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Philosophy: 

To successfully pass upper level CAS exams with confidence in today’s environment you need to fully understand the material on a deep and intuitive level, and that is my focus. While practice problems and exams are still very important, and I provide plenty, getting a deeper understanding of the material and understanding the bigger picture is more important than drilling endless practice problems like the preliminary exams.

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In this course you will learn the intuition behind the concepts, allowing you to answer exam questions in any format with confidence. You will also learn what research says about how we best learn and retain information, including optimal study techniques for maximum understanding and retention (as well as study habits to avoid), which you can incorporate into your study plan.

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The CAS 5 Study Material Includes:​

• Study manual covering the entire syllabus, including tips for effective studying and exam taking (255 page PDF)

• Condensed notes (chapters summarized to one page or less, 27 page PDF)

• Flashcards (204 dense flashcards, in PDF and Anki)

• Fully functional Excel workbooks containing all end of chapter exhibits and appendices from the texts

• End of chapter original practice and released CAS problems (530 Excel problems)

• Advanced original problem set (49 Excel problems)

• Original practice exam and last three CAS exams held out for use as practice exams (101 Excel problems)

• Example problems using the recently added multiple choice and fill in the blank question formats (more coming soon)

• Access to me through email and the brand new Discussion Forum added for Fall 2024

• Free access to the material and updates until you pass

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The video seminar includes instruction covering all material, in depth examples, and numerous practice problems. Video are available on-demand.

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Assuming your budget allows for it, I highly recommend purchasing both the instructional videos and study material as the videos supplement the study manual rather than simply going over the manual again. I decided to offer the study material alone for those who do not have the budget for both. 

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Samples from Reserving Chapter 12 - Case Outstanding Development Technique

Manual

Condensed Notes

Flashcards

Practice Problems

Solutions

Excel Exhibits with Commentary

Sample Video

(if using the default PDF reader on a Mac you may need to install the "Cambria" font or use Adobe Reader to view properly)

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Recent CBT format changes:

From 2011-2019, CAS upper level exams were pen and paper based where answers were handwritten onto blank pages and questions could require written responses and calculations. Computer based testing (CBT) was implemented in 2020 and the CAS stopped releasing exam questions and solutions. The CAS has recently added multiple choice/selection (could ask you to select one, or multiple, correct answers from a list), fill in the blank, point and click (select the correct location on an image/chart/graph), and matching (match content from one column to another) problem types, in addition to the constructed response (written) and spreadsheet/calculation (formerly handwritten but now in spreadsheets) question types that have always been present. The CAS believes this allows information to be tested "in a format that best suits the material, offering candidates a better test-taking experience." 

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I don't believe these changes should have an impact on the way you study. Based on the samples released by the CAS, fill in the blank isn’t just for word problems. They could be (and are likely to be) traditional calculation problems where you simply put your answer in a certain cell, not really changing the format of the exam questions. Further, if you can correctly answer a question in constructed response (written) format, you could fill in the blank or answer the question when presented the correct response along with incorrect responses in multiple choice/selection format. Point and click and matching (or grouping) problems have been asked historically, the only difference is you would have written the correct location of an image/chart/graph or match/grouping rather than clicking/dragging on the screen. That being said, you don't want to be caught off guard on exam day. All problems in the study material are currently converted to Excel format and I will be revising practice exams and additional practice problems to more closely replicate these new changes.

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I look forward to helping you on your journey through the exams.

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Jim Bedford

FCAS, MAAA