David became interested in probability in high school while attending the 1988 (and 1989) Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics. He graduated from Harvard in 1996, majoring in mathematics, received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 2002, also in mathematics, and spent three years as a postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, in the department of statistics. He was a TA for a number of classes, including probability, at both Harvard and Cornell, and was the instructor for both Probability and Stochastic Processes while at Berkeley. His student evaluations for Stochastic Processes were tied for the highest of any instructor in undergraduate classes in the Berkeley Department of Statistics in the Spring 2004 semester.
David has been teaching the TIA seminar for Exam P since 2007, and the Exam C seminar since 2009. He and his wife live outside of Boston with their two children.
SOA Exam PThis is an on-demand intensive exam prep course for SOA Exam - Probability. When you register for this course you will gain access to the following items (except as noted) from the day you register for 6 months.
Comprehensive Course60+ comprehensive video lessons (over 17 hours) covering the entire syllabus that simplify complicated info into more understandable terms and illustrate important numerical concepts through examples and graphics.
Online Discussion ForumActive dedicated course forum loaded with existing questions and answers on syllabus material and past SOA exam questions. Instructors and our Support Team try to ensure everyone's questions are answered in a timely manner. ?
Detailed Formula SheetsDave has created formula sheets for each section as a quick reference guide for you. They cover each formula used in that section giving details about the formulas and defining the variables.
Sample ExamsThis course includes 4 sample exams with each question having a video solution walking you through the best way to solve it. These sample exams are created to give you a true sense of what you can expect exam day.
Practice SystemAs you complete lessons you will have the opportunity to test your new knowledge in the Practice tab of TIA Study to help assess how well you understand the material. As your exam day approaches you should be spending a lot of time in this system working all the additional problems. ?
Additional HandoutsDownload printable PDF handouts to follow along slide by slide through the lessons. An examples and exercises version is also available where we include just the portions of the videos where Dave is working problems with you.
Offline VideosTake our videos with you everywhere you go and don't worry about a data cap or WiFi signal. Use the TIA Study app on your mobile device to download lessons or solutions videos and have them right at your fingertips. ?
Variable Speed PlaybackWatch our lessons and video solutions at your pace! When watching our videos on a desktop or our Learn App you can select the speed that makes the most sense for you. The variable speed increases all the way up to 2x.
Today viewThe Today viewing TIA Study will let you know exactly what you need to do each day in order to stay on schedule, and it will automatically redistribute your tasks as your schedule adjusts over time.
FlashcardsThis course offers over 80 digital flashcards written in a "Q&A" style to facilitate recalling information for exam-oriented questions. They are available in the Review tab of TIA Study. The app will download all the flashcards for the course to your device so you can study at a moments notice!
Student DiscountThis course offers a student discount to full-time students currently enrolled at a college or university. To receive the discount, click here. The discount code will then be sent to the school issued email. ?
Excellent Customer ServiceYou're never alone with The Infinite Actuary. Get help from your instructor and assistants in our online forum. Anything else you need help with, not related to the course material, just reach out to our customer service team and they will get your questions answered!
Free ExtensionLife happens, and despite your hard work, you may fail an exam. If that happens to you, we offer one free 6 month extension for this online course. Once you activate your extension, you will have 6 months access to the entire course again. Learn more about our extension policy here. ?
I passed the exam completely due to TIA. I did not give myself enough time to start with, I knew nothing about these exams, and it had been two years since I saw calculus or statistics; everything told me I was most likely going to have to take it again. But, thanks completely to your lessons, I passed! I will definitely be getting the FM part soon.
Dylan Petty
After having just passed the P/1 exam on my first attempt, I can say that The Infinite Actuary's practice P/1 exams mirrored the actual exam in both degree of difficulty and in the computer-based interface that the actual exam used. If you are interested in "seeing the elephant" and finding out where you actually stand vis-a-vis the actual P/1, then you will be wise to put yourself up against The Infinite Actuary's practice P/1 exams.
Dave Dexter
I found the Infinite Actuary seminar to be helpful as I became more familiar with exam problems and methods of solving them. The video solutions sometimes provided multiple methods of solving a problem and that really helped me when I took my exam because there are many ways to word the same question/problem and I was able to double check some of my answers since I knew how to solve the problems multiple ways. I would highly recommend your seminar to anyone who is studying to take the P exam and I look forward to using the Infinite Actuary program in the future.
Caitlin Armour
Any full time college student can obtain a 50% discount off the online material for the preliminary exam seminars. To receive a discount code, you can send an email to [email protected] from your college email address. Please be sure to include in your email which seminar you will be taking. This will help us to give you the correct code in a timely manner.
You can use it as many times as you want up for 6 months after purchase. If you feel that you are weak in a certain section of the syllabus, then watch the segment for that material again. If you want to simulate an intensive review seminar, watch the entire library of lessons for your exam over a four/five day span. It all depends on your preferences and we believe that it is this kind of convenience, coupled with the best instruction, which will produce great results for our users.
Yes! If you buy the seminar and don't pass or take the exam, then we give you access for a 2nd sitting for free. Even if the syllabus changes you still get a 2nd sitting (6 months of access) with all the updated lessons. See more information about this here.
No, we do not allow sharing of accounts. Each registered user should take measure to avoid this as he or she has purchased the rights to our videos and associated bandwidth. If non-paying customers clog up our website traffic, it will negatively impact everyone. We also monitor login histories and have the authority to terminate user accounts for this type of abuse. While the gesture of sharing your account information with a friend or coworker may seem innocent, it can have far-reaching negative implications for you and other legitimate users.
You can try the suggestions listed here. Likely, these suggestions will solve the problem you are experiencing: (1) Try a different web browser. We suggest using Firefox for the best results with our website. Other browsers will work but make sure you are using the newest version of the browser. (2) Download the newest version of the movie player that you are using (Windows Media Player, Flash or QuickTime). (3) If one movie player does not work, try the other. (4) Test your bandwidth at the following site. Make sure it is at least 700kbps. Bandwidth Place | Internet Speed Test. (5) Clear the CACHE on your computer by clicking the "CTRL" and "F5" buttons at the same time. (6) Try clearing your browsers cookies. How to delete cookies. (7) Make sure your operating system has all its important updates. If you're on a Mac, run Software Update from your Apple menu (or Mac App Store if you're running OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion or newer). If you're on Windows, click the following link. Microsoft Windows Update. (8) If you are using third-party web browsers like Firefox, make sure you're running the latest version. (9) The previous suggestions should help. However, if you are still unable to open the videos please let customer service know what error message you receive and we will be happy to look further into your situation.
Usually, this is the result of your employer's network placing some restrictions in the company's firewall settings. You need to make sure that there is no block placed on the domain ( edgecastcdn.net ) from where our videos are streamed. Many employers will block sites like these to restrict video content from being streamed to their employee's PCs. Edgecast is a Content Delivery Network where we store all of our content. This network distributes our content to multiple servers all across the world so that if any one server goes down, there are plenty of backups in place. Websites like YouTube use their own CDNs and as a result, CDNs are not high on company's approved website lists. Feel free to call Tech Support (877-883-5275) if you need any further help.
Our videos are only viewable while logged in and connected to the Internet. While we realize the convenience of having all the files on your local drive, it also puts our company's assets at jeopardy. Our instructors spend hours upon hours creating the content for you. It would only take a few students, who illegally share their material with others, to discourage instructors from ever producing any more content. We do try to make our videos as accessible as possible by offering them in three different formats (Windows Media, Flash and QuickTime) and even through devices like the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Given the global accessibility to the World Wide Web, we believe that the majority of the actuarial population will be able to view our videos without trouble. However, we do understand the need to study on the go and that internet access is not always accessible. You have two options: (1) Download the MP3 versions of the lessons and follow along in your notes. (2) Open the TIA site and let the video fully load before you leave, but do not press play. Just close the lid on your laptop and leave the browser open. When you are ready to watch the video just open the laptop and press play.
Some computer networks are configured to not allow opening of zip files directly from an external site. Many of our downloadable files are in zip format. After clicking on the link, you should be given an option to either open or save the file. Try saving the file to your hard drive and then opening the zip file from there. You can also try right-clicking on the link and choosing the "Save Link As" option. If those do not work, then please contact customer service. They will determine if the link is incorrect or the file is missing from its proper location. At the minimum, they can email you the needed files so that you can move on with your studying.
Yes. If you later find out that you didn't pass your last exam, simply email us at [email protected], and we will pause access to your new online seminar. This will preserve your new online seminar allowing you to study for your last exam again. When you are ready to resume the paused online seminar, just email us, and we will reactivate it. You will have access to all current materials (same as anyone else using the online seminar at that time).
