hey...actuarial science are not just about calculations rite...doesn't it require alot of info about economics, business bla bla bla as well???

Yes,it involves a lots of things like econ,management,finance and banking. ALl u need to excel in these profession is to really good in communication, writing and calculating plus analytical skills.

Cheers! Btw, i have frens studying AS at UM,they study pure maths during the 1st year and what they r now doing is to solve a bunch of eqn and maths problems, I can't resist the suffering of seeing them to cramp their head in solving and again solving the questions daily.it needs alots of hardwork and of course a love for maths. =)

wanna study AS? let me list down below requirements ah..from my aspect as a student studying tis course and going suicide

calculus - u think add math is hard? AS math comparing add math in high skul is like yr daddy and yr son

statistics - fundamental of tis course. normal distribution in add math confusing u? forget bout AS! as 2nd year student i ady studied normal, uniform, binomial, geometri, negative binomial, hypergeometry, beta, gamma, pareto, exponential, ch square, weibull, poisson, lognormal...so far is these 14 and will learn more..each of them r DIFFERENT!

programming - a basic of C programming, little VBA, working with excel, SPSS and other statistical softwares are a must

accounting and economics - i dun know y shud i stdy these. my lecturer said, nx time whn u be boss, ppl cant cheat u so easily..wtf

commercial law - to protect yrself

english, public speaking, oral communication, professional writing - communication is very important.

financial mathematics - tis is so diff than the normal math i study..need strong logical thinking and analytic skills

and finally, the combination of those fundamentals..wanna know more? PM me

AFAIK, most actuarial science graduates are now studying in USA (through ADP) and work there. In Malaysia there seems to be very few job prospects for Act. Science grads, which explains why my cousin does not wish to return to Malaysia to work..

Actuarial science is good in term of job prospects! Cheers...

I'm currently a AS major doing my final year in US. I passed 2 SOA paper. Here are my two-cents for those who aspire to be an actuary especially those who are looking forward to do it in US..

MYTH1 : I'm good at math then I should be an actuary.

To become an actuary, math is not the only tool you need. It takes a lot of thought and logic to to really understand actuarial studies. Besides having math classes, you will need finance, accounting, insurance, economics and most importantly stats & Excel. You have to go through it no matter u like it or hate it. There are really not many actuarial class that you could take at a degree level. The rest of the classes that you take kinda builds the knowledge that you need to pass the professional exams and the real work.

MYTH2: Actuarial papers are hard..

Yes they are! But its not like u need a perfect score to pass. Passing score are set at a feasible level for students that have work hard for it. With all said, this is not the exam that u could do well with an all-nighter. It requires a lot of study time (even in ur dream) and effort to really pass the exam. I can assure you that every single effort you put in will be well paid off. For those who are looking to do the SOA track, its a pretty well structured exam and every exams builds up for the next exams. There are ample of study manuals and materials available here in the US. So, companies here in the US are looking to hire students with at least one or two exams passed. Its kinda different in the UK as u begin taking it when u start working. Here, you just need to do it while you are at school. So that is a burden for students especially they need to maintain grades in classes and at the same time study for the exam. time management!!!

For those smarties out there, just a word of caution, passing too many exams before you get a jobs is not really a good idea. Cos there is no way a company could pay you more than a person that have ample of experience but only have 1 or 2 exams passed. You get what i mean.At the end of the day, it the experience that matters. I would advice any where between 2-3 papers before you get a job would be good enough. And if u really don't get a job in the your desired field. Then you should look into other profession!


MYTH3: If i become an actuary, i will work in the insurance industry!

In many countries outside of US, almost all the actuaries worked in the insurance industry, But that is not the case here in US, the actuarial profession is not just limited to insurance industry. There are consulting, property&casualty, health, pension, life and etc. Why so many tracks? This is just the way it works in US. Risk management and insurance is an enormous business here. I'm sure many of you heard of the recent Health Care reform that has been on the news. Do you know how much does US spent on the healthcare system? Roughly, 16% of the US GDP which is equals to $ 2.26 Trillion at an estimate of $ $7000 per person. This is just the amount of money an average john/jane doe spend just on health. Try adding life insurance, car insurance, pension benefits in to the equation. You could kinda guess the numbers i am talking about. This shows why there are are more than 200 so called "insurance" companies competing against each other for this business.

I would like to touch on an exciting track in AS, its called consulting. I am sure many of you heard of it before and wan to know why they need consulting actuaries. Alright, I've touched on insurance and the other 'big business' here is pension. Basically, every company here in the US has to provide pension benefit for all their employees regardless of anything. You work for the company and the company has to sponsor/match up the amount that you put into ur pension. Its not like the regular KWSP fund. It is a mandated fund by the US govt to provide this pension benefit on top of their regular KWSP fund. So, you get what I mean. With all said, this is where consulting actuaries come in to the play. How much do the company has put into this fund every year so that it is suffice to fund when their workers start to retire? So, all companies in the US requires Consultant to do these kinds of work and calculation for them. The good thing about being a consultant is you could travel around meeting clients and not just staying in the little cubicle analyzing numbers.

MYTH4 : There is really a high demand of actuaries in US!

Prior to 2008, it was really looking good. Financial market was at its peak and business were flourishing like never before. Sadly, everything turned sour after the Olympic games. It is not easy in sure dire times. Companies are hiring less ppl and they face an even harder decision when it comes to international students because they have to sponsor their visas. I'm not saying that there are no chance at all but companies tend to sift out internationals. Why? Come on. Think of it. Unemployment are at all time high, companies prefers to hire locals more than anybody else to help push the numbers down. I have many friends here mostly internationals looking for jobs and its not looking good for them. They graduated and got 3-4 papers passed. Guess where are they now? Sulking in their rooms thinking of what to do next. haha.


With all said and done, AS good or bad? Yes, if you vow to deal with numbers for the rest of your life. Suck it up and endure it! haha. Personally, I am kinda lost. 4 years ago, i loved math, i thought actuarial papers are hard. i thought i would work in the insurance industry and i could really get a job in US. I got no interview and job prospects. It sucks coz even after so many hard work passing 2 papers and so many $$ spent from my FA-MA ( father mother) loan, I wasn't rewarded. Argh. I'm just trying to lament my feelings. I'll probably just end up like my other friends working in banks/insurance companies for RM 3K a month in Malaysia.

Anyways, this is just something I would like to share to all the aspiring actuaries out there. I wish you luck should you choose to endure this profession. Feel free to bump me up for any questions. I would be more than willing to help and share my experience with those who are in quandaries. Remember, its a risky business!

Your university may have included accounts and law for their actuarial degree program, but accounting and law has really not much to do with the actuarial line at all.

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Added on February 21, 2010, 9:38 pmi am planning to study actuarial science in ntu.....i would like to ask ...is it i need to enrol in bachelor of business in actuarial science or just bachelor of business?is it difficult to pass the 1st year in order to specialized in actuarial science in the second year?

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Added on February 21, 2010, 9:41 pmi am planning to study actuarial science in ntu.....i would like to ask ...is it i need to enrol in bachelor of business in actuarial science or just bachelor of business?is it difficult to pass the 1st year in order to specialized in actuarial science in the second year?

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Added on February 21, 2010, 9:55 pmwhat the different between soa and ioa?which one is better?


This post has been edited by tomvincci: Feb 21 2010, 09:55 PM

i'm currently waiting for my spm results and am thinking to take my pre-u in malaysia, and then further my studies in singapore's NTU and am planning to take up actuarial science. how long is the course and approximately how much does it cost per year?

hi! i am from singapore! and honestly shipping the study guides over is rather expensive!

any1 willing to sell their old study guides??? pls pm me! thanks!

i duno much about that, i juz know my university UCSI is offering this course.

Hey people i'm new here. Well i've just finished my spm. Just wondering if i should go for the A levels first or straight to the foundation of actuarial science. And any suggestions on what college or uni to attend?

OK , Actuary Science is offered @ Inti , as far as i kno , as ADP - American Degree Program .

You can choose from 2+2 or 3+1 where 3+1 only has 1 American University available for that - Oklahoma

As far as i kno , Actuarial Science is a very tough subject , i was informed that there are only 74 Acturials in Malaysia and the growing speed is very slow from time to time , making it demanding jobs in every country including USA .

Cons ? Well , this job is more focused on estimating future contingent events, such as the rates of mortality by age, as well as the development of mathematical techniques for discounting the value of funds set aside and invested.Which is , you can work maybe "only" on insurance company . But some US states of actuarial models to set criminal sentencing guidelines.

You can try taking Acturial Science on any uni , as i kno the first year is going to be your foundations . You might wanna try it 1 year and a half then only decide whether to move on bcoz , its really TOUGH .

INTI college is having a talk @ their Subang Jaya campus about Acturial and its future on 2.30 PM ~ 3.30 PM . Everyone is welcomed =)

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Added on December 16, 2010, 6:57 pmYou can go A levels if you want but Acturial Science minimum requirements is 5 credits in SPM . It will be a degree program , but this doesnt means you skip your foundations . 4 years will be required to study this field . The 1st year is mainly is your foundation .

This post has been edited by cocooh: Dec 16 2010, 06:57 PM

Hi, just want to let you know that you don't need an actuarial science degree to be an actuary. Taking the foundation and bachelor degree in actuarial science can only expose you to the opportunities in building up some fundamental skills in actuarial field, but it won't make you a qualified actuary either.

The thing that decide whether you can become an actuary is the professional exams that you pass through. Those professional exams can only administered by the international actuarial societies such as SOA, CAS, IAA and many more. What you need to do is try to search around to confirm whether a college or university provide any exemptions for you in the series of professional exams.

As far as I know, none of the Malaysian institution provide this kind of service, if got, only provide some exemptions for some subjects only. So, you may try to find out whether the oversea college that is mentioned in the twining program provided by the private institution do provide the exemptions, that's quite important.

Some word of advice, make as much research as you can before you decide, make the best decision that brings no regret~

I'm currently taking an undergraduate degree of actuarial science in local university and what I mentioned is part of what I encountered before. Hope that it helps~

Hi, I'm just finish my foundation in business in Taylor's University. Now I'm really facing dilemma. I wish to study Actuarial Science. What Path should I take? Should I retake A-level? or go for ADP?or take SAT by myself? Because I find out that SMU in singapore do accept SAT applicant. or maybe by luck, I can study In US. 1 more thing. Is studying at local university good? e.g. UTAR, UCSI? I heard that Actuarial Science in UCSI is not fully accredidated. Is it?