We know, all over the world, lives have been drastically affected since Covid hit us hard. Let’s see how the Actuarial examinations from April 2020 session, be it IAI or IFoA, have changed:

• Both the institutes shifted to online exams, though only IAI continued with proctoring, ie., IAI provides a separate browser specially for examining students in which the institute constantly tracks your microphone and camera. However, IFoA does not follow this.
• From the upcoming December 2022 attempt, IAI has decided to switch back to the Center-based examination.
• IFoA follows an open-book exam pattern, where the student has to give proper referencing every time he/she refers to the material and Table Book provided by the institute. Since most of the questions are application-based, students need to be very careful while writing their answers.
• There has been no changes in the syllabus of any of the papers in either of the institutions, unlike expected. Like always, there are amends in some papers every session though.
• Now, in total 3 hours and 20 minutes is provided to write the paper. An extra 5 minutes is given for downloading and uploading the paper and there is no demarcation between reading and writing time. This is for IAI. However, for IFoA, extra 15-30 minutes is given for strictly just uploading the paper and no more editing is allowed in that time.
• Exams are conducted primarily on MS Word, MS Excel. Only for IAI, the papers CB1, CB2 and CP3 are conducted on text editor instead of MS Word, which is present in their own exam browser.
• Questions have become more analytical than direct. Since it is an open-book exam and you have to type instead of writing, the institutes check your concepts and analytical mind. You need to start practicing for it at least 2-2.5 months before the exam so that you get accustomed to the pattern and your typing speed improves and you can complete your paper in the stipulated time period.
• As far as the results are concerned, IAI still publishes a list of all the students who have cleared the exams. For IFoA students, no list is published anymore. They have to login to their account on the official website of IFoA and download the exam letter to check whether they have cleared their exam or not.
• No exemptions are allowed from IFoA to IAI and vice versa for the papers cleared after 2021 from either of the institutes. Papers cleared only upto 2021 are eligible for exemptions.

For further information, you can refer to https://youtu.be/zzGOr3q91t0