Becoming an actuary requires a comprehensive education, including courses in risk analysis, economics, and business. After graduation, individuals must pass a series of exams, and some courses can help obtain professional designations such as Associate of the Society of Actuaries and Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst.
Becoming an actuary can be an involved academic process. Even after an individual becomes an actuary, they must continue their education in order to pass certain exams and advance their careers. Professionals begin taking actuarial courses in college, along with other financial courses, and then take additional actuarial courses to prepare for these exams. There is a wide range of actuarial courses, including those in risk analysis, economics and business, as well as courses specifically geared towards actuarial exams.
Upon earning an undergraduate degree in actuarial science, students take actuarial courses that allow them to learn about risk analysis, insurance underwriting, risk management, and statistics. In most college-level programs, students are also advised to take courses in economics, advanced math courses like calculus and linear algebra, courses in marketing and other business and computer science. Actuaries need a comprehensive education, as their future careers in insurance risk will require the ability to understand and learn about a wide variety of topics. The depth and breadth of their knowledge and their ability to assimilate new knowledge are even more important if they choose non-insurance careers.
After graduating, people interested in becoming actuaries usually must pass a series of exams that vary from country to country. In the US, for example, they will have a probability exam called the P/1 Course. Actuary courses for this exam will give actuaries a chance to learn from practical problems and a practical test. It also gives participants the opportunity to discuss all training material with their classmates and instructor.
Another set of actuarial courses in the US focuses on the FM/2 Course, which investigates the mathematics of finance. This course can take two or more days, including practice exams and necessary textbooks. Course M actuarial courses prepare participants for two exams, MLC and MFE. These courses consist of two seminars, which can be taken at the same time or at different times, and include optional seminars at the end.
Some actuarial courses also help actuaries obtain professional designations, such as Associate of the Society of Actuaries and Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA). For these designations, actuaries must take a professional course that delves into the code of conduct and standards of practice. The CERA designation also requires actuaries to demonstrate experience in various types of insurance, such as health and life insurance, and a specific knowledge of a specific subset of actuarial sciences.
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