Meet people - learned something ? only, everything, something, material, studying

whew1110

It was interesting to see that a lot of people were coming in to the test very confident, most people did not feel the need to review the material/formulas before the exam started while we were waiting to get in (maybe only 5% had a cheat sheet with them)

Also interesting to see that out of the people studying, they ALL had a Schweser book with them but NEVER the Secret Sauce (why would you review material to the small details when you need the high level overview of everything before exam day --> i.e. Secret Sauce)

Heard a lot of:
"This test is going to be easy...because I am a X (CA/actuary/finance grad)"
"I did not study part X (i.e. Derivatives, Alternative Invesments)"
"What did you get for Question X....YESSS I choose the same thing"

Also meet an Actuary who mentioned how easy this test is compared to SOA exams he took (some of it is the same material, but more in depth in the SOA exams)

cchang

I don't know anything about the actuary exams themselves. Don't listen to the BS bandied about.
This test is not easy no matter your background. You need to answer the CFAI answers,not what your college professor or anyone else told you. There may be areas that being an actuary would help from a deep knowledge of stats, probabilities, etc., but eco, AI, ethics, FRA, PM....come on.
Also, why would an actuary want the CFA designation? Professional credential accumulator/student.
If you did not study parts that will count for about 10% of the test, how could you expect to pass
Both choosing the same answer would not comfort me much in a test where 65% fail.

Maddin

A bunch of really old people who told me how smart it was to take it right after undergrad. Not sure it helped me all that much though.. Oh and one older man who was reading through ethics for the first time at breakfast (at the hotel). Pretty funny seeing all these stressed out people crowding the breakfast buffet before the test