ASA Pathway: Reduction of Exam Hours and Content

May 16, 2022

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) announces a reduction in the exam hours and syllabus content for examinations in its Associate and Fellowship pathways. These changes support the SOA Board of Directors’ efforts to increase efficiencies within the candidate pathway.

Candidates will benefit by the significantly shorter exam lengths and overall preparation time. In addition, the reduced exam lengths will allow Prometric testing centers to conduct three seatings per day as opposed to the current two seatings available for 5-hour exams.

With the introduction of the new Advanced Topics in Predictive Analytics (ATPA) assessment, the Predictive Analytics (PA) exam syllabus will be reduced in size. Several items are being moved from PA to ATPA, most significantly the communication section, as the take-home format used for ATPA provides an improved method for evaluating communication skills. The PA exam will decrease in length from 5.25 hours to 3.5 hours beginning with the April 2023 administration.

The SOA is also announcing a reduction in the Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) exam hours, and there are modifications to the SOA’s CERA credential.