Results of the Survey on CAS Professional Skills

To: CAS Members

Date: November 15, 2002

Re: Results of CAS Professional Skills Survey

In July 2002, the Future Education Task Force posted a Survey on Professional Skills on the CAS Web Site. All CAS members were invited to participate. The objective of the survey was to ask our members to tell us what skills or knowledge they believe are important to them as practicing actuaries. The intention is to use this feedback to help evaluate our examination and education system.

The results of the survey have been compiled and are now available to you in a summarized format (.pdf). A more condensed summary of the results by topic (.xls) is also available. This does not include the written comments, but it does provide a quick overview of member opinions by specific exam topic and a summary of the general questions.

Highlights of the results are as follows:

• Three hundred thirty-eight CAS members completed the survey (response rate of approximately 9.2% of membership), comprised of 69.8% Fellows and 30.2% Associates. The majority of respondents are employed by property/liability insurers (62.1%), reinsurance (11.8%), or consulting companies (12.1%).

• Overall, our exam system is teaching and testing the right things. Very few of the learning objectives on our current syllabus were considered to be "low" or "not important" to a practicing actuary.

• The majority want to keep all basic subjects (Probability, Economics, Regression, etc.) on the syllabus. The exception is Calculus where the response was mixed - see below for more details.

• The majority oppose granting credits for completion of non-actuarial designations, primarily due to the variation in the difficulty of the exams of the external organizations. The majority of respondents oppose giving credit for university courses, but they were split as to whether granting credit would dilute the FCAS designation.

• Most respondents say it should take a candidate between 5-8 years from their first full-time casualty actuarial job to Fellowship.

• The most popular methods chosen to reduce travel time were reduced number of topics and reduced breadth/depth of syllabus material. However, while there were a number of written comments about the importance of reducing the length of travel time, there were also written comments objecting to the assumption implicit in the question that "travel time should be reduced." Another important set of comments were that we should be managing the value of the syllabus with respect to its length (making sure the syllabus requires the right set of skills), rather than worrying about whether it is "too long".

• Many want to see more practical business applications incorporated in the testing process for the Probability, Microeconomics, Actuarial Modeling and Basic Finance exams.

• The majority say Basic Mathematics (Calculus, Linear Algebra, and Algebra) is an important skill. A little under 50% said that the Basic Mathematics topics should be taught under Basic Education. One-third of the respondents are in favor of offering university credit for Calculus.

• Knowledge of Probability, Microeconomics, Interest Theory, Basic Finance, Actuarial Models, and Actuarial Modeling are considered to be important and critical. The majority want the CAS to continue testing all these topics.

• Although ranked as important, Advanced Finance and most objectives under Macroeconomics are considered to be less important relative to Microeconomics and Basic Finance. Many Finance learning objectives are not highly used by most, but are viewed as an area of growing importance.

• Introduction to P&C Ratemaking, Loss Reserving Techniques, Basic and Statutory Accounting, Advanced Ratemaking, Law/Taxation/Regulation, and Reinsurance are important/critical. There is no question that the CAS should teach and test these topics. There are mixed views on accounting principles - some want more education while others want to adhere to testing only the basics. There are mixed views on Advanced Ratemaking - some want this to be core material while others say to keep it on the Fellowship exams.

• The majority favor introducing a Basic Ratemaking, Basic Reserving, and Policy Forms exam earlier in the exam process.

• Continuing education was suggested for emerging areas of practice and specifically for creating DFA models and Enterprise Risk Management. Most of the respondents favored testing the basic purposes and uses of DFA on an exam.

• Basic Differential Equations, Life Contingencies and Pension Mathematics were three objectives that ranked as being of low importance. Most favor reducing, but not entirely eliminating, the amount of Life Contingencies currently on the syllabus.

The Job Skills Subtask Force appreciates everyone who participated in the survey. It has provided the Future Education Task Force with valuable information to evaluate our current examination and education system.

Sincerely,

David L. Menning, FCAS
Chairperson of the Job Skills Subtask Force