How Long Does It Take To Become An Actuary?
Wondering how long does it take to become an actuary? This article will helps you with an approximate time you need to becoming an actuary at professional level.
Interested in pursuing actuarial science? Among the questions that pop in your head, how long does it take to become an actuary is one of the common ones? So in this article, we will focus on answering this important question.
To become an actuary, you can take up to 7-10 years long to meet the necessary requirements and gain the certifications. Aspirant students can complete their bachelor's degree for 4 years and start clearing the actuarial exams. Also, an added advantage is, you can start taking up the exam while you're still at college. This speeds up the process and can come up to 7 years to become a qualified actuary.
Actuaries are professionals who study business-related finance to determine the risks through statistics, probability, historical data, and financial system. With the predictive analysis, they usually perform rules such as evaluation of data, development and testing the economic systems, advising the clients, and reporting. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary offered is about $70,620 per year, and job growth of 20 percent over the period of 2018 to 2028.
Becoming an actuary requires you to follow certain steps and dedicate several years to land on the job and earn well. Going forward, we will give you an idea about the time you invest in being an actuary which usually depends on what degree level you want to pursue and other factors.
How long does it take to become an actuary?
To answer this question, precisely it could take about 7-10 years to become a qualified actuary. Breaking this down, a bachelor’s degree takes about 4 years and about 7-8 years to pass 10 actuarial exams.
One fact is, you can start clearing the exam while you are still pursuing your undergrad degree by overlapping the two-time frames. Continuing an advanced degree also gives you the authority to gain higher positions and administrative roles while advancing your career.
Bachelor’s Degree in actuarial science- 4 years
A bachelor’s degree takes about 4 years to complete and usually offers 120-128 credits to complete the coursework including general and core courses such as computer science, biology, mathematics, English, history, and finance. This also gives you the necessary prerequisites for future studies.
Master of Science (MS) in Actuarial Science- 2 years
A master’s degree is an advanced degree that gives an in-depth knowledge of mathematics, insurance, economics, finance, and other topics according to your interest. You will likewise profit by the viable introduction to business and financial standards.
On the other notes, some colleges and universities also offer a combined graduate and undergraduate program which takes about 3-5 years and gives you an upper hand by accelerating 2 years.
Actuarial Exams- 7 years or more
This certification process may last up to a decade as there are 10 exams to be cleared mandatorily to become qualified. Usually, the notion is that the level of the exam is hard and the failure rates are higher ranging between 40% to 60%. You may take several attempts to clear the exams and it is rare to find someone clearing all these exams on their first attempt.
To manage time better, you could start pursuing your exam early by balancing professional and personal life.
Conclusion
Earning the degree to become an actuary saves time while the time you take to clear the series of exams could be more. Hence one tip we give you is to start off with the exam while you are at the undergraduate level.
The good news is, jobs offered to actuaries don't expect you to clear all the exams before landing on the job. Hence you can start our career as soon as you complete your education requirements.
