I’m going to be taking the first exam, the probability one, in a few days. They have a very specific list of calculators that will be allowed. I can understand why they wouldn’t want me bringing my TI89 or my TI83, but the only other calculator I have is another TI, a cheap solar-powered scientific calculator. There is no way I could use it to cheat, but it’s not on their list, so I guess I can’t use it.
I can’t see trying to hunt down and spend money on one of the calculators on their list, however. It seems to me the only reason I’d need one is to do arithmetic, and while it wouldn’t be my preferred method, I can do that by hand. Am I correct in this? And if so, why are they so anal about what calculators are allowed?
Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about actuarial exams.
Thought 1:
Back in my college days, I took more than one calculus exam for which we were told not to bring calculators. I don’t think they were forbidden, but we were told that a calculator wouldn’t help us. All the arithmatic on those exams was easy–think do you remember your times table easy.
On one exam, we were told to bring a calculator for one question. The arithmatic on that question was impossible to do by hand–nasty decimals were involved.
Thought 2: probability
Are you SURE that none of the calculators on their list permit one to enter a short list of numbers and have it spit out the mean and standard deviation? Cause that’s what I’d be nervous about.
Although really, the exam should be testing your knowledge and ability to apply that knowledge, and not your ability to use a calculator correctly (idealism speaking).
No. Furthermore, there’s no way that you could be adequately prepared for the exam and not know that. Go out today and get one of the approved calculators, download the SOA practice problems and their solutions, and get to work, or you will fail.
They need to be able to clear the memory on the calculator so they can be sure that you’re not cheating. Since it’s not practical for them to know how to do this with every make and model out there, restricting the list is the only reasonable option.
I don’t suppose students are still issued with log tables any more?
Seriously though, in my experience candidates are always severely pressed for time doing any sort of actuarial exam. Unless you’re an absolute whiz at mental arithmetic, I suggest that you buy one of the approved calculators and start getting familiar with it right away.
Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’d already looked over those questions before I started this thread, and I didn’t see anything that would require a calculator for more than basic arithmetic.
I understand that. But my cheap little scientific calculator doesn’t even have any memory to clear. A glance at the calculator would bear this out - it’s solar powered, there’s nowhere batteries could go for memory. So I don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to use it.
And FTR, I signed up for the exam a couple of months back with the idea that having it under my belt might prove useful in the future, if I ever decide to pursue a career as an actuary. It seemed like a practical idea at the time, but now I’m kind of sorry I did it.
I don’t know what the Society of Actuaries does, but the Institute of Actuaries of Australia always gets retirees to invigilate at its exams. They’re generally not the most technically proficient people when it comes to assessing the memory capacity of a calculator.
I wound up canceling it. I couldn’t bring myself to care enough about it to study properly, so I decided to get half the money back rather than risk failing the test.
