Study guides
Study guides for SOA Exam P and Exam FM: week-by-week plans, Bayes, the distributions, MGFs, loans, bonds, the term structure and duration.
An eight-week study plan for SOA Exam P
A realistic week-by-week plan for Exam P built around formula recall first, problem patterns second, and timed practice last.
9 min read
Exam FM: which formulas actually earn their keep
There are dozens of interest theory formulas and about a dozen that carry most of the exam. Here is the ranking, and what each one unlocks.
8 min read
Should you sit Exam P or Exam FM first?
The honest answer depends on your maths background and how soon you need a pass on your CV. Here is how to decide in ten minutes.
6 min read
How ADAPT-style difficulty ratings work, and when you actually need one
Adaptive difficulty scores are genuinely useful in the last few weeks and largely wasted in the first few. Here is what they measure and how to spend on them sensibly.
7 min read
An eight-week study plan for SOA Exam FM
A week-by-week plan for Exam FM built around rate conversions first, annuities second, and calculator discipline from day one.
4 min read
The Exam P distributions, in one pass
What each family models before what its formula is: the discrete five, the continuous six, and the parameterisation traps that cost marks.
4 min read
Conditional probability and Bayes, without the panic
One definition, two rearrangements, and a worked book of business - plus the traps that turn understood Bayes questions into lost marks.
4 min read
Moment generating functions, and what they are for
Why M(t) exists, how derivatives at zero produce moments, why sums of independent variables multiply, and how to recognise a distribution from its MGF.
4 min read
Loan amortisation and sinking funds
Two ways to repay the same loan, the interest and principal split, both routes to the outstanding balance, and the identity that ties them together.
4 min read
Bond pricing: premium, discount and book value
Three routes to the same price, why a bond trades away from par, and how premium or discount amortises to exactly par at maturity.
4 min read
Spot rates and forward rates
How a term structure prices cash flows, where forward rates come from, and why a coupon bond's yield is none of the spot rates used to price it.
4 min read
Duration, convexity and immunisation
What duration measures, why convexity is the correction term, and what Redington immunisation actually requires - worked on one bond and one liability.
4 min read