Edition

Revisions to the FSA Pathway

By Stuart Klugman

Two businesspeople are walking in a modern office corridor in one direction.

In July 2023 the SOA announced sweeping revisions to the pathway from associateship to fellowship. Full details can be found on the SOA website. Many of the changes (such as faster grading and more feedback) are designed to improve the candidate experience for all candidates. This article will focus on those changes that directly affect GI candidates.

Flexible Pathway

Currently, GI candidates must complete four modules, pass four exams, and complete the Fellowship Admissions Course. There are no choices from among the modules and exams. Not all candidates want their actuarial education to focus on a single practice area. To facilitate choices and allow candidates to choose breadth over depth, there will be a new set of requirements:

  • Complete four courses from a catalog that spans all practice areas.
  • One of the selected courses must build on a previous course.
  • DMAC and the Fellowship Admissions Course will continue to be required and will be relatively unchanged.

Note that the terminology has changed from “exam” to “course.” Each component reflects a full educational experience—what is to be learned, how it is learned, and an assessment of learning.

Many candidates will still choose to take all courses from a given practice area, but others may want to take courses from related areas. For example, A GI candidate may take a sequence in ratemaking and reserving but then use other courses to learn ERM (and get a CERA) and an advanced analytics course (courses that aren’t from a specific practice area may be introduced).

The suite of courses to be offered will be announced in April 2024 with the first new courses to be offered in fall 2025. Transition rules will also be provided in April 2024.

Movement of Certain Regulatory Material

Currently, all GI candidates must meet all the learning objectives to be a signing actuary in the U.S. (or in Canada if they elect CAS Exam 6C). Many of our candidates are not interested in this role due to either location or personal goals. To address this, detailed local regulatory material will be removed from the fellowship pathway. It will then be offered as a separate certificate program for those needing that knowledge. This will further enhance the flexibility described above by allowing candidates to skip this material, even if they concentrate on general insurance. The separation of which topics are in the fellowship courses and which topics are in the certificate program will also be announced in April 2024.

These are exciting changes to the pathway and we are looking forward to their implementation.

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the newsletter editors, or the respective authors’ employers.

Stuart Klugman, FSA, CERA, is a senior staff fellow at the Society of Actuaries. Stuart can be contacted at sklugman@soa.org.