Testimonials

“I appreciated how he took his time with the problems and wrote them on the screen. These things make a difference compared to the more established actuarial training courses which can be very rushed and skip over steps and concepts.”

– Carlsen Philip, Exam P Student

“Valuable information, clear explanations, engaging delivery, helpful practice activities, accurate course description, knowledgeable instructor.”

– Maria De Anda, Exam P Student

“5.0 / 5.0 Stars”

– Tho Bui, Exam P Student

“I like it, he explains things really well. It really helps making this stuff understandable.”

– Jarrod Hamilton, Exam P Student

“Excellent Course. I failed my last sitting of Exam P and bought this to try before the next sitting. Clayton’s videos and study manual were very clear and they have helped me better understand some difficult concepts like bayes rule, conditional probability and mixtures plus were great review of the rest of the material for the exam. Looking forward to Part 2 and getting a pass in November!”

– Martin Filagree, Exam P Student

“This course gets to the meat of what needs to be learned for the exam.”

– Lora Wood, Exam P Student

“5.0 / 5.0 Stars”

– Andrew Ferro, Exam P Student

“5.0 / 5.0 Stars

Valuable Information; Clear Explanations; Engaging Delivery; Helpful Practice Activities; Accurate Course Description; Knowledgeable Instructor”

– Adreen Clemetson, Exam P Student

“4.5 / 5.0 Stars”

– Hristina Sofronieska, Exam P Student

“I could not have done it without you!”

– Student e-mail

“I finally made it, and your service was an integral part to my exam success, and for that, I am forever grateful. I wish the best of success to your and XP Actuarial products team!”

– Student e-mail – student who failed 4 times and switched to XP

“Really match!”

– Fransiskus Xaverius Aditya Prabowo, Exam P Student

“I tried XP for SDM exam after I failed this exam twice using PAK. At the beginning, I was hesitate to spend more money on seminars since I feel they worked in the similar ways. BUT, XP did make a difference!

I can tell the differences from the first time Steve reached out to me. At that point, I was really frustrated and had no idea how to study this exam since I never fail so many times before. Steve helped me improve the way I answer questions and overcame all my weak areas.

I appreciated all efforts Steve made to help me pass! Steve is a really good teacher. He knows how to teach people in a way suit them best and makes my study not boring anymore! I will definitely recommend XP to all students who are taking SDM”

– Yining Chen, SDM Student

“I just found out that I passed SDM on my first try. I used XP Actuarial with Steve for this exam, but used PAK on my other FSA level exams.

I can very confidently say that Steve is the #1 best instructor for any actuarial exam I have taken and his study materials are second to none. Though I still recommend actually reading the source materials (no study guide will include all of the details, and we all have seen the SOA test small details that would never make it into a study guide!), the study guide itself is so well written and smartly compiled that it makes you feel very confident that you’re learning the right things and understanding them thoroughly.

One thing I have always struggled with in the PAK study guides is that they feel like I’m reading bullet point notes that someone else took for themselves, like notes that are just taken so that the note-taker can remember the material better, simply from the act of writing it down (not a nice summary compiled for someone else). They aren’t notes written in a way that would convey the crux of the information in an intelligible way to someone else reading it for the first time. Steve’s materials are the opposite – they’re written fluidly (like someone having a conversation with you), yet concisely. They make perfect sense as you read them, despite their inherent density (being condensed versions of the raw source material). Steve’s guides also draw connections between all of the source materials and this is vital for the SDM exam. I LOVE the XP study materials.

I also felt that the PAK materials were lacking on case study preparation. The case study is KEY to SDM and Steve made me feel super prepared on the case study. On my earlier exams when I used PAK, I kept wondering to myself, “Why isn’t there a clear summary for each piece of the case study that I can review?” “Why aren’t these case study materials better?” PAK does have case study “materials” but they pale in comparison to the case study materials that Steve has prepared for XP SDM students. The XP case study materials were absolutely invaluable to my success on this exam.

I also cannot understate how helpful it is to have an instructor like Steve who clearly cares about his students and their success. He responds quickly to any emails or questions and is even available for calls to walk through anything that is confusing. He offers additional helpful tips and last minute explanations all the way up until exam time. He encourages his students week by week and understands what we are going through. He also offers personalized video feedback for practice written answer questions, which is so helpful. I have never before gotten personal feedback on answers I came up with under timed practice conditions! There were several point-losers that I was doing in my timed practice that Steve pointed out for me, and because of his help, I know I was able to avoid these on the exam.

If anyone wants to know any other details or has any questions about XP, please don’t hesitate to reach out because I will talk all day about how great the experience was! Thank you again Steve, wouldn’t have wanted to try this without you!”

– Inveniamviam from old Actuarial Outpost

“I used PAK for both CFE and ERM and each took me two tries. I switched to XP for SDM and passed first time! If you follow Steve’s process and utilize his feedback, it will go a long way towards passing this exam. Steve provides excellent and timely feedback to help you on your way”

– “BobSaccamano” from old Actuarial Outpost

“Steve is a person who is satisfied with his students’ successes. He really wants to do everything for me. So I called him a coach rather than an instructor. He fully understands materials and summaries them with his own language (differentiated with other material provider). He knows how to pass and what is important.”

– “Young” from old Actuarial Outpost

“I passed ERM and CFE using PAK and when I read about Exam SDM, I know it’s something totally different from the previous two. Now I passed with my first attempt and I am so glad that I purchased XP; Steve is the best instructor that you can ever imagine to help you exam-prep.

_Study Manual_: Unlike PAK, Steve tried to point out key concepts in his own words and sometimes use funny examples that help you understand the big picture. It will be the best for people who need some background information to better understand and better apply the knowledge, which I think is a key skill to have to pass SDM.

_Study Tips videos_: Those were definitely useful. All candidates are intelligent to make this far, but having the knowledge to read/answer questions well gives you the biggest advantage – you learn HOW to pass the exam with XP.

_Practice Exams_: Steve doesn’t just throw you exams that you can answer by flipping to the page of the study manual/source material. His exams are well-organized, trying to cover everything that’s important, and definitely challenging your ability to apply what you learnt. I attempted all those practice exams under exam-like environment and sent my solutions to Steve, which brings up my next point.

*Steve is there to help when you’re willing to dedicate time and effort.* We spoke on the phone multiple times regarding what he found from my PE answers that can be improved, things I’d done well (this is a great confidence booster when it comes to a week or two before the exam), and any little concepts that I wasn’t comfortable with. With this, what else can you ask from a study package instructor?

Again, if you are willing to invest the time and effort, Steve is there, trying his best to greatly increase your chance of passing”

– “aaggh2003” from old Actuarial Outpost

“Just wanted to let you know that I passed! Really appreciated your study manual and the way you went about teaching the material. Full disclosure, I was nervous about switching from PAK since I had used it for the first two exams and felt comfortable with it, but I’m really glad I did. (It was your posts on the outpost talking about the pass rate and a couple of student testimonials that flipped me.) Glad I could contribute to keeping the pass rate high for you!”

– Greg B, SDM Student

“If anyone is on the fence about which material to use, here is my experience. I used PAK for both ERM and CFE and thought their material was really good for in depth knowledge. I used their material again for SDM the first 2 times I attempted the exam. After my second fail I switched to XP out of my own pocket. I definitely wish I had used them to begin with. The way the material is presented is extremely useful and practical. Steve makes great connections to the syllabus and other study material. It’s great that when you are learning one part of the material everything else is being reinforced. He is also really good at pulling in outside examples to reinforce key topics. Having new illustrations, especially current examples, helps solidify topics.

Steve also is fully committed to your individual success. He reached out multiple times to see how things were going and if there was anything he could do, including phone calls, to help me. Having both great material and personalized help is a tremendous resource for such a difficult exam. You don’t just learn the material but how to pass the exam. I highly recommend XP Actuarial”.

– “ggwolverines” from old Actuarial Outpost

“I decided to check the result. It shows the great news of this year – I can do it!!. So so so happy now. You are part of my success. I would like to say thanks to you my professor. I will recommend this coaching to all my friends who are taking SDM. It was the greatest coaching ever in my actuarial exam path. Again thanks for all your support with kindness. Please keep in touch :))”

– Porapol Likitpronswan, SDM Student

Just to shout out my gratitude to Steve, I recommended my two friends who took exam this round. Both passed, WoWW.

– “Maiteng” from old Actuarial Outpost

“I truly believe your assistance and alternative approach to how to take this exam was the difference. After four previous 5’s on SDM, you can imagine how ecstatic I was upon seeing my candidate number on the ‘pass list’. And now, on my fifth attempt and first with XP, I just found out I got an 8!”

– Kelly Gamlin, SDM Student