# Don’t Let Yourself be Thrown By Easy Calculations

You have to calculate quickly on this exam. I didn’t really realize that until took my first practice examination.  I was cruising along on problem number 25, with forty minutes left to go.  No problem!

Then I looked at the upper corner of my screen and found that I still had ten problems to do!  There are 35 problems on this exam!  That is only a smidgen more than five minutes per problem!  Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Practice your calculations.  You need your time for problem solving: you don’t have time to recalculate when you get to a solution that is not one of the choices.  Practice your calculations.

1. $(Ia) _{\overline{15}\lvert 0.05}$
2. $(Ia)_{\overline{5}\lvert 0.01}$
3. $(Ia)_{\overline{12}\lvert 0.08}$
4. $(Ia)_{\overline{20}\lvert 0.005}$
5. $(Ia)_{\overline{10}\lvert 0.0425}$
6. $(Ia)_{\overline{40}\lvert 0.1225}$
1. 73.67
2. 14.46
3. 42.17
4. 196.22
5. 41.32
6. 70.86

# Nirvana

My Study Helper

I’m so excited about studying right now. I still have some derivative markets stuff to take on, but the essentials (calls and puts, purchased and written) are becoming fairly intuitive. A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling more negatively. The basic options material looked like a giant heap of meaningless graphs and formulas. Now, I have formed some associations for all of it.

Normally, I study with a certain amount of distraction. There may be a cat sitting on my lap, or chasing the cursor on the screen. There may be a dog that wants to play, or some issue to discuss with my spouse. I may be distracted by tomorrow’s weather forecast, or by the latest Boing Boing post. These distractions are acceptable: I know how to deal with them, and I am motivated enough to regain my focus. At a certain point, however, there is nothing like a single-minded absolute focus on the work in front of me. And to achieve this, there is nothing comparable to taking a test.

I assume that, among actuary students, I am typical in my love of taking exams (I suspect that I am also typical in having been truly humbled by the actuary examinations  🙂 ). Taking tests, and often out-thinking tests, is what got me through grade school, when I did absolutely no school work or studying. My love of standardized tests, and resulting scores, is what eventually led me to be placed in classrooms appropriate to my ability. So, if you want to get my absolute attention, put an exam in front of me.

With this knowledge in mind, I have registered with Coaching Actuaries again. I took my first exam a couple of evenings ago, and I was immediately transported into test nirvana. For three hours, my mind didn’t blink. The fact that the scores are measured, and that there is a leader board to work myself onto, is extremely motivational to me. I can’t wait to take another test this afternoon.