Description: The April/May 2013 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: The February/March 2014 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: The June/July 2014 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: This session discussion is about the report of the Task Force and its implications for the future of the actuary. From Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 15, No. 2.

Description: The SOA competency framework is designed to reflect the knowledge, skills and abilities that actuaries need to be valued and successful. The competency framework is foundational to the SOA professional development curriculum. This article explores that framework and how to use the self-assessment tool.

Description: The August/September 2015 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: This template was created as a tool to help brainstorm ideas for session topics that are aligned with the SOA Competency Framework. The following table lists the eight core SOA competencies identified by the membership as being key to actuarial success. Every meeting topic will fall into one or more of the competencies. Aligning meetings with the competency framework will help create better professional development offerings to support member needs.

Description: This presentation proposes a solution to the student actuarial paradox “I mastered the syllabus but failed the exam,” by utilizing the two-dimensional syllabus vehicle which pedagogically focuses on the two dimensions of content and problem difficulty. This presentation advocates the PMR characterization of three levels of problems difficulty: Plug-ins (easy), Monkey-wrench (intermediate), and Research-type(hard) questions. PMR was developed by examining difficulty levels in SOA exams, and problems of various software vendors. The author's students routinely score high on the SOA FM exam; it is hoped that these methods will assist other instructors in their quest for good pedagogy. Very briefly: “Plug-ins,” refer to multi-part problems, for example, calculating the price of an annuity that is first increasing and then level; “Monkey-wrench” problems specifically refer to plug-in multi-part problems where one component is a monkey-wrench, an issue the candidate has not previously encountered. It might be a non-typical modeling or it might be a non-typical algebraic simplification or it might be an unexpected integration of distinct modules in a manner that the candidate has not yet seen. “Research-type questions” refer to problems requiring some type of experimentation for example, looking at initial cases, seeing a pattern and then applying methods

Description: As health care changes, actuaries need to be able to understand developments and work with users of health plan information. Actuaries also must be a credible source of data. This article describes the efforts of the Society of Actuaries Task Force on Alternative Care to determine the effectiveness of alternative or integrative medicine, including nontraditional techniques such as chiropractic, acupuncture, massage therapy, and nutritional counseling.

Description: Brown, who has used this book for two years at University of Waterloo, provides his review.