I decided sophomore year of college that I would major in Actuarial Science. I had a strong passion for math and figured it would be a great career path. I struggled with P and FM during college and only managed to pass one exam by the time I graduated. I found it extremely difficult to study for actuarial exams when I had a full course load and worked over 20 hours each week. 

It was really discouraging to fail the first exam multiple times. I thought I was stupid. I didn't understand how others in my classes were already passing their second exam when I couldn't even pass the first. Finally, I ended up devoting the entire months of June and July between junior and senior year to study for P and passed.

Looking back now, I don't know how I expected to pass P during the school year. I barely had time to eat, let alone study for an extra exam. There I was thinking I was stupid, when really, I was just stretching myself way too thin. It's easy to realize that now, after the fact.

I ended up passing FM two months after starting full-time and a little over a year after passing P. I could've given up, but I'm happy I didn't.

While the material covered on these exams is relatively challenging, chances are, if you are even considering being an actuary, you can learn the material and pass. The issue is time and effort. Memorizing formulas isn't enough to get through these exams. You need to work efficiently on every question and understand how to solve the problem within seconds. That is why doing practice problems AND practice exams is essential. On all of my failed attempts, I put way too much time into reading the material and trying to understand what I read instead of diving into practice problems and learning through applying the formulas. 

I sat for MFE for the first time in March. I used the Coaching Actuaries' bundle with ASM and ADAPT. I tried to follow the recommended study schedule on their site, but I quickly fell behind. I was also cutting the study time close - only two and a half months of studying. About a month before the exam, I realized there was no way I would be able to finish the material in the manual and still have time for practice exams, so I ended up skimming the last ~10 chapters. I think I took about 15 ADAPT practice exams (my EL was below 3) by the time I sat for the exam and was barely passing them. 

I showed up at the Prometric Testing Center at Penn Plaza about half an hour early. Of course, I forgot the most essential item - my calculator (TI-30XS MultiView - BEST CALCULATOR EVER!!). I was horrified and quickly ran to the Kmart hoping they would have something similar to my calculator. The one they had was close to the TI-30XS, but some of the keys were different and in different places. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I literally had to practice using the calculator a few minutes before the exam. Who says that?! Who PRACTICES using a calculator.

Anyway, I was about 10 minutes into the exam when I needed to use 'ln'. It wasn't listed. It wasn't a button. I frantically searched through my calculator trying to find it. After coming close to another mental breakdown, I found it. Apparently you have to press one button and scroll down to get to it. I had to do that EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I pressed submit with about 13 questions marked and 5 questions I guessed on. Somehow I passed. And just like that, the spell was broken.