Hi! Thank you so much😄I think if you want to try and get an internship for this summer, then focus on passing an exam! Most employers require interns to have at least one actuarial exam passed. As to which one you should take, it doesn't really matter - some people find P easier, while others find FM easier. If you're familiar with statistics and probability, you could start with P; if you're more familiar with finance and annuities, then FM is the way to go. And yes, you can pass them if you're only a first year. Just be aware that they take a couple months of studying on your own! I would focus on passing at least one exam before focusing on learning a programming language to make sure that actuarial science is something you really want to pursue. As for Excel, I don't think it would take too much time to learn the basics of it, so you could probably start that soon. You'll be able to improve your Excel skills through your internships as well! Hope this helps 🙂🤍

Hey, I have some advice as someone who recently started my first position as an actuarial analyst. I agree with what Bella said in the comments. Try to get as many actuarial internships as you can throughout your college journey, but don’t be too discouraged if you don’t get one. There is a lot of competition for both internships and entry level actuarial jobs, and while the job market is growing very quickly, I don’t know if it is growing fast enough to keep up with all the candidates. 1) Anyway, I would check to see if your university/college offers classes that prepare you for actuarial exams. If so, check if passing those classes count as passing the exams. For example, a college offers classes for preparation for FM, if you pass those classes, you might not have to take the actual exam (only if your university has an agreement with SOA). Before you begin to prepare for an actuarial exam, find that out first. 2) Do not major in actuarial science. Don’t even minor in it. Well, first let me say this. Check to see if the exam prep classes mentioned above count as passing the actuarial exam and make sure that you don’t have to be in the actuarial program for that to apply. If you can take those classes without being in the actuarial science program, then major in Statistics or Computer Science, and take the actuarial science classes as electives. This will give you a backup plan in case actuarial doesn’t work out or you find it difficult to get an entry level position and need to have a salary while continuing to apply for that entry level actuarial career. Ideally, major in Statistics and minor in computer science, or the other way around, and take the actuarial courses as electives. However, if you can’t do that because your university says that you have to be in the actuarial program to take actuarial classes, then major in actuarial and minor in stats or computer science. 3) Learn Excel and use it for personal things, outside of school. Get used to it and learn the shortcuts. Here’s a big one. If you hold control and press on of the arrow keys, you will jump to the end of a set of filled or empty cells. If you hold shift and press the arrow key, you can select multiple cells. If you hold control and shift then press an arrow key you can select all cells in that direction. Press the alt button and look at the ribbon on the top of excel to see other keyboard shortcuts. Ex. alt-h-i-c will insert a column. Press alt, then h for home, then i for insert, then c for column. 4) learn a coding language. It doesn’t really matter which one, but the most helpful to learn are: R, SQL, SAS, and Python. Learning and becoming proficient in one coding language will make it much easier to learn another language. Chances are that you won’t use these much. Most companies use an actuarial modeling software that isn’t available to the general public (MG ALFA, Azure, Alteryx, etc.) so you will have to learn whichever one your company uses on the job. But, learning a coding language like Python for example will give you the understanding of how a computer ‘thinks’ and how stupid computers really are. This will make it way easier to understand future languages that you will need to learn. 5) prepare to study actuarial exams mentally. Know this: studying for actuarial exams will be harder than any college course that you’ll probably take. Actuarial exams are no joke. There is a reason that the SOA recommends 100 hours of study per hour of exam. Exam P and FM are 3 hour long exams. This means that you should study 300 hours before taking the exam, according to the SOA. I love Coaching Actuaries. Yes, they are expensive, but since you’re a student in college, you get an awesome discount (usually you pay 1/3rd of the regular price). Embrace the suck. Studying for actuarial exams is tough.

Not a dumb question! Generally, most companies require at least one or two exams passed to be considered for a full-time position.

@Bella-the-Actuary Much appreciated ma'am. One more thing, currently, I'm planning on preparing for exam P. Have no idea where to begin, though . Do you mind giving me some suggestions about with what I could start things off? Thanks in advance, and sorry for the inconvenience.

@@moonkadir3046 One thing I like to do is purchase an exam prep resource, such as Coaching Actuaries and read through the study material before trying practice problems. Coaching Actuaries also provides a student discount. You can look through the SOA Exam P manual online for free and try the SOA's free practice problems, also!

@Bella-the-Actuary That should do it. Thanks a lot, ma'am.

There are usually around 9 exams! But the exam pathway changes from time to time, so it could be less or more.