Friday, April 18, 2008

First Impressions of ASM Exam P Manual

I must admit, when I first started reviewing the ASM manual, I was slightly overwhelmed. I was unfamiliar with many of the subjects covered in the manual. Among the things that I did manage to recongize were the basic probability properties and double integrals. Needless to say I was intimidated and began having second thoughts about taking the test anytime soon. But I thought about it and realized that if I self study hard enough, I can pass it. I remember before I ever took a calculus class my perception of that subject was that it was the type of math I would most likely fail in should I ever enroll in the course. I enrolled in a Business Calculus course this past semester and I am on track to getting a B+ or A- grade range. That thought sort of eased my mind a bit.

Since I now know the type of studying I need to do, I may decide to take Exam P next May instead of this coming November. That may put a damper on my chances at landing an internship next summer but throwing away 175 dollars because I wasn't ready is not an appealing thought. Plus, many folks on the actuarial forums have said that they landed internships and even entry level jobs without passing an exam. But I'll deal with the internship thing a few months down the road. Right now I need to concentrate on brushing up my math and finishing out this semester strong in order to raise my gpa.

I found an online textbook about probabilities online in pdf format(legally I should add). Although this textbook won't be the key for me to pass Exam P, it will have me familiarize myself with probabilities. Currently, I only know a few concepts of Calculus-based probabilities. But since my calc class only covered probabilities in 2 sections, I'll need to study this textbook in order to learn more detailed concepts. I also found an online statistics textbook online(once again, legally). I won't be using this book quite as much as the first one but I'll definitely take a look at it once in a while as a supplement. I'm currently in the process of developing a study plan for the probabilities online textbook. There are 12 chapters with 3 sections in each chapter. I plan on reviewing 2 sections and complete their exercise questions per week during the summer. Hopefully I can stay on this schedule as I plan on taking 2 summer school classes as well as getting a summer job(maybe 2 jobs since I'm trying to land an apartment for fall semester).
Once my summer ends in August, I have around 2.5-3 months to study the ASM manual if I decide to sit for Exam P in November.

Well, that's that. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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