Overall this unit was a great introduction to actuarial studies, and

provides an important foundation for future actuarial units. The

content was interesting and well presented. The assessments

were in general quite lenient in marking. The tutorial questions

set a good example for the level of the difficulty you could expect

for the exam.

The unit was split in half and taught by two lecturers. Both were

enthusiastic about their respective content, making the lectures

informative and well presented. Whilst the lectures provided you

with practical examples, it was mostly theory based. This meant

that with some of the more difficult topics, you may have had to

re-watch some of the lectures to fully understand the concepts.

The tutorials were not necessary to attend, except for the week

that you were doing the presentation. You also did not need to

complete the tutorial questions before hand. However, they were

very useful as they went through the more challenging tutorial

questions in depth to help clarify any confusion, for example the

actuarial notation. This was often helpful as the lectures would

not have as many practical examples relating to the week's

content, or enough time to go through the questions entirely. The

tutorials were also the ideal place to ask for assistance with the

assignment - which contained a considerable amount of R

coding.

The largest in semester assessment was the assignment, which

required you to use R to solve an equation of value and then

create a mortgage repayment schedule. For this assignment,

collaboration was highly encouraged and as such marking was

very strict - although most people did do very well. There were

also in-semester quizzes that you needed to do, but were not

marked and were based on the previous week's lecture. The

teaching team also introduced an eight minute presentation that

required some background research into an actuarial

concept/product. These were fairly marked, and most student did

quite well.

To succeed in this unit, you must consistently revise the tutorial

questions and lecture slides to make sure you fully understand

the content and are able to apply it. The trickiest section of the

content was the Life Tables and Life Products, but the tutors

were always willing to help explain these and other topics at the

consultations. Additionally, the Actuarial Institute exams were

particularly helpful in preparation for the exam if you are looking

for more practice questions. It is also recommended to begin

working on the assignment as soon as it is released to help you

work through any difficulties that you come across while coding.