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Nice to Knows: Frequently Asked Questions
We've compiled this FAQ to answer common questions about this exam and serve as a resource for your preparation. If your question isn't answered here, please reach out to our support team. We're here to help you navigate your actuarial journey!
While the study duration varies from person to person, it's typical to invest around 300 hours in preparing for this exam (roughly 100 hours per exam hour). Most students spread their study over three months, dedicating the first two months to learning the material and the final month to solving practice problems. You can use our scheduler to help organize your exam preparation.
The order doesn't matter. As long as you cover both parts and spend some time afterward practicing and reviewing the material for each, you will be good.
The SOA has released the syllabus for Exam FAM for November 2024. We want to bring your attention to several changes that may affect your preparation.
Key Changes:
- Exam Structure: The exam is now a single 3.5-hour session covering consisting of 34 multiple-choice questions, increasing the average time per question from 5 to 6+ minutes.
- Syllabus Integration: Short-term and long-term topics are now integrated into a unified set of learning outcomes, replacing the previous separate sections for FAM-S and FAM-L.
- Topic Weight Adjustments: Most topic weights have been revised. For instance, "Short-Term Insurance and Reinsurance Coverages" now accounts for 5-10% of the exam (previously 7.5-12.5% in FAM-S).
- Removed Topics: Several topics from the July 2024 syllabus have been eliminated, including:
- Concept of insurable risk (FAM-S Learning Outcome 1a)
- Types of short-term insurance coverage (FAM-S Learning Outcome 1b)
- Common features of population mortality curves (FAM-L Learning Outcome 8f)
- The entire section on Estimating Survival Models (FAM-L Learning Outcome 9)
- Reading Material Updates:
- Core texts "Loss Models" and "Introduction to Ratemaking and Loss Reserving for Property and Casualty Insurance" remain largely unchanged.
- "Individual Health Insurance" has been removed from the reading list.
- Chapters from "Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks" have been adjusted, with specific sections excluded.
More information from the SOA can be found here: https://www.soa.org/education/exam-req/syllabus-study-materials/edu-updates-exam-fam/.
Our Impression:
These changes address previous feedback regarding the extensive syllabus and time constraints during the exam. The reduction in content and number of questions, while maintaining the exam duration, should provide candidates with a more manageable exam experience.
We've made the necessary updates to our content to align it with the current syllabus.