I thought the test was interesting to say the least. Not what I would call complicated though. Just an odd mix of either straight-forward, easy questions and random material that was purposely put there bc they assumed (correctly) that no one would actually focus on those sections too much. I really wasn’t challenged at all by the items that I knew, but had no idea on the curveball questions so just put the best answer I could think of. Really hoping I got a 6…
So this is what I recall of the question breakdown, anyone remember what else they asked for Q2-4?
Q1 ERM ratings direct criteria for strong score, positive for risk controls, credit risk, interest risk
Q2 ASOPs
Q3 DM problem with missing info. Don’t remember the rest of the question
Q4 Maybe more ASOPs?
Q5 Market stabilization, questions to ask, state initiatives
Q6 ERM and other more straightforward calculation problem with IT costs
I don’t know the exact order but:
S&P ratings
DM calc question also asked when is diagnosis data unreliable
Another DM question. Several word questions on the actuarial control method. Maybe asop 45 was in here
ORSA questions
Asop 55 somewhere in there
Question on the valuation of care management vendors
The question with 5 points on asop41 also asked a big question on adding Rx to the ACA models
The ACA market stabilization massive question with the 1332
I think 4 was about vendors? I distinctly remember something about how vendors affect cost. Then there was another question about benefits of adding drugs to models.
That sounds right, that q4 was the vendors one
That’s me, I had no clue GoActuary had an active exam specific forum. Happy this place got traction. Reasons I thought it was straightforward:
- They had some real batshit crazy ones in recent years, like the one that required you to remove “non-preventable hospitalizations” before trending the baseline to the measurement…as if ANYONE would figure that out on the fly.
- Pre-tax hurdle has always been Net ROI. I don’t think I saw any past exam questions in which that was different. I only came across a single past exam question that talked about post-tax and that problem gave a tax rate.
- I don’t recall any past exam problems where the fee was for chronic members and it wasn’t explicitly stated, I’m assuming because these programs are usually paid on all members.
- Using said “assumptions”, you get a very reasonable answer that gives room for discussion afterwards.
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Thanks for posting! So your list wasn’t the issue. Your assumptions are reasonable. Yes, hurdle=net ROI (though I forgot it on the exam), and IMO applying the fee to all members vs just chronics is a coin flip, not a big deal either way. Choose one, state the assumption, and move on.
The real issue- how did you get the cost/admit?
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I assumed that they suck at writing questions. The only cost I can use is the amount they gave us for the measurement period, why change it?
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Sounds like you did about same thing as me. Awesome.
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Honestly I think the part of that question that matters most is the “Validate their claim” portion. You get points for doing the math right but half the points are making commentary on the results.
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The cost given I believe was stated as Total cost per member, which was super vague. I assumed that was the total IP cost per chronic member, so multiplied that by chronic member months and divided by IP admits to get a cost per admit. It came out to be around $10k or so, and it didn’t change the direction of my response. I had everything worked out using the $8k number they gave, then changed it on a re-read.
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I did something different. I applied the pmpy to total members. Per chronics- that cost is too low.
That very well could be the intended way, but if so then that’s some roundabout math that I’m NEVER going to figure out on the fly when they provide weak labels, so I’m not too upset over it. When it comes down to it that amount is probably worth a quarter of a point in total, the rest of the points on that problem being in the rest of the calc and the discussion.
My panties are way more in a bunch over 10 points of ASOPs and 4 points of calc. That’s just inappropriate for exam purposes, egregiously so. Especially when some of the ASOP questions are vague. That one on how to deal with management actions? ASOP 41 and assumptions? Assumptions used for what purposes? I just wrote and wrote and wrote in hopes that I checked off enough key words for their rubric. Luckily I had all the flashcards locked in so when they asked other list questions I was able to save a ton of time, which gave me about 15 minutes at the end to go back to the ASOPs and write more.
^This felt good to write to other people who took the test, my wife is sick of hearing me complain. 
My complaints:
- Too few calc points
- Too much ERM
- Too many lists. If you can get 50% of total points just from regurgitating lists, that’s not a good thing
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what was this question? I looked back and I didnt even have a notecard for this.
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I went to the MATE manual as soon as I got home and found some general stuff on management in ASOP 55. I just wrote a bunch of stuff from that ASOP as well as general things that management could do. Fingers crossed?
I knew there was a management actions section in asop 55. It overlaps some with asop 46. [both asop 55 questions overlap with 46 and 47]. I said a little bit, probably not enough. But I think this management actions question was tough on everyone.
Now that I’ve complained a little. Here’s what I remember.
If you were prepared for the S&P and the ORSA, that’s awesome.
“cohort” essentially means group.
Chapter 10 is good for going over the basics of study designs.
actuarial hist. control methodology is definitely open cohort. Did you say that?
Nope, I explained how the method works, how using the same criteria to select members means you can call them equivalent and so on and so forth, but I truly just did not know the definition of a cohort study and I always figured that a cohort study needs two definitively separate groups. Goodbye points!