actuarial (2 Viewers)

[sso]

what can i expect from an actuarial degree if i choose it?

 

[SMARTYPANTS_SINGH]

I had the same question, also what's the process and the best universities for actuarial sciences? I am going into year 11 and want to set my priorities straight before year 12 so I have a clear goal to work towards.

 

[Wizjaro]

Actually on the Macquarie website it says that guaranteed entry is 95. Also from my understanding there is no "best uni" for actuarial studies. UNSW and Macquarie are fairly equal and just tend to differ a bit in some niche areas, so it typically comes down to preference. If you do end up doing actuarial studies though expect a lot of maths and stats. Most people tend to mention the mathematics heavy side of actuarial studies but almost always forget that it is just as equally stat heavy. Additionally it is a hard degree. People always seem to neglect the difficulty of the degree until they actually start. You need to have very good time management skills or you will sink regardless of how "smart" you are. I do actuarial studies at Macquarie but I do have friends who do it at UNSW. If you have any questions lmk and I'll try to answer them(assuming I'm not feeling lazy)

 

[SMARTYPANTS_SINGH]

Since you already are enrolled in the degree I assume that you had done a lot of research before choosing it. What is the process of becoming a certified actuary? Like some websites were saying that there were lots of tests that had to be done, now is that a part of the course or something that has to be done under a different organisation? For example in year 12, there are school exams and then there are the HSC exams themselves.

 

[vishnay]

what can i expect from an actuarial degree if i choose it?

hi i'll just relay my experiences after finishing 1st year actl at unsw

the maths courses are the hardest content wise and the final exams are pretty tough, the actual first year actl course is pretty easy and enjoyable, the commerce courses are the easiest content wise but hardest assessment-wise the marking is literal aids

in terms of unis there aren't major differences afaik between mq and unsw but if u think trimesters are too much to handle then go with mq as they have a semester system which means u get a nice long break between the first and second teaching period and u aren't constantly bombarded with assessments

 

[Wizjaro]

Since you already are enrolled in the degree I assume that you had done a lot of research before choosing it. What is the process of becoming a certified actuary? Like some websites were saying that there were lots of tests that had to be done, now is that a part of the course or something that has to be done under a different organisation? For example in year 12, there are school exams and then there are the HSC exams themselves.

You're right in assuming that I did a lot of research. Ok so the pathway that I'm taking is doing a double degree at Macquarie. To become an actuary there are 3 parts. The first part is typically done by most unis which offer actuarial studies. The first half of the second part can be done if you complete a double degree at Macquarie, the second part is done at work(its literally required). The third part is actually optional and you can choose which exams you complete in it as they are very difficult. So to officially be qualified as an actuary you must have both your part 1s and part 2s, which you only get after graduating and working in the field for some time. If you get your part 3s then you qualify as a fellow, however it is not required and is very difficult and is done outside of university. The benefits of becoming a fellow is the very obvious salary increase, however in saying that you can still obtain a high salary without being a fellow. So essentially, Part 1(Uni), Part 2A(Uni), Part 2B(Work), Part 3(Work). That is the pathway at Macquarie. I'm not very well versed on how it works at UNSW because when I was researching it initially there was a lot of conflicting information but I do believe they have streamlined the process by now, so hopefully someone else can enlighten us. But yea since Macquarie has has the degree for like forever it was very easy to find out what the pathway was.

 

[Wizjaro]

hi i'll just relay my experiences after finishing 1st year actl at unsw

the maths courses are the hardest content wise and the final exams are pretty tough, the actual first year actl course is pretty easy and enjoyable, the commerce courses are the easiest content wise but hardest assessment-wise the marking is literal aids

in terms of unis there aren't major differences afaik between mq and unsw but if u think trimesters are too much to handle then go with mq as they have a semester system which means u get a nice long break between the first and second teaching period and u aren't constantly bombarded with assessments

To add to this from a Macquarie perspective,

The maths courses weren't that hard personally, but the final exam was a pain in the umm you know..., the first year actuary course was pretty hard but not too bad, the economics course was easy aside from the assignments which have the weirdest possible marking ever, and the stats courses made me wanna umm for sake of better words neck myself... Also I'm pretty bias cause I do have a natural affinity for maths so umm maybe maths was hard idk I couldn't really tell, but stat definitely was hard.

 

[notme123]

in first year you have to do microecon and macroecon. the economics department at unsw id argue is actually really lazy because they throw things in the final youve never seen before and expect you to adapt and not panic. they use the same pool of questions every term for some reason, and they amped up the difficulty this year so everyone who started 2021 and before have higher marks for econ cuz it used to be way easier, while there's NO MODERATION for 2022 students. not to mention the assessment structure for micro is a complete crock of shite, its a free 45 marks but doesnt help you out with the final one bit.

vishnay already mentioned this but the comm courses are marked ridiculously meticulously, because they actually take lot of marks away for getting minor technicalities wrong, or omitting very small details. the maths in comm is not that hard tho, like at all.

ive also heard a lot of... things about second year actl but since some of us here are experiencing it soon enough we can make our testimonies then.

 

[ititttitti]

You're right in assuming that I did a lot of research. Ok so the pathway that I'm taking is doing a double degree at Macquarie. To become an actuary there are 3 parts. The first part is typically done by most unis which offer actuarial studies. The first half of the second part can be done if you complete a double degree at Macquarie, the second part is done at work(its literally required). The third part is actually optional and you can choose which exams you complete in it as they are very difficult. So to officially be qualified as an actuary you must have both your part 1s and part 2s, which you only get after graduating and working in the field for some time. If you get your part 3s then you qualify as a fellow, however it is not required and is very difficult and is done outside of university. The benefits of becoming a fellow is the very obvious salary increase, however in saying that you can still obtain a high salary without being a fellow. So essentially, Part 1(Uni), Part 2A(Uni), Part 2B(Work), Part 3(Work). That is the pathway at Macquarie. I'm not very well versed on how it works at UNSW because when I was researching it initially there was a lot of conflicting information but I do believe they have streamlined the process by now, so hopefully someone else can enlighten us. But yea since Macquarie has has the degree for like forever it was very easy to find out what the pathway was.

If you do Co-Op at MQ the part 2s are fully completed or are they still half done?

 

[Wizjaro]

If you do Co-Op at MQ the part 2s are fully completed or are they still half done?

Yes its still half done because the other half is from actually working, not work experience or internships. So no uni offers the full part 2s no matter what.

 

[vishnay]

just wondering who here is doing unsw actl next yr

 

[mmmmmmmmaaaaaaa]

just wondering who here is doing unsw actl next yr

I was thinking of doing this, paired with commerce probably.

 

[idkkdi]

I was thinking of doing this, paired with commerce probably.

aint no way ur pairing actuarial with commerce. go do math or cs or sth

 

[mmmmmmmmaaaaaaa]

aint no way ur pairing actuarial with commerce. go do math or cs or sth

Why not commerce?

Maths would've been my other option, no way I'd do cs

 

[idkkdi]

Why not commerce?

Maths would've been my other option, no way I'd do cs

wait till u take 2 comm subjects and want to die lol

 

[idkkdi]

What course do you do? I thought you did med lol

nah dont do med lol. not interested

 

[pikachu975]

Since you already are enrolled in the degree I assume that you had done a lot of research before choosing it. What is the process of becoming a certified actuary? Like some websites were saying that there were lots of tests that had to be done, now is that a part of the course or something that has to be done under a different organisation? For example in year 12, there are school exams and then there are the HSC exams themselves.

Just gonna make it clear that you can actually become an actuary without doing the degree in uni by doing the 3 parts with the actuaries institute.

The first 3 years of the degree has certain subjects where if you get a certain threshold, you can apply to become exempt from doing the relevant exam with the Actuaries Institute. The first 3 years are relevant for Part 1s. The Part 2s you can either do some of them in your 4th year of uni if you're doing a double degree, then the rest after you graduate by applying to do it with the Actuaries Institute (I think 5 in total). You can still do part 2s if you do a single degree, you just go back to uni to do them so it's the same thing.

Technically the part 2s is called the "actuary program" but most people usually define an actuary as someone who passed part 3s. Before these used to have like 20-30% pass rates, but nowadays they're like 50%+ for every subject so I guess it isn't as hard now. You just do 3 of these exams and they're usually done while working and you pick ones relevant to your industry since work knowledge helps a lot.

I guess u could argue that qualifying isn't that prestigious anymore since it's way easier now but yea that's the process, hope it helped.

what can i expect from an actuarial degree if i choose it?

Lots of people pick it due to liking high school maths and imo it's very different. Most subjects are just very hard statistics + probability
- Part 1s: lots of calculations/statistics/probability
- Part 2s: more reading/writing/theory
- Part 3s: more theory like part 3s but also involves experience+knowledge from work and making judgements

aint no way ur pairing actuarial with commerce. go do math or cs or sth

Agreed, the actuarial courses nowadays are pretty outdated for what's actually useful for work. They should teach more Python/VBA/relevant R/SQL. I literally used like nothing from my whole degree when I started my job LMAO.

Literally first task I got asked to make a Pivot Table in Excel and I was like "smth this basic wasn't taught in uni??"

EDIT: different industries and roles use different software and knowledge so the above comment may not apply to everything

 

[idkkdi]

ooh ok, that's also what I'm planning to do at UNSW (cs + math)

do you have any recommendations for courses?

nah what u take is pretty standard. basically what everyone else does lol

 

[idkkdi]

ye ngl comm1140 sounds like the only first year comm subject of worth, and comm1190 because you do R programming. also for some reason comm have their own version of micro and macroecon (1110 and 1150 respectively) which just looks confusing on the transcript because they have extravagant names when theyre just econ with a side of business, but actl comm might do econ instead so idk. 1120 i heard is bludge but can also be hit or miss depending on group members. 1170 is devil incarnate and 1180 is better but not far behind lol. the new 'integrated first year' or whatever is probably just a hurdle to your majors so if you tough it out it should be all good.

u learn some stuff in 1140 ig. the assignment's a trek. but legit @mmmmmmmmaaaaaaa could probably learn the entire course in 2 days.

 

[hellohowslife]

ye ngl comm1140 sounds like the only first year comm subject of worth, and comm1190 because you do R programming. also for some reason comm have their own version of micro and macroecon (1110 and 1150 respectively) which just looks confusing on the transcript because they have extravagant names when theyre just econ with a side of business, but actl comm might do econ instead so idk. 1120 i heard is bludge but can also be hit or miss depending on group members. 1170 is devil incarnate and 1180 is better but not far behind lol. the new 'integrated first year' or whatever is probably just a hurdle to your majors so if you tough it out it should be all good.

1170 is the worst course I have done at uni by far