Fall 2018 Q5

lucylewis

The Prior Exams section says that all of question 5 is outdated. Part (a) asks: Briefly describe three functions of the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) as created by the Dodd-Frank Act.
However, a very similar question is asked in the BA practice exam 1: Briefly describe 2 main responsibilities of the Federal Insurance Office in the U.S. insurance regulatory framework.
Additionally, the battle table for Porter.2-Devlpt indicates that Dodd-Frank questions are outdated, but 2017.Spring #4 (c) has a Dodd-Frank question that Prior Exams does not say is outdated.
I'd appreciate some clarification on what's outdated and what's not (FIO and Dodd-Frank). Thank you!

graham

Ok, here's what's going on in general:

• The CAS sometimes removes readings from the syllabus and replaces them with newer, sometimes similar, readings. Even if the new reading covers similar ground, the details may differ enough that old exam questions can become inaccurate. If you see a question that originally tested an old reading, it’s safer to ignore the old examiners’ reports and instead rely on whatever current reading is on the syllabus.

So, here's what's going in in particular:

Baribeau reading:

• Several years ago, there was a reading in the content outlne called "Demystifying the Regulatory Web" by Baribeau.
• During that period, there were exam questions from Baribeau on the FIO, for example: 2018-Fall Q-5a
• When the CAS removed the Baribeau reading, that 2018-Fall exam question became outdated so I removed the Baribeau reading from the Ranking Table and marked those questions as "Outdated" on the Prior Exams page.

Porter.2-Devlpt:

• There were some exam question primarily from the chapter 2 of the Porter text that had subparts from the Baribeau reading, but the Porter text is still in the content outline so I couldn't removed the Porter articles from the Ranking Table.
• Instead, I marked the subparts of the questions on the FIO as outdated in the Battle Table for Porter.2-Devlpt.

FIO.Dodd-Frank"

• The new Dodd-Frank reading effectively replaced the Baribeau reading and has overlapping (though not identical) content.
• Therefore, any questions that used to rely on Baribeau for FIO details should now be answered using Dodd-Frank.
• Old examiner’s reports for Baribeau-related questions may no longer match what the examiners expect for Dodd-Frank-based answers.

Practice Exam 1 - Question 1(a):

• You're right that this question on FIO responsibilities closely resembles the older, now-outdated Baribeau question from 2018-Fall.
• However, today it’s testing the Dodd-Frank reading rather than Baribeau. Even if some answers overlap, you should rely on the current reading (Dodd-Frank) rather than the old examiner’s report.

All of this happened a couple of years ago and the above is my recollection of the events that lead to the current (confusing) state of affairs. The practice exam question on the FIO is still current and valid, so...

• If a question’s source reading is off the content outline, treat it as outdated.
• Focus on the Dodd-Frank reading for FIO questions.
• Ignore old examiner’s reports that cite Baribeau.
• Porter.2 is still relevant, but watch out for Baribeau subparts labeled “Outdated.”

I hope that helps.

lucylewis

Thank you!