r/ActuaryUK

For those who have qualified what happens when you pass all your exams?

Do you get a big pay rise upon passing the exams or upon the fellow application being accepted?

I’ve been working for almost 2 years now, but during this time I haven’t been able to clear any of my pending papers. It’s honestly taken a toll on me.

Now I’m confused about whether I should continue working and study alongside my job, or take a career break, focus completely on clearing my papers, and then return to the workforce.

My biggest concern is my CV. I was in a 2-year apprenticeship program, but I only completed around 1–1.5 years. Would taking a career break at this stage look bad to recruiters?

I’m also worried that a career break might make it seem like I’m not interested in working or building a career. I just feel that struggling with these papers for the past couple of years has really affected me, and I’m wondering if taking a break to finally clear them would be the better choice.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Would you recommend continuing the job while studying, or taking a break and clearing the papers first?

Any advice would really help.

Used GPT for better presentation.

I have been having difficulty learning some chapters, like EMH theory and MPT for ex., so I was wondering if we can host a meeting (with cameras off) where someone who understands these but has difficulty understanding, say, Runoff Triangles, can help me and I can help them. This is mostly cuz a lot of classes around me seem to focus on 'marks-getting' and not 'concept-building'. What do you think, feasible?

How are you guys preparing it? Finding hard to solely use the pbor for this one, any lectures or study materials? Any tips are welcome

Please help me tailor my Plan to becoming an actuary. I have my Bsc in actuarial science but no exams and I’m not a great test taker but I do understand the content and do well with data analysis/visualization

1. 2026-2027 - work in an actuarial role at an insurance firm. Take exam cs1 and potentially cm1 next April

2. 2027-2028 - get my first masters outside the UK (it’s much cheaper) and have 4-6 exemptions

3. 2028-2029 - work for another year (see if I can pass another exam)

4. 2029-2030 get more exemptions from university of Kent so by 2030 I have all my exams and 2 years work experience

Please give me tips on how to improve my plan to be most desirable to employers. I do want to move to the UK. Do employers dislike exemptions?
I’m familiar with R and learning SQL, what more can I learn to impress employers

Hey I’m a BSc Actuarial Science student at LSE and I’m about to start my actuarial placement year at a large insurer in London.

Recently I’ve been having some second thoughts about becoming an actuary, mainly because a lot of my peers are interning at investment banks and hedge funds and would soon be earning twice what I do. They haven’t even heard of the large insurer I’ll be working for which is quite disheartening and kinda made me feel like I don’t have as much status as them.

Personally I want to become an actuary because I like maths and statistics, am good at exams and appreciate the work-life balance & structured career progression that an actuarial career seems to offer. I’m content with living a middle class lifestyle and working a 9-5 for the next 40 years, but comments from friends and family have made me question whether I’m making the right choice.

Do you personally think becoming an actuary was worth it? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Is anyone sitting CM1 this September? How are you feeling for it?

Hi all,

Recently, Ive been keen to try and make the switch from Life to GI. I want to do this because I’m getting bored working in Life and would like to experience working in GI.

I’d really like to try and break into a pricing role but in general, I’d be happy to get experience Capital or other areas if it will allow me to get my foot through the door - especially if it’s at a specialty insurer.

For context, I’ve worked in a Reporting and Change role so far and passed 6 exams (with no exemptions) in 4 years ( slow progress I know but I had a slow start with poor study techniques )

My questions are;

1. is it wise to just focus on applying to solely GI roles? There are hardly any going about these last few months and Ive only got through to interview at 1 place before they decided to not hire for the role anymore.
2. In peoples experience, would it be wise to consider other roles within life? Ive been working at one company since graduating - so I wonder if taking up a new role at another company may freshen things up and give me to new experiences to develop more.
3. Given I’m experienced, is it worth me trying to apply for grad roles at GI firms when they open up?
4. in terms of salary - I’d obvs love a pay rise but I worry if I’m already earning too much and will price myself out of any opportunities for entry level GI roles ( i earn approx 45k). is it smarter to take a pay cut and ask for between 40-45k if I’m really keen on making the transition?

cheers for any responses in advance!

hello! just wanted some advice on doing an MSc in Actuarial Science as I am pretty set on sitting all actuarial exams

for context I am from a BSc Maths background (with no exemptions to IFoA exams) and have a job working in GI pricing, and I’m hoping to sit CM1 (first exam!!) in a few weeks time

I’m really enjoying the content and I am pretty set on pushing through all of the exams and just getting them done, however I have heard that people do fail exams quite frequently and knowing this might be my life for the next 5-7ish years is pretty tough!

The Msc course at Bayes offers exemptions to quite a few of the big ones, including (most) of the core principle and core practice subjects, so have been thinking about this, I guess the con is that I won’t be working during the masters and will have to pay for the course myself, however will come out with a significant number of exemptions and will push me to associate/fellow much quicker

Any advice/tips career wise would be much appreciated thank you!!

I want to be an actuary but i am studying a course that has no exemptions with the IFoA, would it make sense to pay out of pocket for 1-2 exams and hope to pass so i can put it on my CV for placement years or would actuarial work experience be enough to stand out?

What degree would keep both career paths open, if I’m undecided between becoming an actuary and an engineer? I’m taking Maths, Physics and Chemistry at A-level .

As per title

I recieved my A level results of A*A*AC with A*s in Maths and Chemistry, A in further maths and C in economics.

I am going to study at uni in the UK in September however I'm extremely worried that the C in economics will cap me, I'm a mark off a B so hopefully that gets changed.

My course is in economics and data science with modules in R so hopefully I can build up these skills through projects to put on my CV alongside python etc.

I just wanted to know whether I'd be severely hindered by my grades especially in today's job market.

I would be grateful for any advice, thank you.

I'm starting BSc Actuarial Science and Mathematics at Manchester in September. B in A level maths, 71% overall in my maths foundation year.

Every time this comes up on here someone says the B is a problem because firms screen on A level maths before they look at anything else. I've checked a few grad scheme pages and some of them do want an A.

Two things I'm trying to work out:

1. Is it actually worth doing three years of this if a chunk of firms are going to bin the application on the A level alone?

2. Does a strong degree result and a converted internship override it later, or does the A level stay on the form forever?

Anyone who got in with a B, what did your route look like?

Any advice would be really appreciated, thank you

Hi All,

For the upcoming September examination, I submitted online as first choice and a location as second choice behind first choice. I have been allocated the second choice (I regret I didn’t omit it entirely) and it is two hours away from me.

Is there anyway of appealing to the IFoA to change my exam location to online?

Thanks

Now I was originally going to take Maths BSC at the University of Bath however things did not go to plan with results so I am now going to Bayes Business School in Actuarial Science. I do realise exemptions is key and getting six exemptions is a massive plus however people have recommended taking a maths degree is much better. I do know that Bayes is well known for Actuarial Science and its research in it however I would like to hear other people’s points of view about this. Thanks

Just received my A level results and achieved CDDU in Economics,Maths,English lit and physics as well as a B in epq. Unfortunately due to personal reasons my attendance was extremely low in y13 and I pretty much tried to cram the content in may for all my subjects from scratch.

I would like to know if these grades will severely handicap me and if they warrant a resit as opposed to clearing into a foundation year actuarial science course.

If a foundation year which I presume to be more laid back is adequate then I would prefer that though I believe these grades are too terrible and hence are leaning into retaking my A levels but giving them my efforts for the next year.

Any feedback will be appreciated!

If (like me) you’re in the habit of sometimes not reading emails because they’re really boring, the exam centre has moved for this sitting from the Gresham on O’Connell to the Bonnington in Whitehall.

Not thrilled about that, gonna be a prick travelling to that for 8am, and more importantly how the fuck am I meant to get my post-exam Boojum now???

Has anyone received the exam location information?