During a time period marked by uncertainty in the world, career positions that deal heavily in risk are on the rise. For actuaries this is an opportune time to work, as companies will seek out individuals that can help them enhance the overall success level of high level business decisions.
The process of becoming an Actuary can be difficult, especially if you’re bad at math. So if you want to make sure that you’re fully qualified to meet these challenges and become certified by the Society of Actuaries (SOA), check out our list of the best actuarial exam prep study guides.
1. AnalystPrep Actuary Exam Study Guide
AnalystPrep has over 25,000 happy customers, and it’s easy to see why. Their site boasts that 92% of their students recommend using their many certification courses, which range from financial analysis to FINRA and SOA exams.
AnalystPrep’s courses are split up to cover the SOA Exam P, SOA Exam FM, and SOA Exam IFM. WIthin each course you’ll encounter a specially designed curriculum to best prepare you for your exam of choice.
Here’s an example of their video content:
Each individual course also comes with access to a Question Bank. It’s organized by topic and was designed to replicate the difficulty of the real exams. You can create unlimited customizable quizzes and get help from their support team if you encounter any issues.
But the best part by far is AnalystPrep’s performance tracking technology:
By using an advanced analytics algorithm, these SOA exam preparation products will follow your progress as you go. Additionally, this allows the software to provide you unique insights based on your performance. It also allows you to compare your progress against 20,000 worldwide users— which can give you a good impression of what percentile you might hit on exam day!
AnalystPrep Bottom Line
AnalystPrep’s courses are great at preparing you for exam day thanks to their focused curriculum and included question banks. It’s affordably priced and staffed by a great support team, so you can start your exam prep quickly and easily!
2. Coaching Actuaries Exam Prep
Coaching Actuaries and their SOA study manuals attempts to guide students through a comprehensive plan. This makes for an excellent choice if you’re sick of online courses bombarding you with information without a larger context.
By taking the time to ensure you have a solid grasp on actuarial study materials, this set of exam questions and sample problems are especially helpful when preparing for the financial mathematics test. Additionally, the video lessons provide clear and concise explanations and step-by-step instructions in order to better illustrate a concept or solution.
As you review each lesson, Coaching Actuaries helps you commit key takeaways to memory. Consequently, you’ll be sharp enough to ensure exam success and quickly earn your certification!
Coaching Actuaries Bottom Line
If you’re looking for an actuary exam course that guides you instead of leaving you to fend for yourself, we definitely recommend Coaching Actuaries.
3. ACTEX Study Materials
ACTEX is similar to a typical college course. They even advertise it this way with their course descriptions— so you can expect a similar experience if you enroll.
But unlike some universities, ACTEX also does a great job when it comes to transparency. Instead of protecting tenured professors, they provide free sample items and entire syllabi for their courses. With so much information immediately available, you can make sure that the practice exams and questions are relevant to your needs.
All information is clear and easy to follow, with material that feels straight out of a university course textbook. Speaking of textbooks, ACTEX offers theirs in both digital and physical format— so you can easily study without having to stare at a screen.
Enrollment for courses with ACTEX are available in 6-month and 12-month durations, so make sure to plan accordingly based on your studying speed.
ACTEX Bottom Line
ACTEX is thorough with its course content and comprehensive in covering essential topics for your exams. But you should only choose it over AnalystPrep if you’re looking for something nearly identical to a typical college course.
4. The Infinite Actuary Review
Are you a student with no prior education in financial mathematics? If you’re interested in starting from the ground floor, check out The Infinite Actuary.
Their platform and content is extremely user-friendly and they plan all of their lessons with no assumption of prior knowledge— which has been a big hit among their thousands of enrolled students.
The Infinite Actuary has three primary exam preparation courses, but they also offer a large catalog of additional study manuals. Looking at their actual course materials, there’s a lot to get excited about as well: video lessons, full length practice exams, and thousands of practice problems with video solutions to guide your studying.
The Infinite Actuary’s Exam FM course includes a problem system that tracks your results and helps you identify knowledge gaps. Looking for additional review? Try out some of their flashcards for a quick study resource.
You’ll have access to full time instructor support via email in addition to an online course forum, so there’s plenty of assistance if anything goes wrong. They also implement features that show their respect for your time, such as the option to play video lessons at variable speeds.
The Infinite Actuary Bottom Line
The Infinite Actuary is a top notch choice. Even people with no prior experience or knowledge can take advantage of this course to help them get started in actuarial science.
5. Actuary Exam Tutor SOA Exam Prep
Although they’re very different from the other options on this list, Actuary Exam Tutor is worth your consideration.
Maybe you’re someone that doesn’t like a traditional course or being left to your own devices with an online course curriculum. If so, you can get a lot more value out of this company’s approach to teaching SOA exam success.
Many of the instructors are qualified Ph.D’s, FSA, MBA, CERA, etc. With so much experience in both business and education, that makes Actuary Exam Tutor uniquely qualified as teachers.
They have your standard one-on-one option available at an hourly rate, as well as options for semi-private and group programs as well. Pricing for these services is decided on a consultation basis, so you may even be able to have your employer sponsor your tuition!
Actuary Exam Tutor Bottom Line
If you want to review for your SOA exams with a tutor, then Actuary Exam Tutor is a fantastic option. They’re uniquely qualified and willing to work with you on a personalized study plan.
Honorable Mention: Be An Actuary
Be an Actuary is unique, since it’s more of a general study resource. If you’re already knowledgeable on actuarial science and you just need to study for Exam FM, skip this and just use AnalystPrep.
But if you’re a complete beginner and know nothing about financial risk management or the Society of Actuaries (SOA), the amount of content available on this site is an excellent crash course on the subject.
In addition to numerous articles covering the basics, Be an Actuary also has pages on their site to help you find jobs, internships, and scholarships. There are even lists of colleges that have Actuarial programs if you’re looking to take your education to an official university.
Be An Actuary Bottom Line
We recommend Be An Actuary as a complementary study aid alongside another more objective-based course, though it’s resources are still highly useful on their own.
Actuarial Exam Frequently Asked Questions
How do I Register for the Actuarial Exams?
Those looking to register to take their Actuarial Exams can do so on the Society of Actuaries website at https://www.soa.org/.
What college courses should I take if I want to be an Actuary?
Students pursuing a career as an actuary should take courses in calculus, probability and statistics, economics, corporate finance, and business communications in addition to a slew of liberal arts classes.
Are there scholarships available for actuarial courses?
Yes! in addition to actuarial exam prep courses like ACTEX offering student discounts on their courses, you can also find scholarship resources on sites like Be An Actuary.
