Wanda's First Actuary Exam

Last March 2009, I went and took an aptitudes test for career-changers at the Johnson O'Connor research foundation. I needed some direction to figure out what I was going to be when I grew up. I learned a lot of interesting things, like I have a high aptitude in spatial analysis, that led me to re-think actuarial work as a career. I was pointed to it in college but said there was no way I was going to crunch numbers in the back room of some insurance company with a bunch of fellow math nerds. After my aptitude test, however, the counselor said she'd recently spoken with a college grad going into actuarial work and the industry had changed. There were finance-related actuaries and consulting actuaries, etc. It really made me think. So, I tried to contact a local actuarial consulting firm to see if I could talk with someone about the work. No luck. All the messages I left weren't returned. Then I decided I'd check if UT here in Austin had an actuary dept. - they do. So I called the head of the dept, Jim Daniels, and asked if I could meet with him and he was very kind. We met and he gave me a ton of great information and several referrals to contacts in the working world that I could call. Lo and behold, then with his backing, one of the partners from the local firm returned my email. Toby Tobleman from Rudd & Wisdom set up a time I could come in and talk to him about the profession. We met, talked for 2 hours and really hit it off. Then he set up a lunch for me with 2 of his younger associates who told me all about the testing process (there are many tests to become and Associate (5+) and even more to become a Fellow (8+) and they are all brutally hard). Usually once you pass the first 2 exams you are considered 'hireable' in the industry. So I decided to attack this challenge head-on and started studying for the FM exam - Financial Mathmatics and Economic Theory. I started studying in June of 2009. And on May 19th, 2010, I sat for my first actuary exam - and passed! WooHoo!!! It was the hardest test I have ever taken. Having an undergraduate degree in economics and having become a stockbroker in 2003 both helped a lot with this test. I barely passed, but after months of studying, hundreds of hours devoted to the material, and a whole lot of praying - it all payed off. I can honestly say I deserved to pass. I am just so glad the test agreed with me. So now, I'm off to study for the Probability exam. If it weren't for the stress of possibly failing the test, the material I'm studying is actually interesting. That's a good sign, right?