Actuarial Studies, but shaky at math (1 Viewer)

[starletcharmed]

Ive been thinking about pursuing actuarial studies, however, Im a bit shaky at math.... Would it be possible for a person whos math skills are a bit shaky to try out acst101? If I worked really hard would I be able to do well? Does anyone know the comparison of acst101 to for example, math135 (or other mathematics units)?

 

[randomguy777]

acst101 unit is a basic finance type unit not actuarial

simple 2u maths just annuities 2-3 step calculations.

if u work hard it should be really easy.

 

[piitb]

you shouldnt be doing the actuarial degree if you didnt do at least 4u maths or got at least 48/50 in X1 maths.

 

[Boxxxhead]

Greetings!

If you're shaky with maths, I don't think you should do Actuarial. If you're not certain about your maths skills, you should be able to try ACST101, but most Actuaries get an easy D or HD in it. From the Actuaries in my cohort that I know, the only Actuaries who got Credit (and in VERY rare circumstances, Pass) in ACST101 are those who aren't on pace to complete their program in the required time, or have dropped out. Try out ACST101 coz it's not that hard a unit and is a common finance type unit, but if you struggle to perform well in it (especially in the Techniques section) then I'd definitely not recommend Actuarial studies to you. Pretty much all Actuaries have an E4 in 3unit maths (and many in 4unit) so if you can't reach that threshold and are still shaky with maths, don't do it.

How did you go in MATH135 or any of the other mathematical/statistical units that you have done?

 

[-Anfernee-]

Things will get a lot more abstract, even as soon as your second semester.

Whay exactly do you mean by " shaky at maths" ?

If you couldn't even handle ext 1/ext 2 maths at a high school level, then how are you gonna be able to cope with university level maths applied to finance and insurance situations/ problems? Also lets not forget about the uber competitive and talented actuarial students you'll be competing with for grades. I'm pretty sure that you'll to be graded on a bell curve.

 

[bennyhenny]

acst101 is not an accurate reflection of the difficulty of an actuarial degree, It is by FAR the easiest actuarial subject and you should only consider actuarial studies if you find acst101 ridiculously easy

 

[AppleNader]

StarletCharmed, what exactly are your intentions for doing Actuarial Studies?

If you are motivated by the high salaries, just remember that there are plenty of Multi millionaires in this country and none of them are actuaries..lol

You could just give it a try and drop it if you're not down with it, sure you might end up staying a semester or two longer at uni but atleast you would have seen what it was like instead of just pondering what could have been.

 

[kevinant]

ACST101 should be called FINS101 instead, and ACST201 should be called FINS202...so we don't get too confused.
In UNSW ACST101 is a finance unit (the textbook is exactly the same)
It doesn't require any extension maths, being sufficient in 2 units maths is enough, since it's basically on the Series and sequences of 2 units course plus some finance theories. Everyone can do ACST101 as it's a basic finance unit.

The maths part is MATH132&MATH133 where you revise whole 4U stuffs in third of MATH132. But it not really that hard....
The big problem is STAT171 where 35% got failed (PASS REPEAT) for first year. Most people who only did 3U failed STAT171. More importantly, you have to be extemely mathematical (expecially with all weird techniques of integration) Since you'll encounter integrating factorial function (Phew!) in STAT272 and STAT271 to work out PDF and CDF of the gamma and beta distributions. Also, the follow on of ACST101 (ACST200 when you encounter varing future interest rate) Differential equations will be used which is very mathematical as well...

 

[Supra]

StarletCharmed, what exactly are your intentions for doing Actuarial Studies?

If you are motivated by the high salaries, just remember that there are plenty of Multi millionaires in this country and none of them are actuaries..lol

You could just give it a try and drop it if you're not down with it, sure you might end up staying a semester or two longer at uni but atleast you would have seen what it was like instead of just pondering what could have been.

If you're shaky at maths, don't do actuarial. If you're curious as to how it could be (like I was five years ago) then go to UNSW, do the B Com Actuarial and if you dont like it you can switch to the decent B Com (Fin).

Mq is for the students who are quite confident in completing the course.

 

[AsyLum]

Mq is for the students who are quite confident in completing the course.

Unless you're a masochist, in which case welcome!

 

[jellybelly08]

Mq is for the students who are quite confident in completing the course.

Yea, even then ~30% of them don't finish.

 

[Supra]

Unless you're a masochist, in which case welcome!

=P

How did you go with your honours?

Yea, even then ~30% of them don't finish.

Might even be a bit more than that by the end of third/fourth year...

 

[jellybelly08]

Might even be a bit more than that by the end of third/fourth year...

You're probably right, i'm just going by what my friends (going into 4th year) have told me. I guess on the first day of class they'll be able to give a definite answer.

They did say that it gets easier in 4th year, but i dunno, i'm happy just doing 3rd year of my finance degree.

 

[AsyLum]

=P

How did you go with your honours?

Second Class Div I, was disappointed by the Thesis mark but I understood why it was low, so was a bit shitty at myself by meh, still a decent mark

Going to do another degree in between that and the PhD rofl (masochists ahoy)

 

[Supra]

Second Class Div I, was disappointed by the Thesis mark but I understood why it was low, so was a bit shitty at myself by meh, still a decent mark

Going to do another degree in between that and the PhD rofl (masochists ahoy)

haha you don't wanna leave into the real world do you? I don't blame you, you aren't missing out on much, except maybe the million hotties in the city

 

[kevinant]

You're probably right, i'm just going by what my friends (going into 4th year) have told me. I guess on the first day of class they'll be able to give a definite answer.

They did say that it gets easier in 4th year, but i dunno, i'm happy just doing 3rd year of my finance degree.

Yes.. I heard it's get less mathematical so it's easier.. only approx. 40% get through whole 4-year course without fail (PASS REPEAT and below) in anything, Many of them have gone into 5th and 6th years. So obviously it's not quite through.. But luckily.. only about half of the percentage made to 4th year in UNSW (look at their timetable website) and our percentage is much higher..so his statement is somewhat correct and incorrect.

 

[AsyLum]

haha you don't wanna leave into the real world do you? I don't blame you, you aren't missing out on much, except maybe the million hotties in the city

I did Honours working full time, and still am, part of the reason I'm doing the Dip Ed is cos I've realised its a shit job, going to try teaching instead

 

[invad3r]

Yes.. I heard it's get less mathematical so it's easier.. only approx. 40% get through whole 4-year course without fail (PASS REPEAT and below) in anything, Many of them have gone into 5th and 6th years. So obviously it's not quite through.. But luckily.. only about half of the percentage made to 4th year in UNSW (look at their timetable website) and our percentage is much higher..so his statement is somewhat correct and incorrect.

its not correct to say less mathematical=easier, it all depends on the actual person. take me, for example, im heavily built upon the maths side of things (in retrospect, i may have been better suited to engineering than actuarial), and so relatively i suck at theoretical subjects, which means bad news in later years. also, "maths" is a VERY vague term, statistics, for example, is a completely different branch to everything else.

especially in the actuarial field, it is easy to simply quote past numbers, but much harder to use these numbers with competency. sure, statistics say a certain percentage of people fail, but u need to be able to use that to say something about your own chances at the course.

 

[jas0nt]

this is usually the stuff covered in your 1st year/2nd year.

Index of /~kmtam/stat2001

(stat2001 is considered a beginning course to other fun-filled actuary courses)

check out stat2008 exam, quite a fun read