Hey, thank you for posting this suggestion. When I was young, one of my first obsessions was baseball player statistics. I think this is part of the reason I took such an interest in the financial markets, especially trying to quantify edges.
I got really excited after reading your post and did a little research into actuarial exams, and stumbled across a learning resource and the moderator there said in the disclaimer "potential actuarial exam takers are expected to be very comfortable with Calculus 1-3".....this was a bit deflating to read. Unfortunately, that guy certainly is not me....but who knows, maybe with enough grit and determination I could tackle that as well and make it though.
At least this would give me something that will push me to my limits, and maybe inspire me to become a better version of myself that I think it possible. Who knows.
Hmm... I wonder what the moderator was referring too. Most people that are actuaries took actuarial science as a major, which just basically taught them how to pass exams for 4 years. I'm sure the curriculum includes some calculus. The exams themselves have little calculus, as least when I took them, and most of the calculus that is on the exams is very basic and easy to learn.
If you become an actuary, eventually you pick a track for the "upper" exams. You could choose the quantitative track and this has actual stochastic calculus proofs in it, which are pretty nasty, but few people take the track because it is so hard. The other tracks are mostly memorization and applying risk management. So you could avoid calculus by choosing an easier track, which leads to the same place, and most people choose that option.
The exams require an enormous amount of study and are very difficult, but the calculus aspect I don't think would be a hurdle for you. The biggest issue is you get 30 questions that are multiple choice in 3 hours and it is extremely difficult to get some of the questions done in 6 minutes, as they requiring a lot of thinking and sometimes multiple steps. It requires someone to study very well, to concentrate very well, and to stay clear and not make mistakes under extreme pressure. Studying 300 hours for an exam and knowing a 3500 raise is on the line, increasing the anxiety as well. Failing it means putting off the next exam for several more months, which is a lower salary, requires at least another 100 hours in study as you'll forget a lot of it before the next exam, and is very discouraging as there are like 10 exams in total.
So the work is enormous, but the payout is really good if you can make it through. Even ASAs can make 200k (ASAs stop halfway through because the upper exams are just too hard).
The FSA exams (upper exams) are brutal. It's 6 hours of nonstop writing to the point I spent a few hours of exam prep on studying optimal handwriting for speed and brought like 4 different types of pens. Your hand cramps horribly and you can't write enough in 6 hours to complete it. You hope to get around 60% to pass, so smart people just decide in the read through to take advantage of those 15 minutes and plan which questions you'll barely touch, and really put detail into the ones they'll crush, as you only need 60% to pass. What makes them possible, is the massive adrenal flowing through your body. By the end of it I was in a lot of pain based on posture, etc. but was unaware of it during it.
Just want to paint a true picture. If you have the passion to learn, are willing to put 300 hours of study into 3 preliminary exams each so you can get an internship, and then are comfortable doing some additional self study for a couple hours a night for multiple years (I'm addition to the free study time from the company), you get a great career with very little overtime and lots of money.
I'd recommend looking at the preliminary exam examples that the SOA releases. Looking at true past exams or at least a sample of the questions you could get (as preliminary exams are computer based so the question vault is huge) would probably help you decide if you would do good with the questions and if you have the passion to learn. After 200 hours of study I got 50% on my first preliminary exam fake pretest. I was discouraged but ended up doing well on the exam just 100 hours of study later due to the fact you only need like 60% to pass anyway.
Hope this helps and please reach out if you have more questions!!
