I have been chugging along and making progress. I had one week a few weeks ago that I wasn’t able to put any study time in, and in other weeks I have been putting in 5-10 per week. I haven’t been able to utilize my work study time until this week due to year end work, so my weekly study time should start hitting the 15-20 hours per week range this week.
As far as progress in the material, I am feeling very comfortable with the basic lessons like binomial pricing and have a fair amount of comfort with the concepts of the rest of the material. I have worked on the math of all the sections at least a little bit, but I can’t say I have a very strong handle on some of them yet. I am now in the process of working on the math and problem solving of the Black Scholes formula and the lognormal distribution, and expect to delve into the nitty gritty of the formulas and problem solving of all the remaining sections over the next few weeks. Hopefully a month from now I can feel much stronger with the math of all the sections, and can just work problems for the remaining 50-60 days.
One thing I really have noticed is how valuable the mp3 lessons available on The Infinite Actuary are becoming to me. I used the TIA lessons for my initial review of the material, but I find the real benefit I get from the lessons is to be able to listen to them in my car every day. I have a 35 minute commute each way, which is about the length of one lesson. Once you have gone through the material once or twice and tried some problems, you should be familiar enough with the concepts and formulas so that the TIA mp3s are pretty easy to follow along with in the car. I am finding them really useful for practicing formula memorization, thinking through concepts, etc. In thinking back, I have listened to TIA lessons while mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, and doing general work around the house. This kind of reinforcement is really valuable, especially as it serves as kind of a “hidden” extra study time. Thus far I have put in about 65 hours of actual sitting down and focusing study time, but I have probably put in almost that much in listening to the TIA lessons over and over. I estimate I will put in another 65 or so just listening to the lessons and not counting that as my study time that I keep track of.
My confidence level in passing is still pretty high – I would say a 7.5 right now.
