How to become an Actuary: Actuarial Courses in India

The Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI) regulates the education & training of actuaries in
India. When a student becomes a member of IAI by clearing the ACET exam [Read: All
about "Actuarial Common Entrance Test" (ACET)], it is understood that he possesses the
skills required to become a successful actuary.

Following are the eligibility criteria to become an actuary:

 10+2(H.S.C) or equivalent
or
 Graduate or Post Graduate in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Computer Science,
Engineering, MBA (Finance) and other similar qualifications.
or
 Fully qualified members of professional bodies such as:
o The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India 
o The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India
o Certified Institute of Financial Analysts of India
o Fellow of Insurance Institute of India
 Highly proficient in mathematics & statistics

After clearing ACET, you can apply online (www.actuariesindia.org/Admission_login.aspx)

to become a student member of IAI.

Khushwant Pahwa explains further, "To become an actuary, you need to pass all actuarial
exams (15 of them!) and have 3 years of practical work experience. Passing exams will
require students to have application skills as just mugging up the study material will not make
them pass exams (certainly not some of the higher level exams). Actuarial science is a distant
learning program (just like chartered accountancy). One shall have to study on his / her own.
There are, though, some coaching institutes which provide coaching for actuarial subjects."

Actuarial exams by IAI

The 15 actuarial exams conducted by IAI include 9 written exams and 3 practical exams:

Stage 1: Core Technical (CT)

You have to either pass all these 9 exams:

Financial
CT1
Mathematics
Finance and
CT2 Financial
Reporting
Probability and
CT3 Mathematical
Statistics
CT4 Models
General
Insurance, Life
CT5
and Health
Contingencies
Statistical
CT6
Methods
Business
CT7
Economics
Financial
CT8
Economics
Business
Awareness
CT9 Online Module
(Practical
Exam)

Stage 2: Core Application (CA)

You have to pass all these 3 exams:

Actuarial Risk
CA1
Management
Model
Documentation
Analysis and
CA2
Reporting
(Practical
Exam)
Communication
CA3 (Practical
Exam)

Stage 3: Specialist Technical (ST)

At this stage you can specialize and choose any 2 subjects out of the 6 offered:

ST1 Health and Care

ST2 Life Insurance
Pension and
ST3 Other Employee
Benefits
ST4 Finance and
 Investment A
Finance and
ST5
Investment B
General
Insurance
Reserving and
ST6 Capital
Modeling
Specialist
Technical
General
Insurance
ST7 Pricing
Specialist
Technical
Enterprise Risk
ST8
Management

Stage 4: Specialist Application (SA)

You can choose any 1 subject (preferably corresponding to the ST subjects you chose):

SA1 Health and Care

SA2 Life Insurance
SA3 General Insurance
SA4 Pension and Other Employee Benefits
SA5 Finance
SA6 Investment

Once you clear all the 9 CT papers & all the 3 CA papers, you are eligible to become an
Associate Member of the IAI. And once you clear all the 15 papers you can become a Fellow
Member of the IAI. As of March 2015, there are only 290 Fellows, 158 Associates and 9846
Student Members of the IAI.

Becoming an actuary is a tough process and only the most skilled professionals clear all the
levels. Many students often quit studying after clearing a few exams as there are job
opportunities even if you've cleared 2-3 papers of the IAI. The industry is therefore facing a
resource crunch for highly qualified actuaries.

Skills Required
Actuaries are expected to be good at mathematics, statistics and possess good modeling
skills. However, these are what actuaries are ‘supposed’ to be. As per me, to be successful,
actuaries need to be more business savvy, be commercially sound have good
communication skills.
Actuaries, being mathematicians / statisticians, are often introverted or not very good at
communicating with non-technical people. This is one area where actuarial students need to
improve, feels Pahwa.

Actuarial Science - Salary

According to Pahwa who's been in this industry for 10 years, a newly qualified actuary today
does not earn less than Rs. 15 to 20 lakhs. The salary of experienced actuaries is much more.

Actuarial students can expect to start their career with an annual package of anywhere
between Rs.4 to 5 lakh.

Top Colleges/Institutes for Actuarial Science

Apart from clearing the 15 actuarial exams of the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI), it is
advisable to join a regular bachelors/ masters course in the relevant field. A course like an
M.Sc/ MBA in Actuarial Science covers the syllabus of all the CT papers and if considered a
better option than going for coaching/ self-study.

No. College/Institute Courses/Degree Offered

B.Sc (Actuarial Science)

B.A. Hons. (Insurance & Banking)

1 Amity School of Actuarial Science - Noida MBA - Insurance & Financial Planning

MBA - Insurance & Banking

M.Sc. (Actuarial Science)

2 Christ University - Bengaluru M.Sc. Actuarial Science

B.Sc. (Actuarial Mathematics Science)

3 Bishop Heber College - Tiruchirappalli M.Sc. Actuarial Science

P.G. Diploma (Actuarial Science)

https://iaqs.in/

Institute of Actuaries of India: How many CT exams one should clear before graduating?
http://www.actuariesindia.org/beta/question-papers-subject.html

To really have an upward growing actuarial career you have to aim to pass all the 15 exams.
Only then can you reap benefits of being a part of this profession.

Coming back to your question, it is advisable to pass 7+ CT exams while you are studying in
college as this is the time when you can concentrate without having to worry about work.
Once you start working for any company you will have a lot of responsibilities and lesser
time to study.

One can easily clear 3 papers before Graduating, which papers depends on the background
you come from -
CT 1, CT 2 & CT 7 if you come from Finance Background or
CT 1, CT 3 & CT 6 if you come from Maths/Engineering Background.

One can land into an internship even without clearing any papers. Yes, companies do hire a
prospective actuarial candidate. But, clearing more papers increases your chances of getting
picked.

One should not try to clear all papers before graduating. In Actuaries, In this process learn
some programming languages like SAS ,MATLAB,R software etc. as these are mostly
demanded these days. all requiring a solid background in calculus.

Path to become Actuary (IAI-Institute of Actuaries of India)

1. First Step is to Pass the entrance Exam ACET (Actuarial common entrance test).
ACET is conducted twice a year, once in May and then in Nov.
For more details on ACET follow the link. click here
2. After Clearing ACET, register as an actuarial student at IAI.
3. Take Core Technical series papers (CT series CT1-CT9).          
1. CT1 – Financial mathematics
2. CT2 – Finance and financial reporting
3. CT3 – Probability and mathematical statistics
4. CT4 – Models
5. CT5 – Contingencies
6. CT6 – Statistical methods
7. CT7 – Business economics
8. CT8 – Financial economics
9. CT9 – Business awareness

Papers can be taken in any order like for example a 12th cleared candidate can appear
for (CT1,CT7,CT2,CT3,CT5,CT4,CT6,CT8,CT9). Order of paper depends on the
Previous experience of candidates and also on the present need of their job or area of
interest, For example an equity analyst or investment analyst can first take CT7
papers. The papers CT1-CT8 are subjective papers of 3 hours duration each. CT series
papers (CT1-CT8) taken at Institute of Actuaries India (IAI) are exempt for CT series
papers at Institute and Faculties of Actuary, UK.

4. After clearing CT series paper , one has to take Core Application stage papers  (CA
series CA1-CA3)
1. CA1 – Actuarial risk management
2. CA2 – Model documentation, analysis and reporting
3. CA3 – Communications
5. After Core Application stage, one has to take Specialist Technical stage papers (ST
series ST1-ST9). Two papers are required to be chosen out of nine papers.
1. ST1 – Health and care
2. ST2 – Life insurance
 3. ST4 – Pensions and other benefits
4. ST5 – Finance and investment A
5. ST6 – Finance and investment B
6. ST7 – General Insurance: reserving and capital modeling
7. ST8 – General Insurance: pricing
8. ST9 – Enterprise risk management
6. After ST stage, one has to take Specialist Application Stage (SA series SA1-SA6).
Only one paper is required to be chosen out of 6 papers.
1. SA1 – Health and care
2. SA2 – Life insurance
3. SA3 – General insurance
4. SA4 – Pensions and other benefits
5. SA5 – Finance
6. SA6 – Investment

The Actuarial Education Model comprises two groups; First Group is of CT series papers
which involves the development of Actuarial science and application of Mathematics,
Statistics and Economics in Investment domain, Insurance Products and Employee Benefit
Products.

Second Group Comprises of CA and ST series papers where CA3 is to develop

communication skills to communicate Technical skills of CT series to non-technical people
demonstrating the real life challenges. ST series subjects are developed to meet the real life
challenges in respective work areas and thus these subjects can be fully understood in a
practical work environment. The success in subjects beyond CT series is linked to the
corresponding work experience and insight gained from it.