Actuarial Agony with Jen & Jean

This year December brings us oneextra nightmare before Christmas –that is exam results night – so wethought it appropriate to discusssome of the options availableshould your final refresh of theprofession’s website result in lessthan a pass. And if results nightand the usual carnage that is theoffice Christmas party do not fillyou with enough seasonal spirit(s),we present some further festivecheer for your indulgence. Enjoy!JEN & JEANThere are currently two procedures a student can followonce exam results are published. We have summarisedtheir profiles as follows.Exam appealsCost: £250 per paperTurnaround time: 30 working days from receipt ofappeals requestGrounds of appeal:1 if you feel that there has been an administrative orprocedural error (ie they haven’t added up your markscorrectly);2 there were mitigating circumstances which for validreasons couldn’t be divulged by the published closingdate;3 you feel you should have passed after reading theexaminer’s report.Process once appeals form submitted:? acknowledgement within five working days;? check with registry for any obvious administrative mistake.If mistake found which significantly affects result,result amended and appeals fee refunded;? mitigating circumstances only considered if studenthas a very good reason for not submitting these beforethe published due date and only after results are published;? exam script remarked by a staff actuary;? staff actuary sends script with comments and recommendationto principal examiner for final considerationand quality control;? principal examiner submits report and script to headof education and CPD and, where appropriate, thechairman of the board of examiners;? head of education and CPD sends outcome of appealto you.Jen & Jean special notesUnless your mitigating circumstances are pretty damnmitigating, save your time and money. For example, ‘Irefused to answer this question on the grounds that itconflicts with my religious beliefs’ probably won’t cut it.Exam counsellingCost: £225 per paper, £340 for CA1Closing dates for applications:? three weeks after results day plus following weekendfor April exams;? eight weeks after results day plus following weekendfor September exams.Process once counselling form submitted:? receive a call from the profession arranging a suitabledate;? staff actuary goes through your exam script questionby question, noting down comments on each questionin the exam counselling report;? meet staff actuary for up to one hour to discuss yourperformance and ways to improve; you will be giventhe written report to take away.Jen & Jean special notes? Recommended by the Faculty and Institute of Actuariesas better value for students.? You can see your scripts but will not be able to takethem away. Note that there are no marks on yourscripts, but the staff actuary should be able to give youan indication of how you would have scored on a particularquestion.? Sometimes you even get the principal examinerproviding your exam counselling!? General consensus is that exam counselling is usefulonly if you scored an FA and were therefore very closeto passing the exam. With a lower grade, you mightas well just accept your answers were not up to scratchand study the examiners’ report religiously to determineexactly what they’re looking for.