The unit was enjoyable and relevant, involving a wide array of applications in the financial world, and providing an introduction into some actuarial concepts.

The lectures were essential to ensure understanding in this unit. Often, lecture slides themself were not adequate in building knowledge, and instead were used as an aid in the lecture. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that lectures are attended (or watched online) in order for students to learn the content.

You did not need to attend the tutorial aside from the week in which your presentation was to be undertaken. However, attending the tutorials did provide a benefit as content from last week would be presented in each week (via other students presentations), which allowed for additional revision from previous weeks.

The weekly quizzes were generally quite easy to attempt given you had completed and understood the content of the week prior. Questions were short and often tested simple logical ideas rather than time intensive multi-step questions.

The presentation was also quite easy to obtain full marks, given you prepared a genuinely informing presentation that covered the main content of the week prior, and had a correct response to your chosen tutorial question that you were able to demonstrate well.

The assignment consisted of a 5% pre-submission, which was awarded given you had made a genuine attempt (for which the requirement was set at having completed Part 1). The remaining 15% was then awarded on a ranking basis (i.e. the top 10% of submissions received the full 15%, then scaling down with your cohort ranking).

The exam was considered quite difficult overall by the cohort, consisting of 6 questions worth 10 marks each, each covering one or two weeks worth of content. It was closed book, with any physical calculator allowed. Questions often involved extensions of concepts taught in class, indicating that simply reading lecture slides would likely not yield high results, and instead practicing questions on a weekly basis would be a better strategy.

The unit teaches some interesting content with important applications in the actuarial field. It is well structured and provides sufficient resources for a desirable result. However, ensuring that time is allocated towards the unit through the weekly quizzes, reviewing lecture slides and attempting practice questions is vital to ensure your understanding is at the required level.