"It's Over"

I have a T-shirt with a statuesque woman in pig tails and "opera armor" with her mouth wide open, in mid-song. At the bottom of the shirt are the words, "it's over".

And, dear readers, Exam P is over.

My impression is that with the new superrrrr computer system, you would have a guesstimated result lickety-split. However, as the last screen popped up, you got the words, "in seven weeks, candidate numbers will be released". So, no, not until approximately July 13th will I know the results of Exam P.

Taking the exam on the computer is a bit weird. There are a few problems with this system. First, they never give you enough pencils. At the testing center, I got two pencils to work with (can't bring in your own pencil, y'know -- there might be answers written on the side).

When I write, I bear down HARD on pencils. Sharp pencils turn to dull nubs within 15 minutes. So I had to waste 30 seconds of valuable time requesting 2 more pencils. You get your own scratch paper, for obvious reasons, but you have to turn it in later.

The other problem is that you can't scribble on the test itself, without leaving marks on the screen.

The test was 180 minutes, 30 questions, so about 6 minutes to solve. And let me tell you, I used every bit of those three hours. Didn't have time to check my earlier work, and some of those problems I found the solution to almost at the last minute.

It was hard. Those 30 minutes go by fast.

According to the oath which I swear by clicking a button, I am honor-bound not to tell you anything about the contents of Exam P. At least, not until the end of the month by which time everyone should have taken this particular sitting of Exam P.

I try to put the actual test out of my mind, so no private e-mail. As my wife says, "D for done", referring to her initially poor academic career. All I need is a 6 out of 10 from the SOA/CAS, and I've passed.

Now, what's my life going to be like for the rest of the summer? I'll be studying linear algebra on my own in preparation for graduate school in August 2007. Still obstensibly looking for work, although all is quiet on that front. And finally, I might post some actuarial thoughts and articles, like the oft-imitated (but never equaled) Actuary.net .


P. S. Got grades back on all three of my courses. A, A, and A. Thank goodness.