How hard is Actuarial Studies (1 Viewer)

[lawforever]

MAICHI, I believe lawforever could be referring to the lecturer-in-charge of ACTL1001...Sachi... (*shudders*) He has made ACTL1001 a living hell at the moment and I'm pretty sure the other lecturers in ACTL2001-2003 aren't as daunting as him (hopefully, that is he doesn't teach 2nd year).

I would agree with lawforever in regard to ACTL1001; as Sachi said in our first lecture, this subject covers snippets of the entire actuarial profession taught in ACTL3001-3004.

And thanks to T-i-m-m-y about the formula book issue...didn't need it in Test 2, but probably in final exam.

Sachi is actually a very nice person. Just that he sets hard exams.

there should be no problem if the tut questions can be as hard as the assessments.

 

[t-i-m-m-y]

2. It shouldn't be a place to discourage students by scaring or warning them. And what we observed has certainly deviated away from this purpose.

But the reality is the introductory course has been deliberately made to be harder than the later year courses so lota students withdraw in their 1st year. I doubt that this is the case in Macquarie.

ACTL1001, as we all know, is designed with the point in mind of scaring off our budding bright actuaries. Is it a good thing? Well, to be honest? I think so. It has its negatives, but it filters out those who don't want to work hard. I agree, though, Sachi may be a little harsh in the way he does things, but thats Sachi for you.

And with regards to Sachi, he isn't that bad... besides the fact that he sets somewhat more 'challenging' exams that require you to bring together many concepts. He introduces you to many later year concepts, which in hindsight, is not a bad thing. Come to think of it now, ACTL1001 provided a nice little intro for my courses so far.

MAICHI: Its hard to say what the mark distribution is, but from my guess (based on my own and others marks), I'd say they are roughly the same, possibly with 2nd yr subjects giving out slightly higher marks. What matters in actuarial studies is your rank, much like the HSC.

flyin': at UNSW, if we pass, we can't repeat the subject.

 

[Affinity]

to 2nd+ yr students:
what is the min mark that u think we should require in ACTL1001 to be able to manage the actl subjects in the future?
i know they set the benchmark at a credit, but for example, would someone who just gets exactly 65 be able to do reasonably well in later years?

Not something you have to think about, since you are heading towards a 100

 

[ngai]

Not something you have to think about, since you are heading towards a 100

lol i was just asking out of interest

 

[lawforever]

lol i was just asking out of interest

He means you should not set a minimum target mark for urself but aim towards 100 coz "you have to get min mark" is gtta become your mental baggage.

 

[MAICHI]

He means you should not set a minimum target mark for urself but aim towards 100 coz "you have to get min mark" is gtta become your mental baggage.

I think he will actually get the big one zero zero, if anyone is gonna get 100 in actl1001 this session.

 

[serge]

i can't see medicine or law be any easier than actuarial

with a name like lawforever, there's obviously zero bias there

Med, Law and Actuarial all use different parts of the brain
Law memorising and logic, Med memorising
and Actuarial maths and logic.

Im sure they're all hard, but it depends on whether
your skills suit that course

 

[ks21]

Hey Ngai

just wondering what ur opinion is on about hirschorn. lol, I cant believe he really thinks he is gonna inspire some of us to be mathematicians through his intimidation style of teaching.

 

[unmentionable]

Well reading this thread purged me of the idea of doing Act.Studies...

good choice =P

 

[milton]

I'm in year 12 this year and i'm considering doing Actuarial Studies and Computer Science (as a minor) at UNSW next year.

I actually like the maths part, not so much the economics/commerce part of it, i'm more into maths enrichment/olympiad style problem solving

would you guys recommend this course to me?

the quiz looked a lot like probability, permutations/combinations but like 20 times harder than HSC lol

 

[Affinity]

Don't get fooled.. actuarial science is not about calculating sneaky combinatorial identities. the lecturers make those exams because it's suppose to be hard and by nature the subject isn't.


It's best to consider it as a statistics degree with rudimentary accounitng, economics and somewhat deeper finance training (In every other country taht matters, a major in actuarial science is under the purview of the statistics departments). There's a huge overlap between actuarial science and statistics taught at UNSW

So if you find commerce not attractive at all.. and think you want to study what's in actuarial science.. try statistics?

 

[Casmira]

Okay I've heard stories about the big money you make being one and the 24-7 number crunching involved. But for those currently in the course, how many hours do you study and how many hours are you meant to study (i.e. at home, not including going to tutorials or wateva)? Also, does it get harder after first year or easier? Cheers.

its pretty hucking fard

 

[milton]

So if you find commerce not attractive at all.. and think you want to study what's in actuarial science.. try statistics?

well part of my choice takes into account job prospects which are quite good for actuarial

is there a significant difference between macq and unsw? macq's actuarial has a high reputation but unsw's computing department looks very attractive...

 

[redslert]

well part of my choice takes into account job prospects which are quite good for actuarial

is there a significant difference between macq and unsw? macq's actuarial has a high reputation but unsw's computing department looks very attractive...

Eh sorry to burst your bubble but only the best of the best have good job prospects. If you want good job prospects, be an accountant.

If you are going to ask about mac vs unsw in a unsw forum, what do you expect?

Yes UNSW does have the best computing department and the best staff

 

[FinANce]

I'm in year 12 this year and i'm considering doing Actuarial Studies and Computer Science (as a minor) at UNSW next year.

One thing, can you take computer science as a minor in commerce??

I thought in commerce, you are not even allowed to take any subject outside of the FCE or language courses.

I think the school of actuarial studies sets the most random quizzes, if you do stats, the quizzes are a lot easier than the actl version, but we basically learn the same thing. All the actl quizzes feel like a final exam since it's so long and random, while the math quizzes is something that you cram on the bus to uni since everything is nearly exactly the same as the sample.

 

[blackfriday]

im unsw and ill tell you mac is much better for actuary. but its club mac, and do you really wanna go there?

 

[jonathan__]

Wow u guys talk a lot ahaha jks..i'm doing comm/law with a finance major instead of actuarial studies because I've heard Actuarial Studies is such a specialised subject and not all graduates will get the position they want. It is true that the course does enable graduates to take up positions other than being an actuary but yeh it's narrower than finance =p

 

[I Robot]

What do you guys think of this?

Notice to students enrolled in the UNSW Actuarial Studies Major


The Institute of Actuaries of Australia has now approved changes to the
exemption requirements for UNSW courses in the Actuarial major.

For students who commenced the Actuarial major in 2006 the changed
exemption courses will be:

CT7 Economics
ECON1101 Microeconomics and ECON1102 Macroeconomics 1 (minimum 65% average
required)

CT2 Finance and Financial Reporting
FINS1613 Business Finance, ACCT1501 Accounting & Financial Mgt 1A and
ACCT1511 Accounting & Financial Mgt 1B (minimum 65% average required)

Transition arrangements for current students will apply.

Students who will complete the major in 2006 will need to satisfy the old
requirements.

Students completing the actuarial major in 2007 will be able to elect to
meet either the new or the old requirements.

Students completing the major in 2008 or later will have the new
requirements apply.

Dumbing down of actuaries or what?

 

[redslert]

CT7 have always existed.

CT2
It's not like actuaries will get lower than 65% for accounting... OR Business Finance....
Both of which are considered as WAM boosters.

 

[unmentionable]

CT7 have always existed.

CT2
It's not like actuaries will get lower than 65% for accounting... OR Business Finance....
Both of which are considered as WAM boosters.

lol i got 60 for acct1501
and im doing actuary studies
i am so screwed :rofl: