The Exam FAM syllabus: ten topics and their weights

Exam FAM has ten topics. The first six are short-term insurance and the last four long-term insurance. Premiums and policy values carry the most weight, at 15 to 22.5% of the exam.

Short-Term Insurance and Reinsurance Coverages	5–10% of the exam
Severity, Frequency and Aggregate Models	12.5–17.5% of the exam
Parametric Estimation	2.5–7.5% of the exam
Introduction to Credibility	2.5–5% of the exam
Pricing and Reserving for Short-Term Coverages	10–15% of the exam
Option Pricing Fundamentals	2.5–7.5% of the exam
Long-Term Insurance Coverages and Retirement Programs	2.5–5% of the exam
Mortality Models	10–15% of the exam
Present Value Random Variables for Long-Term Coverages	12.5–20% of the exam
Premium and Policy Value Calculation	15–22.5% of the exam

Short-Term Insurance and Reinsurance Coverages

Deductibles, limits and coinsurance
The loss elimination ratio and the effect of inflation
Proportional and excess of loss reinsurance

Severity, Frequency and Aggregate Models

Moments, percentiles, scale and shape, and tail weight
The (a, b, 0) and (a, b, 1) classes
Collective and individual risk models, approximations, convolution and stop-loss
Value at Risk and Tail Value at Risk

Parametric Estimation

Maximum likelihood for complete individual and grouped data
Maximum likelihood for truncated and censored data

Introduction to Credibility

Full credibility standards for frequency, severity and aggregate losses
Partial credibility

Pricing and Reserving for Short-Term Coverages

Expected loss ratio, chain-ladder and Bornhuetter-Ferguson reserves
Loss development, trend and on-level premium
Expenses, profit loading, and the loss cost and loss ratio methods

Option Pricing Fundamentals

Calls, puts and put-call parity
Binomial trees, risk-neutral pricing and delta hedging
The Black-Scholes formula

Long-Term Insurance Coverages and Retirement Programs

Insurable interest, life and health coverages
Annuities, and defined benefit and defined contribution plans

Mortality Models

Parametric survival models and the force of mortality
Curtate and complete expectation of life
Life tables, fractional ages and select tables

Present Value Random Variables for Long-Term Coverages

Whole life, term, endowment and deferred insurance, and their moments
Annual, 1/m-thly and continuous benefits
Annuities-due and immediate, temporary and deferred, with Woolhouse and UDD

Premium and Policy Value Calculation

The equivalence principle, the portfolio percentile premium, net and gross premiums
Extra risk: age rating and changes to mortality
Net, gross and modified net premium policy values, and their recursion

The format

34 multiple-choice questions in 3.5 hours, each with five choices. A few are unscored pilot questions you cannot tell apart. An unanswered question counts as wrong, so answer every one.

SOA provides tables on screen under an Exhibit button: distribution inventories and the Standard Ultimate Life Table at i = 5%, with a normal distribution calculator. You may not bring your own tables.

The split into FAM-L and FAM-S ended in July 2024, and every candidate now sits the full exam.

What it assumes

SOA's syllabus assumes Exam P, Exam FM and VEE Mathematical Statistics. The readings are Loss Models (5th edition), Brown and Lennox (5th edition) and Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks (3rd edition).

Try 3 questions

Question 1

The number of claims $N$ has a negative binomial distribution with $r$ $= 3$ and $\beta = 2$ . Claim sizes are independent of $N$ and of each other, and follow a Pareto distribution with $\alpha = 4$ and $\theta = 900$ .

Calculate the variance of aggregate claims.

Question 2

For accident year 2025, evaluated at December 31, 2025 (12 months), earned premium is $3,150,000 and reported losses are $1,020,000. The cumulative development factor for reported losses from 12 months to ultimate is 2.35, and the expected loss ratio is 72%.

Using the Bornhuetter-Ferguson method, calculate the estimated ultimate losses for accident year 2025.

Question 3

Mortality follows the Standard Ultimate Life Table, and $i$ $= 0.05$ . You are given:

$\ddot{a}_{50}$	${}_{20}E_{50}$	$\ddot{a}_{70}$
17.0245	0.34824	12.0083

A 20-year temporary life annuity-due on (50) pays $10,000 at the start of each year.

Calculate the expected present value of the annuity.

Next step

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The same page for Exam P · The same page for Exam FM

SOA's Exam FAM page, with the current syllabus

Questions people ask

What topics are on Exam FAM?

Ten: Short-Term Insurance and Reinsurance Coverages (5 to 10%); Severity, Frequency and Aggregate Models (12.5 to 17.5%); Parametric Estimation (2.5 to 7.5%); Introduction to Credibility (2.5 to 5%); Pricing and Reserving for Short-Term Coverages (10 to 15%); Option Pricing Fundamentals (2.5 to 7.5%); Long-Term Insurance Coverages and Retirement Programs (2.5 to 5%); Mortality Models (10 to 15%); Present Value Random Variables for Long-Term Coverages (12.5 to 20%); and Premium and Policy Value Calculation (15 to 22.5%).

How many questions are on Exam FAM?

34 multiple-choice questions in 3.5 hours, about six minutes each.

Are FAM-L and FAM-S still offered?

No. The split into FAM-L and FAM-S ended in July 2024, and every candidate now sits the full Exam FAM.