The Missing Piece

The Society of Actuaries initiated several structural changes on the exam system since 2005. It first changed Courses 1–4 (combined to be known as the preliminary actuarial exams). Later, it introduced the Fundamentals of Actuarial Practice modules and exams to replace Courses 5 and 7.The SOA also retired Course 6, and introduced new FSA exams to replace Course 8. While the introduction of the FAP is the most notable change for the ASA designation requirement, the introduction of Validation by Educational Experience (VEE) is often less noticed. After completing the preliminary exams and the FAP, candidates often assume that they have all they need to earn an ASA designation, only to find out that the VEE piece is missing.

So what is VEE? The VEE requirement has three components:

• Economics, which further divides into macroeconomics and microeconomics
• Corporate finance
• Applied statistics, which further divides into regression analysis and time series.

If you have passed the old Course 2 (not the new Exam FM), you automatically receive credits for VEE Economics and VEE Corporate Finance. Similarly, if you have credits for the old Course 4, you also have the VEE Applied Statistics credit.

As it has been two years since the new exams rolled out, it is more likely you have taken one or both of the above exams under the new system. This is why VEE is often lost in translation. So how do you obtain the VEE credits then?

Since the last CAS transitional exam was in August 2007, you have two ways left to obtain the VEE credits. First, the easier way is...you already have it! Part of the original purpose of VEE is to exempt students with relevant college courses from these old exam components. You can check on the SOA's Web site to see if your college course has been approved by the SOA. If not, don't give up easily. Candidates may submit their courses for possible approval directly to the SOA. See the SOA Web site for details.

It is likely you won't have all VEE credits from your college courses, either because you didn't take the course, or your course is not approved. The second way is to take online seminars approved by the SOA. It is worth noting that seminars for all VEE subcomponents are available online, so you can use a course from school, combined with a VEE seminar, to obtain one VEE requirement. For instance, I have the regression analysis component from a college statistics course. I only need to take an online time series seminar to obtain the VEE Applied Statistics credit. The seminars are structured very similarly to a college course. They are also less time–consuming than any of the preliminary actuarial exams or the FAP.

So when should you start worrying about the VEE requirements? You should probably complete them as you finish the preliminary actuarial exams. Do plan ahead, and don't forget about this necessary component in earning your ASA designation!

For more information, you can visit: Validation by Educational Experience.