Actuarial Examinations Online Seminars

Illinois State University Actuarial Program, recognized as a Society of Actuaries Center of Actuarial Excellence, and winner of the Casualty Actuarial Society University Award, presents intensive online seminars preparing for:

• Actuarial Examination P (Probability)
• Actuarial Examination FM (Financial Mathematics)

All taught by Dr. Krzysztof Ostaszewski, FSA, CERA, FSAS, CFA, MAAA.

About the instructor

Dr. Krzysztof Ostaszewski is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst, Fellow of the Singapore Actuarial Society, Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, a Chartered Financial Analyst, and a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Washington. He is the Actuarial Program Director and Professor of Mathematics at Illinois State University, a Society of Actuaries Center of Actuarial Excellence, and winner of the 2016 inaugural Casualty Actuarial Society University Award. In the period 2011-2013 he also was the Research Director for Life Insurance and Pensions at the Geneva Association, the International Association for the Study of Risk and Insurance Economics. In the period 2006-2011 Dr. Ostaszewski was a consultant for the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. He has taught actuarial science at Illinois State University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Ulm in Germany, Warsaw School of Economics and Lodz University of Technology in Poland, New England Actuarial Seminars, Actex, University of Louisville, and the Actuarial Summer School in Poland. He was a core instructor for the Society of Actuaries Course 7 Applied Modeling Seminar. For a full biography of Dr. Ostaszewski, go to http://math.illinoisstate.edu/krzysio/krzys.html.

Cost

Course P seminar: $450 for one year or until passing the exam, whichever comes first (participants who pay this fee and pass the exam within 150 days get $150 back)

• Candidates can use this online registration form, or call Ms. Meg Rhoades directly at (309) 438-8696, or toll-free at 800-877-1478.
• Illinois State University students are eligible for a scholarship covering the entire fee for the seminar, and apply for it by using the special ISU online registration survey for them. Illinois State University students are not eligible for the “fast pass” refund, but are eligible for a reimbursement of the cost of the manual used in the seminar by the Actuarial Program when they pass Course P  examination.

Course FM seminar: $450 for one year or until passing the exam, whichever comes first (participants who pay this fee and pass the exam within 150 days get $150 back)

• Candidates can use this online registration form, or call Ms. Meg Rhoades directly at (309) 438-8696, or toll-free at 800-877-1478.
• Illinois State University students are eligible for a scholarship covering the entire fee for the seminar, and apply for it by using the special ISU online registration survey for them. Illinois State University students are not eligible for the “fast pass” refund, but are eligible for a reimbursement of the cost of the manual used in the seminar by the Actuarial Program when they pass Course FM examination.

Unemployed alumni of Illinois State University have the same rights as current Illinois State University students for fees waivers in all of the above registrations, but not for subsequent reimbursements. Employed alumni of Illinois State University are eligible for a 20% discount but only if they must first inquire by sending an e-mail to: actuary@illinoisstate.edu. The rebate for passing within a prescribed amount of time is available to alumni who receive this discount.

Disclaimer about the refunds: If delivering a refund for passing quickly to the seminar participant cannot be accomplished by sending a check drawn on a U.S. bank, or a refund to a credit card, the seminar participant will need to cover any additional costs of the refund (e.g., international wire transfer, international check, etc.), and the effective amount of the refund may be reduced. Please make it possible for us to send the money to you, as if you do not, we may not be able to process your refund. Also, if a seminar participant registered for this seminar through a third party or the payment for the seminar is for some reason delayed, we cannot process a refund until we receive the payment for such participant.

Registration

There are two ways to register for these seminars:

ONLINE

Registration for customers who are not students at Illinois State University

Registration for Illinois State University students (seminars are free for ISU students)

TELEPHONE:

(309) 438-2160 or 800-877-1478 (this number is toll-free in the United States), or call Ms. Meg Rhoades directly at (309) 438-8696.

You will receive confirmation of your registration and information on access to the seminar as soon as possible. If you are registering on Friday after 3:00 P.M. (U.S. Central Time), you will not be contacted or receive any further information until Monday due to our offices being closed for the weekend. Access to these online seminars requires creation of a guest account in the computer system of Illinois State University, which usually takes one to two business days from the time you register, but may take longer during period of heavy use of the system (e.g., end of semester).

All active (i.e., currently enrolled in at least one class, any class, in any major) Illinois State University students are eligible for a scholarship covering their entire cost for P, FM, and IFM seminars. Your online registration through the site for registration for Illinois State University students is your application for the scholarship. If we run out of funds we may turn down an application for scholarship, but this has not happened yet.

Illinois State University students are also eligible for reimbursement of the cost of a study manual purchased for a seminar, upon passing the corresponding actuarial examination, while still enrolled as a student at Illinois State Univeristy. Student must still be enrolled at Illinois State Univeristy when the student requests a reimbursement. All reimbursements are always subject to availability of funds. Reimbursements to Illinois State University students must be made in the form of a payment into the student account at Illinois State University.

Seminars fees are non-refundable. Please think carefully before you make a payment.

NOTE: THESE SEMINARS ARE OFFERED ONLY TO CANDIDATES PREPARING TO TAKE PROFESSIONAL ACTUARIAL EXAMINATIONS INDIVIDUALLY AND CANNOT BE SHARED WITH OTHER PARTIES, RESOLD, OR USED FOR OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSES. AN ATTEMPT TO REGISTER FOR PURPOSES OTHER THAN HEREBY STATED MAY BE CONSIDERED  A FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION AND THEFT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, AND REFERRED TO ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY COUNSEL FOR LEGAL ACTION.

REGISTRATION FOR THESE SEMINARS ENDS IN ONE YEAR, OR THE MOMENT A SEMINAR PARTICIPANT PASSES THE EXAMINATION COVERED IN THE SEMINAR, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. REGISTRATIONS FROM PERSONS WHO ALREADY PASSED THE CORRESPONDING EXAMINATION CANNOT BE ACCEPTED AND MAY BE REFERRED TO ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY COUNSEL.

Support for participation in these seminars may be available from Illinois Workforce Development System.

Philosophy of these seminars

Read Dr. Ostaszewski’s advice for students on how to pass actuarial exams. Some additional ideas are also below:

General idea:

Actuarial exams are very challenging. Most students taking an actuarial examination for the first time experience quite a shock. Dr. Ostaszewski prefers to deliver the shock before the exam, so that during the real exam when you look at any problem on the exam, you can say to yourself: Been There Done That! (we call this the BTDT Rule). If you are not serious about actuarial exams, take it easy and laugh about this experience before the exam, you may cry on the exam. We want this reversed: You may cry when you study, but you will laugh at the exam, and you will smile after it.

More specifically:

• You will be pushed out of your comfort zone very quickly. Most students fail actuarial exams because they stubbornly remain in their comfort zone. In other words, the main source of failure is refusing to do things that look scary or uncomfortable to you. So please keep this in mind: We will shock you. Out of love. This is because we want you to pass this actuarial exam, and also all your future actuarial exams. If this feels like love, so the better. Inexplicably to us, for some people this approach may not feel like love. We feel for you, but our duty is to help you, not just feel for you (or worse, pretend to feel your pain, the way politicians behave). The reason why our approach may feel like a shock is: You Was Robbed! By your other educators. If you think we do not care about you, you may be doomed. We want to prevent that.
• In the seminar, you are responsible not just for reading the manual or notes, or watching online lectures videos, but for active participation, which means that you follow every detail of every reasoning presented. Every detail. If you skip anything, you may be doomed. We want to prevent that.
• The moment you do not understand a step, you send a message to the seminar instructor or an e-mail to: actuary@illinoisstate.edu. If you continue reading or watching videos even though you did not understand a step, you may be doomed. We want to prevent that.
• You can communicate with the instructor in public discussion forums, or through private messages or e-mails. All private communications with the instructor are private. You should reveal all of your thinking, completely, to the instructor. Please do not say: “Can you explain this example? I do not get it.” The work is explained in the video, the best way I could think of. Please tell me where exactly you stop understanding. If you are embarrassed to reveal your weaknesses to the instructor (yes, this may be embarrassing, but do you want to reveal them on the test instead?), you may be doomed. We want to prevent that.
• Every question you ask will be answered. You must study and understand the answer. Dr. Ostaszewski‘s manuals have been called “fat-free” or “sugar-free”, because the manuals are so short and to the point. The idea is that you should learn the material as quickly as possible and then practice, memorize, practice, memorize, and practice, and practice. The manuals have twenty practice exams with complete, detailed, fatty and sugary solutions. All Dr. Ostaszewski‘s problems’ and exercises’ solutions are fatty and sugary, so that you can taste them. The answers are likely to be like that, too. One time a student of mine complained that a solution to a life contingencies problem included discussion of ancient Greek literature. Yes. Chew on it. It tastes good. It is sweet and fatty, and it is tasty. Chew on it. If you do not, you may be doomed. We want to prevent that.
• We want you to pass the exam you are studying for. We want you to pass it fast. Your success may be more important to us than it is to you. You may bring yourself to the passing level gradually, or fast. We prefer fast. The reason why we think this way is that the mindset we give you is the one you will need for later actuarial exams. If you cuddle yourself into eventually passing P/1 and/or FM/2, but do not develop the high performance mindset, you might be smart enough to become an actuary, yet not make it, end up stuck forever after a couple of exams, unable to progress, and you may be doomed. We want to prevent that.