I passed C! Yay!
I thought the exam was pretty tough, but fair. I was able to answer 24 confidently, make a somewhat confident guess on 5, and I made pure guesses on 7. Yes, I know that adds up to 36 questions, I must have double counted one in there!
I have been starting to study for MLC in the fall. The spring sitting was super tough, only about 30% passing. I'm not sure what that means for fall - I could see the SOA both leaving it at the same level, but also I can see them dialing down the difficultly a little bit. I just have to prepare for the high difficulty level!
One thing I did learn from C (and MFE as well) is that you really have to prepare for the second tier of exams (MFE, MLC and C) so much more than you had to for P and FM. I plan to put in the same level of dedication I put into C, but I am a little short on time this time (4 months), so hopefully I can get to the point I need to be at in time!
After reviewing the samples available for various study material, I decided to purchase the Actex book, the ASM book, and the TIA seminar. While that might seem like a lot of material, I have really found having multiple sources to be a big value add. Being able to refer to another source when you are having difficulty with a concept really helped me with C. In retrospect, I wish I had done this for MFE as well. The $200 extra cost for another study manual is small compared to the value of time saved studying and increased chances of passing.
I am currently on TIA section B, and plan to do about one section per week (the sections are A-J) through the week of Sept 8, leaving the next 2 months for intense problem working and solidifying the concepts. While I always start with the intention of doing problems as I first review the material, I know at some point I will want to rush through all the material so I can get to purely problem working. We'll see how that goes!
It will be awesome to be done with the prelims, assuming I pass of course. I am looking forward to taking the FSA exams and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
My current MLC schedule (according the the TIA sections) looks like this:
| Section | Week Ending |
| A. Prerequisite Review | 7/7/2012 |
| B. Survival Models and Life Tables | 7/14/2012 |
| C. Insurance Benefits | 7/21/2012 |
| D. Life Annuities | 7/28/2012 |
| E. Premium Calculation | 8/4/2012 |
| F. Reserves | 8/11/2012 |
| G. Markov Chains | 8/18/2012 |
| H. Multiple-Decrement Models | 8/25/2012 |
| I. Multiple-Life Models | 9/1/2012 |
| J. Other Topics | 9/8/2012 |
