Nice! I got it to work for me too now 
I am in for this sitting! :s
I am super stressed by all the scary comments about this exam tbh, but at the same time I have gone through 60% (not super detailed, just read the problems and solutions) of the RF Cookbook and haven’t found anything out of the usual curveballs of other exams… so I am wondering, what is it that makes this exam so hard to pass? Do I have to wait and see the 40% I am left? 
I have read that the short syllabus gives you a false illusion of being easy… so which are the really hard topics of this exam?
That’s how I felt last year and last year’s exam was relatively standard. The only other exam that I was confident to pass but failed was exam FM, when I was young and naive…
I think the key is to REALLY understand the materials. Now I review them again I know I was overconfident.
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The main thing with this exam is how many different ways they can ask questions on the material. You just have to have a good understanding of how to do the problems obviously, but also all the different ways they can ask certain questions. I strongly suggest the RF Cookbook for this exam because they do an excellent job of explaining the various ways you could see a certain type of question presented. I can confidently say I would not have passed this exam on the first try if it wasn’t for RF.
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you can also use them as offsets with GLM (there are some drawbacks to that but I think that is beyond the scope of the syllabus)
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What is in the study kit and should I be buying it?
the syllabus tells you what’s in it
isn’t your company paying for it? and even if it’s not, why wouldn’t you buy it if you’re serious in any way about passing the exam?
I’d say that outside of Exam 8, the other study kits aren’t as make or break/the study guides can navigate you through the darkness. So probably a little false sense of security for anyone coming from 6 to 8 as to why do I need the study kit
good call. you don’t necessarily need it to learn the material - videos or study guides are fine for that - but you will need to know how to use it when doing practice problems. you definitely need to learn how to be comfortable finding the right tables, columns, etc. on the exam, even though the tables will be provided digitally on exam day
The problem is the actual exam tables don’t really line up with the way it’s presented in the study kit
agreed, that’s why it’s even more important to be familiar with how to use the tables
Why is the GLM section on this exam and not on the MAS exams?!
End of rant
For people like me who took old exam 5 before GLM stuff was heavily involved, and haven’t taken passed 8, cuz slow.
I’m still deeply saddened that you aren’t sitting this time with me.
I can still help with the half of the material I actually deal with on the job. 
The other stuff is for suckers.
how’s everyone’s study so far? I just finished watching the TIA videos for aggregate excess loss estimates. I’m still debating if I should get the crystal clear manual.
I posted a few weeks ago that everything seemed fine for me while looking at the first topics of the syllabus, now that I am almost done reviewing the material, I really want to die that is how my studying is doing.
I thought there was no CC manual for this exam 
Which parts do you think are hard? I feel the opposite. The material seems ok but the exam questions can go wild.
CC just posted her manual, but I don’t know if it’s worth it. Anyone can comment on that?
I don’t think it’s the best manual to learn the material. (That being said, I did appreciate her explanation on a few concepts where the TIA and/or RF explanation didn’t help me, like Lee diagrams.)
I did find her problem sets helpful, since it was hard to find good problem sets on this exam. (Even the Cookbook basically has just one practice problem per problem type.) Also, her practice exams are brutal, which I used to identify hidden holes in my understanding.
If it’s your first pass, maybe the TIA (+RF) approach may be sufficient for you. Too much study material can definitely lead to study paralysis. However, if it’s your second attempt and you’re looking to broaden your understanding and find gaps, then I would highly recommend.
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