Math 370 X: Actuarial Problem Solving, Spring 2008
Professor A.J. Hildebrand
https://math.uiuc.edu/~hildebr/370/

General Information

• Date/time/location: M 7:00 pm - 8:50 pm, 245 Altgeld Hall, beginning January 28. (The class will not meet on January 14, the first day of instruction, and January 21 is a University Holiday.)
• Instructor contact information: A.J. Hildebrand, office 241 Illini Hall, phone 244-7721, email ajh@uiuc.edu.

Course information

• Goals: This course serves as a preparation/review for the Course 1/P Actuarial Exam. You can take it for credit (one hour), or just sit in without registering. It's fine with me if you just sit in, and you don't need prior approval from me for doing that (assuming seats are available). You will get treated exactly the same whether or not you are officially registered; in particular, you can get (if you want) your tests scored, even if you are just auditing the class.
• Prerequisites: While mainly targeted at students who have already taken 408 (or equivalent), it is possible to take this course simultaneously with 408, which I am also teaching this semester. I'll try to keep the pace roughly in sync with that in 408, though this is not always possible, and there will be times when we'll need topics not yet covered in 408.
• Grading/credit: Grading for this course is on an S/U (Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory) basis. To get "S" credit, you need to attend on a regular basis, and get a passing grade on any in-class tests. I plan to give 2 - 4 in-class practice tests. These tests will be similar in format and difficulty to the actuarial exams, but the passing threshold will be more generous. There will be no final exam for this class.
• Course outline: I plan to cover the Exam P material in the same order as in 408, that is, broken down into the following topics:
  • General probability
  • Discrete distributions
  • Continuous distributions
  • Multivariate distributions
  • Normal distribution and Central Limit Theorem
  These topics correspond to the first five chapters in the 408 text (Hogg/Tanis, Probability and Statistical Inference). I will briefly review the relevant concepts and formulas, but the majority of the time will be devoted to working actuarial exam problems. I plan to intersperse this systematic review with occasional in-class practice tests that simulate the real exam as closely as possible.
• Text: There is no required text, though you should have a basic probability text available for reference if needed; the Hogg/Tanis text used in 408/409 is certainly adequate, but any other standard introductory probability text will probably do as well. I will provide (and post online on the course website) handouts summarizing basic concepts and formulas, and problems sets. There are commercially available test preparation manuals (see the links below), which some might find helpful. However, I will conduct the class using solely my own (free) materials/handouts, and I don't require or expect you to buy one of the commercial texts.

Math 408 Course Website

Last modified: Sun 27 Jan 2008 05:05:15 PM CST A.J. Hildebrand