Insomnia in Random

I spend all day dragging and feeling so run down, and then once the kids are in bed and the dogs are walked and it’s time to settle down, my mind starts racing and I’m wide awake. And that’s why I’m here.

I passed my ninth, and final, actuarial exam. This exam has taken me five tries to pass, which is more than any other exam. This means I’ll be going to Seattle in a month to finalize my Fellowship status. Unfortunately, since my mom now has a job and it’s late notice, C can’t come with me. And it’s way too expensive to bring the kids with us, so I’m going alone. I don’t want to be getting this huge achievement without him, but the timing works out well with the unemployment and severance situation, and the next one won’t be until December. So now is best.

I’ve had 21 exam attempts over the past eleven years - I took the first one in November 2006:
- Five of them were the same exam, Retirement Plan Investment and Risk Management (RPIRM), the one I just passed
- Took Construction and Evaluation of Actuarial Models (C) four times. My first attempt earned me the only 0 I’ve ever gotten
- Took Probability (P) three times
- Took Financial Mathematics (FM), Models for Life Contingencies (MLC), and Retirement Design and Accounting (RETDA) twice
- Passed Models for Financial Economics (MFE), Enrolled Actuaries - Funding (EA-2F) and Enrolled Actuaries - Law (EA-2L) on the first try

Exams are graded on a scale of 0-10. A passing score is a 6. If you get 90%-99.99% of the points needed to pass, you get a 5. If you get 80%-89.99% of the points, you get a 4, etc. If you get less than 50% of the points, you get a 0.

Similarly, if you get 110%-119.99% of the points required to pass, you get a 7. If you get 120%-129.99% of the points, you get an 8…and if you get at least 140% of the points, you get a 10. Depending on the passing score, which isn’t released on most exams, it can be impossible to get a 10. I’ve never gotten one.

I’ve gotten:
- One 0
- Three 3’s
- Three 4’s
- Five 5’s
- Four 6’s
- One 7
- Two 8’s
- Two 9’s

This most recent exam, as well as the other essay exam I’ve taken, got me a score of 6. It’s very difficult to get a score lower than 4, or higher than 6 or 7 on those kinds of exams, if you’re at least moderately prepared.

Super boring stuff, I know, but it’s interesting to me.