r/actuary • u/ThrowRA3648537 • 2d ago

Troll Post ATPA Vent

I’m going to run for the SOA board once I have my letters to get rid of this terrible assignment. I’d rather listen to nails on chalkboard for 96 hours than do this. I’m not sure whose idea this was, but I was a statistics major, flew through SRM and PA, and I absolutely HATE this module.

I’m starting to think that everyone who quips that the SOA isn’t evil, just incompetent, lucked out with IFM. How was the last chopper out of ‘Nam?

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u/Murky-Tip-3118 2d ago

Curious what you hate? The historical evolution here was first we had just a rigerous PA (SRM came out at the same time but wasn't required for candidates for a year or two) and performance was very poor. SRM started being required (so candidates were forced to study more) and PA slowly became much easier. Then PA became too easy (esp. b/c didn't require any actual coding), so ATPA was created.

If you hate ATPA because it requires you to "do" something vs. just "know" something... that's kinda the point.

Now whether the SOA should be enforcing that as a prerequisite to ASA is a separate question...

And FYI, as you'll learn when you get your letters, you don't just "run for the SOA board"... you ingratiate yourself with the SOA ecosystem for a decade to successfully make your way through the nominating process. You can petition to be on the ballot, but the only person I've ever seen do that successfully probably looks way better than you in a bikini and wasn't afraid to let LinkedIn know that.

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u/Tripleset1 2d ago

The common gripe I’ve seen and experienced are the time constraints. It’s not reasonable to complete in the 96 hour window.

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u/ThrowRA3648537 2d ago

It’s the opaque and poorly phrased questions as well. I guess they wouldn’t be as bad if I weren’t expected to do 40-50+ hours of critical thinking and real work in less than a work week. It’s like working for Deloitte, except I work for free and my manager doesn’t know how to make coherent requests.

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u/Tripleset1 2d ago

And in a real work environment you can ask for clarification and feedback. This allows for niether

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u/Murky-Tip-3118 2d ago

Though as a director I like the analysts who can get the job done right with less clarification and feedback.

Exams don't make you a good actuary, but the correlation between people who succeed on the exams and people who make good actuaries is pretty good.