Planning a route through the exams

Institute & Faculty of Actuaries examinations - Guidance for new learners

Curriculum 2019

Introduction

The Core Principles subjects (made up of the Actuarial Statistics (CS), Actuarial Mathematics (CM), and Core Business (CB) modules) in the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries' (IFoA's) professional exams provide an initial grounding in many of the key principles and concepts required in actuarial work. These principles and concepts are developed in the later IFoA exams.

It is a requirement that students pass or obtain exemptions from all of the Core Principles subjects on the way to qualifying as an Associate or Fellow of the IFoA.

The Core Principles exams can be attempted in any order, and there is no requirement to pass any exam before sitting another. However it can be useful for students to pass certain Core Principles exams before others. Further information on an appropriate order for students to sit the Core Principles exams is provided within this document.

CS1 – Actuarial Statistics 1

This subject provides a grounding in the basics of statistical techniques that are of particular relevance to actuarial work, including features of statistical distributions, data analysis, statistical inference, regression theory and applications, and Bayesian statistics.

CS2 – Actuarial Statistics 2

This subject provides a grounding in statistical modelling techniques that are of particular relevance to actuarial work, including using statistical distributions for risk modelling, time series models, stochastic processes, survival models and machine learning.

It is useful, but not mandatory, to have studied subject CS1 before studying CS2, as this subject assumes competence with the basic statistical techniques covered in CS1.

CM1 – Actuarial Mathematics 1

This subject provides a grounding in the principles of mathematics and modelling as applied to actuarial work, focusing particularly on deterministic models which can be used to model and value known cashflows as well as those which are dependent on death, survival, or other uncertain risks.  It introduces the theory of interest rates, the basic types of life and health insurance contracts and the concepts of pricing and reserving.

It is useful, but not mandatory, to have studied subject CS1 before studying CM1, as this introduces techniques that are drawn upon and used in this subject.

CM2 – Actuarial Mathematics 2

This subject provides a further grounding in the principles of mathematics and modelling as applied to actuarial work, focusing on stochastic asset-liability models and the valuation of financial derivatives.  It also includes theories on the behaviour of financial markets and different measures of investment risk.

It is useful, but not mandatory, to have studied subjects CS1, CS2, CM1 and CB2 before studying CM2, as these introduce techniques that are drawn upon and used in this subject.

CB1 – Business Finance

This subject provides a basic understanding of corporate finance, including a knowledge of the instruments used by companies to raise finance and manage financial risk.  It also provides the ability to interpret the accounts and financial statements of companies and financial institutions.

It is useful, but not mandatory, to have studied subject CM1 before studying CB1, in order to obtain a basic understanding of interest rates.

This subject is closely linked to subjects CB2 and CB3.

CB2 – Business Economics

This subject provides an introduction to the core economic principles and how these can be used in a business environment to help decision making and behaviour.  It provides a grounding in the fundamental concepts of microeconomics that explain how economic agents make decisions and how these decisions interact.  It also provides a grounding in the principles underlying macroeconomics that explain how the economic system works, where it fails and how decisions taken by economic agents affect the economic system. 

This subject is closely linked to subjects CB1 and CB3.

CB3 – Business Management

This subject provides an understanding of the wider business content in which actuaries operate, including consideration of relevant case studies.  It includes consideration of business strategy, competition, culture, values and behaviour, change management, leadership and team-working.

This subject is closely linked to subjects CB1 and CB2

Later IFoA Exams

The relationship between the Core Principles exams and the other IFoA exams is briefly set out below.

The Core Practice (CP) subjects assume knowledge and understanding across all the Core Principles (CS, CM, CB) subjects, as they build upon the principles and concepts developed there.

The Specialist Principles (SP) subjects and the Specialist Advanced (SA) subjects use the concepts developed in the CS, CM, CB and CP subjects to solve complex problems, to produce coherent advice and to make recommendations in specific practice areas.