ETC2430: Actuarial Statistics

(Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)

Mid-semester test (20%) - Was taken from the first half of the course. No calculators were allowed, so the questions included excel screenshots and relatively straightforward mathematical calculations, as well as some derivations and theory questions. 90 mins was allocated to complete the 8 questions of the test. This did not prove to be enough time to finish the test, as there was too much material to cover in such a short time-frame. This was compensated by generous marking, however the average was only 59%, even though the top mark was 98%.

Assignment (20%) - This was a very time-consuming and tedious assignment to complete. It involved creating a spreadsheet in Excel for a reverse mortgage annuity product, accompanied by a report to produce to potential clients in your product. Very limited instructions were provided as to how to design the spreadsheet, such as application of Goal Seek, so consultations with tutors were required immensely to produce a reliable spreadsheet that could be easily interpreted, along with explanations of your calculations in the report. This was compensated by relatively generous marking again, such that the average mark for this task was 15/20.

Exam (60%) - This covered the remainder of the course from weeks 8-11 + 1 question on the exam from lectures 1-5. Of this, around 60% of the exam was taken from weeks 8-10 content, with 20% from weeks 1-5 and 20% from week 11. The exam was also calculator free, so involved a majority of theory based questions + some simple calculations that did not require a calculator. Unlike the mid-semester test, there was only 1 derivation type question which was relatively straightforward to achieve full marks in. Time was less of an issue here as well, as the exam was designed to be of similar difficulty to the mid-semester test, only shorter.

Give your overall opinion of the subject, lecturers, assessment etc. and a recommendation, plus anything else which you feel is relevant.

For those of you who have read previous reviews of this subject, scrap whatever way it was taught in the past. 2019 marked a change in the way the content was taught, with Brett taking on the role as Acting Head of Actuarial Studies, and together with Julie designing a new approach to this course. This resulted in most complex formulae scrapped from the course, as they are not relevant in day-to-day work, along with the removal of calculators to switch to using Excel in tutorials, lectures, assignments and exams, due to this being more widely used in day-to-day practice.

Brett Inder - Took the first 5 lectures + half of the revision lecture in week 12. Brett continues on his merry way from ETC1000, as he shows the same level of enthusiasm in delivering his lectures. However, he is learning the content on the go with his students, so can sometimes slip up when explaining derivations. Despite this, Brett was the best of the 3 lecturers, as he always kept his audience engaged so that they can understand the content as best as they can.

Heather Anderson - Takes lectures 8-11, as lecture 6 was the mid-semester test, and lecture 7 was on Good Friday so did not run. Heather took the more mathematical areas of loan schedules, equations of value, project appraisal & equity and bond valuation techniques. Sometimes she became a bit lost in the derivations, such that the lecture theatre had no clue of what was going on. Her lectures also tended to be a bit drier than Brett's, as she would usually read off the slides more, so made it hard to comprehend what was going on completely. Despite this, the material was still relatively straightforward to understand under her guidance.

Maziar Nikpour - Took the guest lecture at the end of week 5 and the lecture in week 11 on term structure of interest rates. Maz delivered lectures in a very detailed way, and often skipped over important details if he could see that he was running out of time. He also struggled to show some Excel calculations such as using Goal Seek to explain a problem, as in practice is different to what is taught in the classroom. Despite this, Maz still showed a great deal of enthusiasm in explaining the content and still made it relatively straightforward to comprehend.

No past or sample exams provided. Limited amount of practice questions provided

3.75 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture

No textbooks are recommended or prescribed, as all content is taken from the CM1 core readings.
However, buying the CT1 or CM1 combined materials pack from Actuarial Education (ActEd), will help you immensely as this goes into far more detail than what is given in the slides.

The tutorials are still standard 90 minute tutes where you went over the tutorial questions provided. However, each tute had a question to do in Excel, like designing a loan schedule or calculating the price of an annuity using Excel commands. I had Melvern as a tutor, and he was one of the best tutors I've ever had in my whole degree. Having taught the course in the past, Melvern had a great in-depth knowledge of all the concepts in the course, + the Excel applications due to him tutoring ETC1000 as well as ETC2430. This helped make the material far more comprehensible than if I were to be in any other tute. Melvern also provided tons of tips about the mid-sem, exam and the actuarial science degree, making it far more interesting to sit in his tutes and ask him any random question about the course than any other tutor. If Melvern tutors the course next year, I would 100% have him as a tutor again due to his wide understanding of every detail in the course, as he was a key influencer in the way it was designed.
Despite this, the course overall felt like a work in progress. Lecture slides varied quite significantly per lecture, and often difficult questions tripped the lecturers up as they did not have an in-depth knowledge of the material being asked, having only learnt about it a few months before the course was started to be taught. That being said, the ability of the entire teaching staff to explain the content was valued significantly, as they were able to comprehend the material in a very short window and explain it to the students in a far more detailed way than expected. As a result, ETC2430, although being rebuilt from the ground up, is in a very strong shape, as only content from the past CT1 is examined, and all complex material has been removed and incorporated into ETC3430/ETC3530 instead.

1 x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1.5hr tutorial per week

Semester 1, 2019

80 HD

2x10% Test
20% Group project
60% Exam

This is what I think is the first of the really hard actuarial subjects. Much of the material is very mathematically challenging, but Colin knows it very well. However, he expects that his students understand it just as well and I feel he isn't as good at explaining concepts if you fall behind at all.
Despite the difficulty in the content, the two 10% tests covered relatively basic material and much of the more advanced concepts were ignored. There's also a ~6-8 week group project to produce a research paper to look out for, it can take a lot of work and plan your time our accordingly. However, I found it manageable if you put in the time at the start to keep on top of the material from the very start.

Colin O'Hare

Yes, at least one

2 out of 5

Yes, without screen capture

Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks - Not really needed, little of the course is taught out of this
Tables and Formula for Actuarial Exams - Extremely useful, formula book brought into most actuarial exams

2hrs Lecture, 2hrs Tutorial

2013 S2

HD