ASA case studies
ASA · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA) is a professional designation awarded by the SOA to candidates who complete the ASA pathway and have their Application for Admission as an Associate approved by the SOA Board of Directors. It is designed for people building an actuarial career who want a recognized credential before, or as a step toward, the FSA designation. The pathway is broader than a single exam: it combines examinations, e-Learning modules, Validation by Educational Experience (VEE), and a professionalism seminar. Subject coverage runs from probability and financial mathematics through fundamentals of actuarial mathematics, advanced long-term or short-term actuarial mathematics, statistics for risk modeling, predictive analytics, and foundational practice and professionalism content. The ASA case studies are 5 cases and about 2,793 words.
1Workers' Compensation Pool: Correlation and Stop-Loss Adequacy
A workers' compensation pool covers 800 member employers. Each member has at most one claim in the policy year.
559 words, about 3 min2Pension Immunization with a Callable Bond
A pension plan must pay 6 million in 5 years and 10 million in 12 years. It currently holds 13.5 million in cash.
564 words, about 3 min3Term Reserve Release after Favorable Mortality
A life insurer has a closed block of 18,000 ten-year renewable term policies with an average face amount of 300,000. The current gross premium reserve is 54 million.
575 words, about 3 min4Vendor Model with Missing Credit and Telematics Data
A personal auto insurer has 1.2 million policy-years and 60,000 claims. The current GLM frequency model has an out-of-time AUC of 0.78 and is well calibrated.
537 words, about 3 min5Pressure to Sign an Unsupported Reserve Assumption
You are the signing actuary for a small property-casualty insurer. The CFO asks you to approve a year-end reserve estimate that uses a 10% annual lapse assumption on a long-tail liability line.
558 words, about 3 min