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The route into actuary

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار إدارة الأعمال— Business Administration · مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering · مسار إدارة الأعمال— Business Administration, or a science track · مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering, or مسار الصحة والحياةfor a biostatistics route

A-Level

  • Mathematicsrequiredfor Accounting and Finance, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics
  • Economicshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Statistics
  • Further Mathematicshelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics
  • Physicshelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics
  • Business Studieshelpsfor Accounting and Finance
  • Computer Sciencehelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
  • Historyhelpsfor Economics
  • Biologyhelpsfor Statistics

IB Diploma

  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics
  • Economics HLhelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Statistics
  • Physics HLhelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics
  • Mathematics: Applications and Interpretation HL or Analysis and Approacheshelpsfor Accounting and Finance
  • Business Managementhelpsfor Accounting and Finance
  • Computer Sciencehelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
  • History HLhelpsfor Economics
  • Biology HLhelpsfor Statistics

Advanced Placement

  • AP Statisticshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics
  • AP Calculus BChelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics
  • AP Microeconomicshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Economics
  • AP Macroeconomicshelpsfor Accounting and Finance, Economics
  • AP Computer Science Ahelpsfor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics
  • AP Calculus ABhelpsfor Accounting and Finance
  • AP Physics C: Mechanicshelpsfor Mathematics
  • AP Biologyhelpsfor Statistics

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Accounting and Finance

    A parallel professional-exam route for the more mathematically inclined.

    Four years in the Kingdom, three to four in the UK, followed by three or more years of professional examinations while working.

  • Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

    The same statistics with a protected professional qualification and far more security.

    Three to four years in the UK, four to five in the Kingdom and the US.

  • Economics

    The professional exam route, which economics graduates enter regularly.

    Three to four years, with a placement or exchange year common.

  • Mathematics

    Among the most direct destinations: professional exams, a protected qualification and unusual job security.

    Three years in the UK, four in the Kingdom and the US; four-year integrated master's routes are common.

  • Statistics

    The same statistics with professional exams and a protected credential attached.

    Three to four years for the bachelor's, plus a master's that is close to an entry requirement rather than an advantage.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi admission composite; some business colleges require the humanities Tahsili and some do not.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • SAT or ACTGrade 11 to early Grade 12

    For US applications, where business schools are often a separate admission.

    • March, May, JuneSpring sittings. The standard first attempt, in Grade 11.
    • August, October, November, DecemberAutumn sittings. The second attempt, and the last one that reaches early US deadlines is usually the October or November date.
    • Two to four weeks after each sittingScores released; sending them to universities is a separate step with its own timing.
  • Professional examinationsAfter graduation, over three or more years

    SOCPA, ACCA, CPA, CIMA or ICAEW. This is the qualification employers pay for and value; the degree mainly buys you exemptions from parts of it.

  • TMUAOctober

    Required or advantageous at several UK universities for mathematical computing and economics courses.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • TSAOctober

    Oxford PPE and Economics and Management.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • STEPJune, alongside A-Levels

    Usually an offer condition at Cambridge and Warwick rather than a shortlisting test. Genuinely hard; begin a year early.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • Postgraduate admissionFinal year of the bachelor's

    The real gate for this profession. Around seven in ten statisticians hold a master's or doctorate, so plan the bachelor's with that in mind.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

United Kingdom

  1. schoolA-levels including mathematics2 yr
  2. undergraduateDegree in a numerate subject3–4 yrs
  3. trainingActuarial exams taken alongside full-time work3–7 yrs
  4. licensingFellowship of the professional body0–1 yrs
  5. practiceQualified actuary0 yr

LicensingFellowship of the professional actuarial body is the qualification that matters. It is earned through exams while employed, not through further university study.

United States

  1. schoolHigh school with strong maths4 yr
  2. undergraduateBachelor's in a numerate subject4 yr
  3. trainingProfessional examinations while employed4–8 yrs
  4. licensingAssociateship then Fellowship0–1 yrs
  5. practiceCredentialed actuary0 yr

LicensingCredentialing is by professional society examination rather than by state licence.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 6–11 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 8 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £216,000–280,000 of earnings deferred.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 8–12 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is aircraft maintenance engineer at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 8 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of $48,780–62,630, that is roughly $390,240–501,040 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.