Is Actuarial Science That Hard?

Not so sure what I have done this recently but I really got one big loads of questions asking me this, usually through Facebook.

"Hey, Guan Han, are you studying Actuarial Science (AS)?"
"Yeah~"
"Is it hard?"


According to my very mini survey, 8 out of 10, it's their 2nd question in asking something about AS (1st question is to confirm whether I'm taking AS)

Anyway I don't find it annoying people ask me that question, because when I first join AS I was thinking whether I can cope with this subject, practically when everyone heard I'm taking up AS , they were like

"Wow you serious ? That subject is damn hard !" 

or

"You must be a Maths Pro!"

or

"You must be crazy!"

So much of Stereotyping

Back to the main purpose of this blog, to explain to people whether is it that hard?

I would not answer them yet, I will question them back with a few questions.

1."What's YOUR(not your parents) reason of choosing Actuarial Science?"

2."Do you have interest in Actuarial Science? "

3."Which part of Actuarial Science interest you? "

4."Do you know what the hell is Actuarial Science?"

(Should add in another question next time, "Do you love Exams?")"

And once again, 8 out of 10 will answer these questions like this.

1."Because I love Maths." "Maths is my passion." "High Pay!" 

2."Yeah~"

3."Not so sure o..."

4."Actually to be honest , I do not know"

I find this very interesting, like what our KNS Mr.Dorae-Ong has said, there are so many misconceptions about Actuarial Science.

Mr.Dorae-Ong

Sibeh High Pay

It's all about Maths Maths Maths and only Maths..

At first I thought AS is like a... Very-Little-People-Know-Subject , Seems like I am freaking damn wrong! 

IT'S LIKE SO HOT !! SO SO HOT !! 

I think it is one of the hottest course in UTAR , if I am not mistaken, and that is not really a very good news.

You all dun join liao, want fight for job is it ?

By the way, don't get me wrong that I am criticizing a lot of people here, basically I'm criticizing myself as well.

My ambition was to become Actuarist since form 2, I was inspired by the fact that I can earn lots of money, then I can buy 

BIG house, BIG cars, BIG tvs. BIG computer. BIG boobs , 

EVERYTHING BIG BIG BIG

To be honest with you guys, the reason I joined UTAR AS because UTAR offers the BEST price among all Unis..

Others cost like RM200k , where got money?Xiao Meh?

So basically just like most of the people, I do not know what I want, I THINK I like Actuarial Science, and so I just take up this course!

So what you will be expecting , is not just about MATHS.

There are 

Econs

Finance

Account

Risk Management

Your "Actuarial Judgement" <- Basically it is just interpretation and decision making skills

So seriously, people who are not interested in how money works , please do not join AS, you will suffer!

And our MAIN profession, is working inside an Insurance Company, actuary is the heart of an insurance company. To make it in a very simple term, Insurance Agents sell insurance policy, Actuary create insurance policy.

 Actuary Habis, Company Habis

And please do not have to wrong idea that you seriously gonna earn BIG BIG BUCK$$ after graduating, that is so wrong man. 

In my personal opinion, any profession/job can earn money, depends on how passion are you, how hardworking are you, and how good are you.

And Yeah , now let's go back to the main question, 

IS ACTUARIAL SCIENCE HARD??

The answer is..

It depends on you. Certainly for sure is not easy, and certainly for sure is not a Mission Impossible subject.

Actually to be honest I'm not in a position to comment about the difficulty about AS, because I have not finish the SOA papers yet, in fact I have not finish the basic 5 papers yet, and I'm not the top student in my course, but one thing for sure, there is a certain standard in AS.

I think the Course Structure in UTAR is definitely not hard, the headache one is the SOA Professional Papers.

You must be damn good to pass all the papers, because your calculation affects not just the life and death of an insurance company, your calculation basically affects the whole economy in Malaysia (Wow, I suddenly feel I'm so important) , any discrepancy will result in big loss to...some people, may be the shareholders, the staffs, the policyholder, etc etc..

So what I'm trying to say, if Actuarial Science really is your passion, put all your 100% heart, effort and focus into it . Because I personally believe there's nothing call "Can or Not" , I only believe "Want or Don't Want".

If Actuarial Science is your passion, you will definitely motivate yourself to study hard score good grades and pass all the exams. Nothing is easy, I believe even the richest person, or the top of the top actuary, or some successful people have their hard times, and that makes them stronger. 

Are you willing to take up the challenge? 

Do you really love Actuarial Science?

 Ask yourself these questions again before you take any actions.

Comments are Welcomed :D