You must admit that this is different than in the past. In the past they gave us around a month notice when the release date is. If it is going to be next week, they should know by then. Although maybe it is in two weeks (or before February 15th) and early February needs to be read liberally.
There seems like there is something preventing them from telling us when they will release grades. Maybe they have no idea because they are arguing over pass rates and no one is comfortable yet.
It’s been mentioned elsewhere . . . and I think it’s been mentioned here as well (not going to search myself ) . . .
This is the first time that the CBT was done for all upper level CAS exams. As a result, there is likely to be a lot more scrutiny being done on results to both understand what went on and to establish a baseline of what to look for in future sittings.
On top of that, in the past, work on grading and reviewing exam results did not conflict with timing of when volunteers need to devote more time to their actual jobs (case in point, we’re currently going through year-end activities).
And I think it is this latter dynamic as to why this time around the CAS isn’t giving a similar “definitive” time frame for releasing results because the volunteers aren’t going to “drop everything” just to meet that sort of deadline . . . and the CAS isn’t going to alienate their volunteers to make a bunch of candidates “happy”.
The fact that the CAS did extend the testing window was a consideration given to the students. I think it’s only fair that the students reciprocate and allow the volunteers attend to their jobs when there is a very tight timeline for them to get their work done . . . and done professionally.
They knew about this from almost 7 months ago and should have planned accordingly. Year-end work happens routinely at the beginning of every year. That shouldn’t have been a surprise. How about setting a target and finding the resources to meet that target? Contingency planning? Sounds actuarial to me.
I agree with everything you said. I still don’t think that addresses why they can’t give us a timeline.
If they know it’s next week, they should say that. I find it hard to believe they won’t know until the day before it is released. The final meetings are scheduled in advance… I imagine it isn’t easy to get everyone in those meetings at the same time.
Still struggling to understand why these meetings are so hard to plan. When you’re working and you have a quarterly meeting that you know about in advance, what do you do? You put it on the calendar in advance. If you said, “maybe someone had to reschedule at the last minute” then I totally understand that. But again, they knew about this from 7 months ago. How is it “hard” to schedule a meeting and invite the people who need to be there? Those who aren’t available will decline and then you keep rescheduling till you get a time that works for everyone, just like you do on Microsoft Office.
7 months ago, the plan was doing the grading in Dec.
Come late Nov, that changed. If you think it’s a simple matter of “there’s only a few more Exams to grade”, I’m sure that this isn’t the case based on my conversations with other graders. Considerable time is spent on reconciling scores for those who are on the cutoff for passing. And this isn’t done until after all exams are graded.
So the review of results by the Exam Chair doesn’t take place until mid-Jan . . . with the Board review taking place, after this review . . . not to mention the back-and-forth.
The CAS did give a timeline. It’s just not for a specific time. They’re working within the constraint of their volunteers and the volunteers (many at this point are AVP, VP, Chief Actuary, etc.) also do not have a solid timeframe for their work responsibilities as they’re also held accountable by company executives.
Let us not also forget that 2020 presented weird results due to COVID . . . and that is not something that is easily addressed in a single meeting. (This part I know from doing reserve work for my own company.)
And this will add to the uncertainty of when the CAS volunteers work responsibilities are going to end.
I trust actuaries to be creative in finding ways to optimize funds. They’re more than qualified to do that but I think we can end the discussion here. They failed in their execution this time around as they have in the past. So be it. I’ll look out for results in a week or two.
I think we exam sitters need to have some grace and understanding that those grading are volunteers. I also think this wait is ridiculous and if the CAS only thinks of us as “candidates” that’s disappointing.
) . . .