A huge congratulations to our winners, listed below with their exam marks and chosen charities... SIAS Best Exam Mark CompetitionSeptember 2019 WinnersThank you to all of our members who entered our best exam mark competition - we had an incredible number of entries this sitting. A huge congratulations to our winners, listed below with their winning exam marks and chosen charities – all winners receive a £50 Amazon voucher and a £50 donation to their chosen charity. Some of our winners also shared a bit more about themselves and some of their secrets to studying for exams... Maybe these could help you be a winner in the next exam sitting?! For those of you who'd like to celebrate your freedom before getting back to some serious studying, remember we have the annual SIAS plays pool social on Thursday, 20 February. This year we also have some amazing prizes to be won, provided by Arthur Recruitment who have kindly sponsored the social! We did not receive entries for some of the exams but we’d love to give out all the prizes. So next time, even if you think you haven’t smashed it, submit your results….just in case! Here are our September 2019 Winners: We asked William Pyne, CB1 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? Emails-Muesli-Spreadsheet-Coffee-Spreadsheet-Lunch-Spreadsheet-Coffee-Spreadsheet-Home What do you do in your free time? All sorts of things some of which may include: binge watching, binge reading, binge eating, panic studying, responsibly drinking, and climbing. What’s your secret to studying for exams? My secret is abnormal levels of stress, side effects include reduced life expectancy and strained friendships. Highly recommend. We asked Millie Camm, CM2 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? I am currently on secondment at a client, where I’m sat within the Product Management team. As part of my role I have been helping to check reinsurance payments, rectify policyholder breaches, calculate mortality credits and correct pricing errors. I also ensure I keep up-to-date with work back at my usual company e.g. by continuing with my role in a client relationship team. What do you do in your free time? I like yoga and Pilates, but spend most of my free time eating-out and travelling up and down the country to spend time with friends. What’s your secret to studying for exams? Past papers We asked Christian Ah-See, CS2 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? Chat with colleagues, draw animals, debate whether the Earth is flat, make drinks. What do you do in your free time? Cook up a plant-based storm with my flatmate at home, run, do yoga, read books, play piano, play video games or watch films. What’s your secret to studying for exams? Meditate for 24 hours before every exam. We asked Fiona Fan, SP2 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? It varies from day to day, recently I researched and wrote an article about cancer and development of CI policies over time. What do you do in your free time? Play Nintendo Switch, my recent favourite is ring fit adventure. What’s your secret to studying for exams? I try to study for some time every day and every minute counts. My commute gives me 45 minutes per day to study on the train. I also keep a time record to see how many hours I spend on each subject. For SP2 I spent around 220 hours. We asked Lisa Quickfall, SP7 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? A typical day at the moment starts with a race for the best desks… then my time is split between supporting our audit team on GI company audits and reserving projects. Usually spend some time moaning about IT issues too!! What do you do in your free time? When I’m not studying I’m usually bottomless brunching, planning my next holiday or out on my bike. What’s your secret to studying for exams? Starting early and having lots of breaks. I also started teaching myself yoga which helps de-stress so maybe that had something to do with it? We asked Howard Zobin, SP8 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? On a typical workday... I don't really have a typical workday! Our consultancy work is quite varied, so it could be analysing reserves and capital adequacy, writing Part VII reports, capital model validation, researching machine learning using R and VBA, or other bespoke projects. What do you do in your free time? In my free time (when I'm not studying for exams!) I like reading non-fiction and enjoy playing football. What’s your secret to studying for exams? My secret to exams is making sure I understand the concepts and doing as many past papers and ActEd questions as I can get my hands on! We asked Matthew Colvin, SP9 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? I'll be working on a wide range of projects, mainly for life insurers. I could be assessing risk calibrations, developing cash flow models, or struggling to decide what to have for lunch. What do you do in your free time? A lethal combination of making homebrew cider and watching the mighty Charlton Athletic in action. Less stressful activities include running. What’s your secret to studying for exams? You do you, but bin your phone. Lock it away, get someone to hide it, post it to Australia. It doesn't matter how - just remove it from sight. Regular YouTube breaks every five minutes might just be a bit too regular. We asked Karyn Cooke, SA4 Winner, some questions: What would you do on a typical day at work? A typical day at work includes a mixture of spreadsheets, modelling, preparing advice and reports, and emailing trustees of pension schemes. I’m also a team leader, so I try to ensure my team aren’t running loose too much.
What do you do in your free time? I absolutely love quiz shows. I’m also a massive fan of the Eurovision Song Contest and have been three times (this year will be the fourth). What’s your secret to studying for exams? Don’t bother reading the notes in too much detail – it’s all about doing past papers. A very well done to all the rest of SIAS members who passed your exams and especially if you qualified! No more studying for you! For those of you who have a few exams still to go – keep studying hard as there will be another chance to win with the SIAS competition following the April 2020 sitting! |