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If the sample question is actually representative of the exam, I'm surprised that people that actually study for this fail that often. I haven't had any statist
by Denvercoder9 5y ago
If the sample question is actually representative of the exam, I'm surprised that people that actually study for this fail that often. I haven't had any statistics education since high school, and found it fairly straightforward to solve.
- dc-programmer 5y agoYears ago, I looked at sample questions for the probability exam, which most people take first. To get a passing score you had to be able to quickly recall different probability distributions and also you needed to have a pretty solid grasp of the mechanics of things like double integration. Intro calculus-based mathematical probability classes cover most of the material, but passing the test requires mastery of at least the applied side of math probability.
- tfehring 5y agoIt's an actual exam question from the first exam, but it's one of the easier ones. IIRC the syllabus is something like 40% discrete probability and combinatorics, 40% univariate continuous probability, and 20% multivariate probability. But it's not like WSJ is going to expect its readers to do tabular integration in the margin. In general that exam is pretty representative of the syllabus of my mid-level undergrad probability theory class. The failure rate is somewhat inflated because students will walk right out of their probability class into the exam thinking they can pass without further studying. It's still harder than a typical undergrad exam, but it's nowhere near the level of the Putnam or whatever.
- aqualinux 5y agoActuary here, having previously studied maths. I considered the exams hard not because of the level of understanding needed, but because of the amount of content that needed to be learned for each exam. I think most people studying A level maths can pass the exams.