Download Statistics 98 198 Spring Syllabus

Statistics 98/198: Actuarial Exam 1/P Prep Course, Spring 2012
Course Facilitator: Tiffany Lee, [email protected]
Assistant: Eric Chen, [email protected]
Sponsoring Faculty: Professor David Brillinger
Time and Location: Wednesday, 4-6PM, 9 Evans
Prerequisites: Math 1A, 1B, and 53; recommended: Stat 134
Grade & Units: P/NP, 2
Overview:
This course is intended to prepare students for the Actuarial Exam 1/P, administered by the
Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society. In this class, concepts of probability
will be taught that include general probability, univariate and multivariate probability
distributions, and other special topics. Hopefully, after finishing the decal, each student will have
the confidence and readiness to ace the exam!
General Class Structure:
4:10-4:30: 1 warm-up question, Q&A of homework due that day
4:30-5:20: interactive lecture on topics: examples
5:20-6:00: 5 practice problems on the topics covered that day: students divide into 5 groups, and
each group is responsible for solving 1 question and presenting them in the last 15 minutes of
class.
Group Competitions (two times a semester):
In these group competitions, one student from each of the five groups will be given one problem
at a time. The exact point scale will be presented on the competition day. The goal of the group
competition is to train students in solving exam-level questions quickly under time pressure. At
the end, the group with the most points wins the competition. The winners will be awarded a
prize (TBA ).
4:10-4:30: 1 warm-up question, Q&A of the homework due that day
4:20-4:40: Quick review of important concepts
4:40-6:00: Group Competition
Mock/Practice Exams:
The students will be given a practice exam with 10 questions and a mock exam with 20 questions
under real exam settings. To pass the course, students will have to either:
1) Receive 60% on the mock exam; or
2) Receive 40% on the practice exam and 40% on the mock exam.
Attendance:
To pass the course, students can have at most two absences. However, these absences cannot
happen on days of group competition or mock/practice exams. The student will have to inform
the facilitators beforehand.
Homework:
No late homework is allowed to pass this course, but students are allowed to drop 2 homework
assignments. The homework will be graded on effort: receive either full credit or no credit.
Grading Scale:
In order to pass this course, you must have:
1) No more than 2 missed or no-credit homework
2) No more than 2 absences and no absence on days of group competition and exams
3) At least 60% on the mock exam or at least 40% on the practice exam and at least 40% on the
mock exam
Course Outline:
Class 1: Introduction, Ice Breakers, Q/A, Counting
Class 2: Conditional probability, PDF, CDF, Expectation, Variance
Class 3: Discrete Distributions: Binomial, Geometric, Hypergeometric
Class 4: Negative Binomial, Poisson; Discrete/Continuous Uniform Distributions
Class 5: Group Competition
Class 6: Continuous: Exponential, Gamma and Beta
Class 7: Central Limit Theorem, Normal, Standard Normal, Chi-square, Lognormal, Raleigh
Class 8: Practice Exam (10 questions)
Class 9: Joint/Marginal Distributions
Class 10: Indicators, Conditional Expectation/Variance, Covariance, Correlation
Class 11: Group Competition
Class 12: Transformations, Order Statistics
Class 13: Moment Generating Functions
Class 14: Mock Exam (20 questions)
Exam information: http://soa.org/education/exam-req/edu-exam-p-detail.aspx
Online Text that may be helpful: http://faculty.atu.edu/mfinan/actuarieshall/book.pdf