I still have the PTSD…
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I’d be interested in hearing from some FIoA students as to how their own-computer/own-test-environment system is working.
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It would make me feel much better if the CAS addressed how they will prevent issues such as these in the future and not just how they will help the current candidates.
I would also like them to address the issue of people having to drive far away to test since there is no availability near them.
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I’m not sure about the preliminary exams, but CBT certainly has sped up grading for upper level exams. For example, fall results used to be released closer to New Year’s (sometimes after), and now they are regularly released by mid December.
I will give the CAS a little credit for trying to speed things up by having matching type questions and there were a few long form answers where you had to put your answer in a highlighted cell. This would allow graders to quickly check your final answer and mark the exams faster.
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There’s a rant I want to make, but I’m busy with other stuff this weekend.
TL;DR - it’s time for the CAS to get out of administering its own exams and turn over the job to someone who knows how to create exams that properly distinguish those who know the material from those who don’t, and who can offer exams without any issues, especially those we’ve seen in recent years.
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So, the CAS said they would be reaching out to people soon who fall into the different categories. When they reach out to you, chime in so we know it’s happening. 
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Exams are on Excel now? What if you don’t know how to use Excel?
Then, you learn. Of course, you are always welcome to ignore the Excel part. Just type out your formulas free form and do the work on your calculator.
Then you’re clearly in an alternate universe where Lotus 1-2-3 survived and thrived, and casualty exams are far more sensible.
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I think the main reason is that IfoA folks are very spread out globally.
Finding testing centers when the exam takers are in 50+ countries would be a very expensive and time consuming exercise. Thats kind of why they moved to using your own setup: its cheaper and more flexible.
I suspect CAS-exam takers are much more heavily concentrated in terms of global geography?
Easier to find test centers in the US, Canada, UK, Australia etc
I guess I’m not entirely against CBT. But I am against the CAS’s habit of creating new problems before they solve old ones. Making sweeping changes to the exam structure or the format of administration which diverts resources away from fixing existing issues.
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It’s quasi-excel. Looks like excel but lacks a lot of the useful excel commands/features
Hey, that’s a tried and true method!
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But isn’t that unfair to those of us who rely on slide rules?
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Whom do you have in mind?
My day job and my side job do not involve evaluating companies to determine who is the best at creating and administering exams, so I’m leaving that to others who should have that knowledge. I’m just saying “there is a problem,” which I don’t think anyone outside of CAS leadership and CAS die-hards will deny. I’m also saying out of all the potential solutions - do nothing, the CAS takes yet another swing at fixing the problem it’s created, scrap exams completely and turn it over to universities to grant credit, rely on employers to self-police, whatever else comes to mind - IMO a starting best solution is “define what we want the exam process to do and not do, go find someone else who can execute that at a high level with a minimum of problems.”
Everything else from there is scoping out the details. But if the CAS really wants to retain control over administering the exams, then it needs to go back to square one and lay the groundwork for a proper system of administering the exams and validating candidate knowledge to build this “future actuary” it has a vision of, instead of slapping more band-aids on a problem that clearly aren’t having the intended effect.
Nah, they were mid-December before the shift to CBT.
A poll for candidates who took their exam on the 1st of May and submitted a completed exam:
- I will retake my exam
- I will not retake my exam
0
voters