(日本語) SOA Exam P |

Course name

Probability (SOA Exam)

About instructor

Brian James Hirakawa

Member of the California Teachers Association (CTA).

Dec., 1997 – Graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of California at San Diego. Minored in Japanese Studies.

July, 1998 – Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program, Assistant Language Teacher in Kisarazu City, Chiba. (3 years)

June, 2003 – Earned a Single Subject Mathematics Teaching Credential from San Diego State University, with CLAD Certificate (Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development).

Aug., 2003 – Assistant Language Teacher in Ichihara City, Chiba. (1 year)

Sept., 2004 – High School Mathematics Teacher in Chula Vista, California. Algebra I, Algebra II, and A.P. Statistics. (12 years) – Voted “Hilltop High School’s Favorite Teacher” (2013, ‘14, and ’15)

Jan., 2016 – Passed Society of Actuaries Exam 1/P

Sept., 2016 – Joined the Tokyo International Actuary Academy.

Course Timing

Each class is 9:30 to 12:30 on Saturdays (3 hours)
Aug 19th (Sat) 9:30～12:30
Aug 26th (Sat) 9:30～12:30
Sep 2nd (Sat) 9:30～12:30
Sep 9th (Sat) 9:30～12:30
Sep 16th (Sat) 9:30～12:30

Now, You can sign up for the course from the application form.
Regarding SOA exam, click here.

The instructor in charge of our course will be bilingual. Lectures will proceed in Japanese, as necessary, for Japanese students. If a foreign student participates, explanations will be provided in English, as well.

Enrollment in courses that have already begun is possible. Tuition will then adjust to cover only those days remaining in the course (9,720 yen per day, 4,860 yen for students).
We will provide supporting materials from the 1st lecture on, and await your application.

For those desiring a video of all lectures, we will provide recordings from the 1st term which ran from May to June. The tuition fee will differ from the second term because the number of hours is different (please check the tuition fee described below). However, the content presented in the lectures is the same.

Lecture Schedule

Day 1
Overview of SOA Examination Process (testing sequence, deadlines/dates, application process, testing locations, study materials, how the test is scored, calculators, etc.).
General Probability (independence, conditional probability, Bayes Theorem).

Day 2
Discrete Random Variables and their expectation and variance (binomial, Poisson, geometric distributions).

Day 3
Continuous Random Variables and their expectation and variance (uniform, normal, and exponential distributions).
Moment generating functions.

Day 4
Multivariate Probability Distributions (joint, conditional, and marginal probability functions, expected value, covariance, and correlations).

Day 5
Risk and Insurance (deductibles, benefit limits, discrete and continuous cases).
Central Limit Theorem
Review and Practice Released Exam Problems

This list of topics should be considered flexible and open to adjustment. We will adapt to the skills and needs of current students in order to maximize exam results. Heavy emphasize will be placed on previously released SOA exam problems throughout the course, and good online study resources will be recommended to help you prepare outside of class.

Course materials

We will proceed throughout the SOA course with the following materials:

M. Finan. A Probability Course for the Actuaries: A Preparation for Exam P/1.
http://faculty.atu.edu/mfinan/actuarieshall/Pbook.pdf

This is a free, downloadable pdf file that Dr. Finan has made available for actuarial students of probability. The pdf closely follows the topics of the following textbook, if you are interested in a physical copy for review and study:

A First Course in Probability (8th Edition), by Sheldon Ross.