IFoA SP2 study plan

Map the SP2 syllabus into a one-page topic tree covering life insurance product design, pricing, reserving, capital, and regulation, then rank each topic by your current confidence

Define the core life insurance contract mechanics (sum assured, bonuses, surrenders, paid-up values, options and guarantees) in your own words for both conventional and unit-linked business

Reconstruct the main life underwriting and risk classification steps and explain how each feeds into pricing assumptions

Write a personal formula sheet for discounting, survival models, and expected present values used in life pricing

Derive gross premium reserves and net premium reserves for a simple endowment assurance and reconcile the two

Explain the difference between prospective and retrospective reserves and identify when each breaks down

Apply the recursive reserve relationship to a worked example with expenses and mortality assumptions

Describe how reserves interact with statutory solvency and with published profit reporting

Build a profit-testing model structure for a with-profits or unit-linked product, listing all cash flow items and the order in which they are projected

Distinguish asset shares, reserves, and surplus, and explain how each drives bonus or unit pricing decisions

Explain the roles of mortality, persistency, expense, and investment return assumptions in the emerging profit

Identify the main sources of surplus and how they are distributed to policyholders and shareholders

Compare the main solvency regimes relevant to life insurers and explain how each treats reserves, risk margins, and capital

Compute the effect of a change in mortality, interest rate, and lapse assumptions on required capital for a simple portfolio

Explain how reinsurance, including risk transfer tests, changes the insurer's capital position

Relate asset-liability matching to duration and convexity mismatches for life liabilities

Explain how the actuarial control cycle applies to a life insurer's product development, monitoring, and experience analysis

Design an experience investigation for one assumption (mortality, lapse, or expenses) and specify the data, method, and credibility adjustments

Describe how professional guidance and standards constrain actuarial judgement in life insurance work

Identify the main conduct and consumer protection requirements that shape product design and disclosure

Practice exam technique by writing full answers to past-style long questions under timed conditions and marking against the command verb

Produce structured answers that open with a definition, then apply reasoning to the specific scenario given

Diagnose recurring weaknesses from your marked answers and list three specific fixes

Rehearse explaining actuarial results to a non-actuarial audience in plain language

Revisit every high-confidence-gap topic from week 1 and close at least half of them with worked examples

Integrate pricing, reserving, capital, and reporting into a single end-to-end case for one product

Explain the interaction between investment strategy, bonus policy, and solvency for a with-profits fund

Summarise the key judgements an actuary must document when signing off assumptions

Complete a full mock exam under timed conditions and mark it strictly

Review every incorrect or incomplete answer and write the correct reasoning from memory

Consolidate a final one-page summary of formulas, definitions, and recurring exam themes

Plan exam-day time allocation and question ordering based on your mock performance