Wednesday Test

Received my Intro Probability test. Got a 37 out of 40, the highest grade in the class, which shouldn't be a surprise, since everything I've done in three other classes I've taken just reinforces the basic probability material. Still, it is something to feel good about, since my friend M only pulled a 32.

Test is tomorrow. I'll probably study about 4 hours or so for it today, and then wrap it up. This is one of those tests that it's hard to prepare for, because the professor hasn't given you any guidelines as to what you're supposed to be knowing.

Anyway, a few words about grade-grubbing. "Grade-grubbing" is the pursuit of the ever-elusive "A" on the transcript. Which, in actuarial science, doesn't mean much -- you can have a transcript full of "A"s and not pass any of the exams.

The thing is that a test -- any test -- is simply a measurement tool: "how much has the student mastered the material?" I need some assurance that I'm really mastering the material needed to pass Exam P in May 2006. I'm not interested in having to take Exam P multiple times.

The funny thing is I went to a seminar held by Dr. W., the chairman of the department, last Friday. It was funny for two reasons:

a) I believe I was one of only two Americans in a room out of 20 people. This is not a racist comment; rather, it's a comment about how fields like statistics and actuarial science are dominated by foreign students.

b) There was some discussion about the future of the actuarial science program at our school. Dr. W. wanted to work more cloasely with the stats department in redesigning the AS (actuarial science) curriculum. Apparently, our elite school
has had some complaints. Companies are claiming that the AS graduates are great at
passing tests, but they are lousy at the original thinking required for mathematical modeling.

Well, as an AS beginner student, let me say...duh. You can't bitch about original thinking when you say "you have to have x number of exams passed before we'll consider you for employment". If you make passed exams from CAS and SOA a hurdle to be jumped, then people are going to spend the bulk of their time jumping that hurdle.

Furthermore, from what I understand, companies look at transcripts, too. I once heard a rumor than anyone with a GPA below 3.00 would not be considered, because it indicated a lack of overall effort.

The result is that the good students, rather than say taking a computer class or a good risk management class (beyond the VEE requirements of say, corporate finance), will be grubbing for grades and passing those P and FM exams and not give so much as a thought to the necessities of actuarial modeling until they're forced to take Exam M.

I'm doing that. You probably would, too.