Becoming qualified in two years is impressive; what advice would you give to a recent graduate interested in actuarial?
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I am a graduate from Warwick Uni looking into pricing/ actuarial roles in London. I have seen estimates between two and five years to become fully qualified if you're doing one exam after the other. What made you so successful in getting it done so quickly?
Philippa G. asked a question to Grainne M.
Category: Career Advice
Date asked: Thursday, March 6, 2025
Last reviewed: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Grainne M.
Head of Pricing Europe
The actuarial exams can be very tricky, there were a number of things I would say helped me progress through these quite quickly:
- I had achieved the maximum number of exemptions from my university course, this set me off to a great start
- I had a great group of friends mostly from Uni all progressing through the exams, this was so helpful for that extra push of motivation and to have someone to bounce thoughts off
- I started my exams right away, early in your career your responsibilities are less. This makes it easier to balance study and work, the longer your exams go on for the harder this will get so front loading them in your career may be helpful.
For study techniques I found it very useful to focus on past papers when I had covered to core materials.
In terms of the sequence of exams starting with CP1 gave a great base. I was specifically working in life insurance so SP2 came next naturally and I followed this immediately with SA2 given overlap of material & I finished with SP9. I added the "smaller exams" i.e. communications and modelling to the same sittings as bigger exams to allow multiple attempts at these if required without delaying qualification.
Of course there is always an element of luck too and I got my fair share finishing off my exams with exactly the pass mark in a communications resit!
Good luck with your journey!
Thursday, March 13, 2025