets before your next problem.
good luck on P, I'm taking it but not the one coming up in September.

[mtg]

That sounds like a nightmare. It's really strange because I also used a BA-II Plus and mine doesn't have any weird default settings like that. I reset mine right before I went in and had no problems at all.
Anyway, you have my condolences.

[mandersonjr]

Thanks for the advice, good luck on p/1