Specialist Materials

Specialist Materials

What is 'Pure Maths and Statistics for Actuarial Studies'?

'Pure Maths and Statistics for Actuarial Studies' is designed to help students improve their maths and statistics skills in preparation for the Core Principles subjects. It is a reference document (available in both paper and eBook formats) to which students can refer when they need help on a particular topic. Each chapter contains explanatory notes, examples and practice questions to test understanding.

What is 'Pure Maths and Statistics for Actuarial Studies'?

The Actuarial Profession produces guidance on the mathematics and statistics assumed knowledge required by students joining the profession. 'Pure Maths and Statistics for Actuarial Studies' reflects this guidance and therefore covers virtually all of the maths and statistics required for the Core Principles subjects. Unlike other mathematical textbooks it is geared specifically towards actuarial students.

Is there only a textbook available?

There are different packages available depending on how much support is required. The three study packages available are:

• Bronze Package
  

  The Bronze Study Package gives the choice of an eBook or hard copy of the textbook. The textbook contains comprehensive notes explaining all topics, numerous worked examples with solutions, and many additional practice questions with summary solutions.

• Silver Package
  

  As well as the textbook, the Silver Study Package gives access to our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) containing online Study Manuals, tests and two realistic Practice Exams. The Study Manual gives a step-by-step guide to studying each chapter of the textbook including shortcuts to help efficient study. An online Introductory Test for each chapter indicates how much time to spend studying the material. The online Progress Test at the end of each chapter allows students to check their understanding of the material. The Silver Study Package also includes full solutions to the textbook practice questions. Each Practice Exam contains 60 questions.

  The Silver Study Package gives many more questions than the Bronze Package to help consolidate learning. Access to the online materials lasts up to 13 months from the date of purchase.

• Gold Package
  

  In addition to all the benefits of the Silver Study Package, the Gold Study Package gives access, through the VLE, to our comprehensive pre-recorded Online Tutorials. The easily-searched collection of online tutorial units have been produced by our dedicated team of tutors, who have vast experience in teaching actuarial science. This package also gives access to a dedicated online discussion forum.

  Access to the VLE lasts 13 months from date of purchase.

  The price for the Bronze Package is £40
  The price for the Silver Package is £75
  The price for the Gold Package is £110
  

Which topics does the course cover?

The course covers the maths and statistics ideas needed for the study of Subjects CM1, CM2, CS1 and CS2. Many of the topics covered are beyond the scope of A-Level or Higher Level syllabuses.

The topics covered by the course include:

• Differentiation and integration techniques
• Vectors and matrices
• Algebra, including summation of series and binomial expansions
• Averages and measures of spread
• Probability
• Permutations and combinations
• Discrete and continuous random variables

A sample of the textbook can be downloaded at the end of this section.

Which students will benefit from 'Pure Maths and Statistics for Actuarial Studies'?

Students with numerate degrees and a good memory of the topics covered in A-Level or Higher Level maths and statistics may not need to purchase this course. Many other students (particularly those with less numerate degrees or those whose maths is a little rusty) will benefit greatly from the study material and practice questions provided by this course.

We have written an Initial Assessment to students decide if they would benefit from this course. There are 25 questions which are typical of problems that will be encountered in the context of the actuarial exams and which are covered in detail in the course. Students should attempt the Initial Assessment without reference to a textbook and should take around 90 minutes to complete the task.

The Initial Assessment and full solutions are available at the end of this section.

Above you said 'virtually all of the maths and statistics required'. What about any other topics?

There are just a few topics that aren't covered so there are documents relating to those topics below:

• Download "Proof by induction"
• Download "Order notation"
• Download "Factorial notation and the gamma function"
• Download "Solution of simultaneous equations using matrices"
• Download "Iteration"
• Download "Arithmetic and geometric mean inequality"
• Download "Complex numbers"
• Download "Lagrangian multipliers"
• Download "Multiple integrals"
• Download "Trapezium rule"
• Download "Differential equations"
• Download "Differentiating an integral"
• Download "Eigenvectors and eigenvalues"
• Download "Functions of a random variable"

Click on the appropriate icon to download the file. The documents are in Adobe Acrobat format, and you will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print it. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it here.

How can I download further information about this course?

Download a sample of the textbook; download the contents page.

Download the Initial Assessment; download the solutions to the Initial Assessment.

Click on the appropriate icon to download the file. The documents are in Adobe Acrobat format, and you will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print it. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it here.

UK Practice Module

Overview

The IFoA are currently transitioning to a new workshop format for the Practice Modules with the first workshops expected to available in Spring 2023. During the transitional period, the Practice Module in its current format will remain available. The information below relates to the current (old) format. More information about the UK Practice Modules can be found on the IFoA's website.

Under the 2020 syllabuses, the required reading for each Practice Module includes both the generic P0 Core Reading and the subject-specific P1, P2, ...or P7 Core Reading. The P1-7 Core Reading has been written as an appendix to the corresponding Specialist Application Core Reading but this appendix is not included in ActEd's CMP for the 2020 exams. However, given the references the appendix makes to the SA Core Reading we have included it in the standalone SA1-7 Core Reading for the 2020 exams.

Therefore, in order to prepare for the Practice Module Exams at present:

• If you already have the standalone 2020 Core Reading for the corresponding SA Subject, then you will only need to purchase the P0 Core Reading.
• If you have ActEd's CMP for the 2020 exams but not the standalone 2020 Core Reading, then you should purchase the P1, P2, ... or P7 Core Reading.

The P1-P7 Core Reading includes the P0 Core Reading and the relevant SA1-7 Core Reading (2020) with the P1-7 appendix.

You can order the Core Reading from ActEd's online store and prices can be found at herefor prices .

If you are retaking the Practice Module then we recommend that you obtain an up-to-date version of the Core Reading.

Multi-choice Booklets

Our Multi-choice Booklets offer over 400 multi-choice questions to help students prepare for their exam. The questions cover both the generic material (covered by the P0 Core Reading) and the subject specific material (covered by the subject-specific Core Reading).

Each set comprises six A6-sized spiral-bound booklets - three booklets for the generic material and three for the subject-specific material. Each booklet contains at least 50-80 multi-choice questions. The price is £61.

If you wish to only purchase the three P0 Multi-choice Booklets without the subject-specific material, the price is £33.

How can I download further information?

Download P0 Multi-choice booklet sample

The sample above is in Adobe Acrobat format, and you will need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print it. If you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it here for downloading Adobe Acrobat Reader.