Track Your Progress Toward an SOA Designation

Use the new My SOA Educational Pathway

CHRISTIE BALISTRIERI AND BRETT ROGERS April/May 2019

In 2015, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) introduced a new online experience for members and candidates when it launched My SOA. This tool offers a centralized place to view orders, access eLearning and professional development products, and view volunteer engagement. The launch of My SOA was a significant step forward in bringing a more personalized experience for candidates and members on SOA.org.

SOA EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS

The SOA launched a new design to help candidates understand and familiarize themselves with the SOA educational pathways. The new design resembles a tangram and uses a series of shapes and colors to represent the different types of requirements needed to obtain an SOA designation/credential. Start exploring at pathways.SOA.org.

With the goals of expanding personalization for users on SOA.org and creating tools to help candidates and members, the SOA launched My SOA Educational Pathway in October 2018. The journey to obtain an SOA designation requires many hours of study and rigorous examination. The My SOA Educational Pathway is designed to make it easier for candidates to track their progress by displaying a graphical roadmap of the requirements needed to obtain a designation. As candidates continue along the pathway to membership, this tool serves as a centralized place to view requirements needed/completed and access resources.

My SOA Educational Pathway Features

View Progress Toward a Designation
Once logged in to My SOA, users can view the requirements needed to obtain ASA, CERA and FSA in one centralized location. As a user completes requirements, they are shown as being fulfilled. Users can also view the percentage of requirements completed for each of the designations.

Please note: The Educational Pathway is available to pre-FSA candidates who have completed their first requirement on or after July 1, 2013.

Access Relevant Resources
Users will have access to the detailed requirements pages for each component, which provide a more streamlined way to take next steps, such as exploring additional information on requirements and registering for exams. Users can also access their personal SOA transcript, which is the official record of requirements completed.

Explore FSA Tracks
Users can select any of the FSA specialty tracks to view the requirements needed. As candidates progress, requirements will be marked as complete and the percentage completed toward an FSA will be updated. Users can switch the view between tracks at any time. As a reminder, SOA rules mandate all requirements be met within a track; there is no mixing of requirements from various tracks.

View Current Curriculum
The My SOA Educational Pathway will always display the current curriculum, so users won’t need to calculate equivalent requirements from past curricula. Informational icons will notify users when additional information is available on that specific requirement. Simply click the circle icon with the exclamation point to reveal important information.

Mobile Friendly
My SOA Educational Pathway is mobile friendly, so you can access it from any device, anywhere, as long as you have a My SOA account.

Dedication to Creating Tools to Help Candidates and Members

The SOA is dedicated to creating tools and resources that help candidates and members. The SOA continues to support the needs of candidates and members by analyzing trends and analytics, developing new offerings and reviewing feedback from stakeholders.

The launch of My SOA Educational Pathway brings the SOA another step forward in offering a more personalized experience on SOA.org. The SOA will continue to look for opportunities to enhance the online experience for both candidates and members.

Christie Balistrieri, PMP, is project management specialist at the Society of Actuaries.

Brett Rogers is registrar and director of Exam Analysis at the Society of Actuaries.