Exam MFE/3F Seminars: Spring 2012
Chicago: Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday until 1:00, March 15 - 18
Online Seminar: viewable from now until exam day (plus 1 more cycle if unsuccessful)
Students who register for one of our MFE/3F Seminars will receive a copy of our PDF Review Notes by email soon after seminar registration is confirmed.
Registration for the Spring 2012 MFE/3F seminars is open. Our seminars have been filled to capacity in the past, so it is best to register early. Once a class fills up, a waitlist will be started.
We also offer an online seminar. The online seminar provides about 20 hours of seminar video in 35 episodes.
To watch a sample of our online seminar, click here.
We also offer a Seminar Combo package of our live seminar and our online seminar at a substantial discount. More information is provided below.
If you have registered for a seminar and have not received a confirmation email about the seminar within a week after registration, please send an email to info@actuarialbrew.com. Sometimes firewall settings prevent emails from being delivered, so if you have not received an email within a few days of registering for the seminar, please let us know.
Live Seminar Overview
Our Spring 2012 MFE/3F Chicago seminar is a 3.5-day seminar that runs from Thurday through Saturday from 9:00 to about 5:30 and on Sunday from 9:00 until about 1:00.
Students who are interested in attending a seminar but who are not yet ready to register for the seminar can email us at info@actuarialbrew.com so that we know you would like to attend. While we can't hold a spot in the seminar for unregistered students, we can let interested students know if the seminar nears capacity so that you can register before it fills up.
Class size is limited to enhance the student experience. Students should register soon before the seminars reach capacity. Once we have filled each seminar's available slots, we will make an announcement in this space. Unfortunately, once we reach the limits of each conference room, we must begin to wait-list students. Some wait-listed students have not been able to attend the seminar.
Students can register for either seminar with Actex or the Actuarial Bookstore. Links are provided below.
Seminar Summary
Please note that the Chicago seminar is a 3.5-day seminar.
The online seminar has about 20 hours of video segments. The online seminar is very similar to the live seminars.
The ActuarialBrew.com MFE/3F Seminar provides an overview of the MFE/3F syllabus to help you quickly review the concepts as you prepare for the exam. For students who had the unfortunate experience of failing the exam in a prior sitting, this seminar provides an excellent opportunity to review the course of reading and make the most of the remaining time until the exam.
Our MFE/3F Seminar provides a chapter-by-chapter explanation of the Derivatives Markets text with a special emphasis on:
To get the most out of the seminar, students should have read through the course of reading at least once before the seminar begins.
Working exam-style questions is the real key to passing Exam MFE/3F, so we spend a significant amount of the seminar working exam-style questions. Seminar students are provided with over 200 exam-style questions, most of which will be worked in class. Full solutions to the seminar practice questions are also provided.
Seminar students receive a copy of our PDF Review Notes soon after registration is confirmed.
At the live seminar, we provide students with a copy of the seminar presentation, which includes a summary of important formulas and concepts, as well as over 200 questions with full solutions.
Chicago Seminar Details
The Chicago seminar is a 3.5-day seminar that will be held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 15 - 18. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Chicago seminar starts promptly at 9:00 in the morning and it ends at approximately 5:30. On Sunday, the seminar starts promptly at 9:00 in the morning and ends at approximately 1:00.
The Chicago MFE/3F seminar will be held at the Residence Inn O'Hare hotel, which is located at 7101 Chestnut Street in Rosemont, IL. Reservations for the hotel can be made by calling 1-847-375-9000 or 1-800-331-3131. The hotel's website can be found here. The hotel provides a free breakfast buffet for hotel guests and free shuttle service from O'Hare airport.
Students who mention ActuarialBrew.com when making a reservation will receive a discounted studio suite rate of $104 plus tax until our allotment is sold out. To get this discount, students are advised to call the hotel directly at 1-847-375-9000 and ask for Maggie at extension 606.
Important Note: The hotel has advised us that there are only a limited number of rooms available at this rate, so students who register for the Chicago seminar should make their hotel reservations as soon as possible. The hotel expects to be sold out during the time of the seminar due to other convention activities in the area, so please do not delay to make your hotel reservations.
To Register for the Chicago Seminar:
Students are advised to register early since class size is limited. Students may register through either Actex (1-800-282-2839) or the Actuarial Bookstore (1-800-582-9672).
The registration deadline is March 9. Students who cancel their registration prior to February 1 will receive a 100% refund (less $50 for the PDF Review Notes). Students who cancel between February 1 and February 15 will receive a 50% refund. No refund is provided if students cancel after February 15. We reserve the right to cancel the seminar until February 15, in which case a full refund would be provided. However, we fully intend to run this seminar.
Online Seminar Details
Our online seminar is a series of online videos that provide a comprehensive and highly detailed overview of the required reading to help you review the concepts as you prepare for the exam. The online seminar is very similar to our live seminars. Online seminar students are provided with over 200 exam-style questions with full video solutions.
The nature of the online seminar allows students to view the seminar at their own pace and at their own convenience, pausing and viewing the material again as needed from the comfort of their own homes or offices.
Click here to view a sample of our online seminar.
Students who purchase our online seminar also receive email support and a copy of our PDF Review Notes by email soon after their registration is confirmed.
Students will have access to the online seminar until exam day. If a student is unsuccessful, access to the seminar will be extended for another exam cycle.
There are 35 video segments with about 20 hours of seminar video.
The online seminar is organized into major topics:
I. Parity and Other Option Relationships (4 episodes)
-Episode 1: Parity, synthetics, arbitrage and equity-linked products
-Episode 2: Exchange options and currency options
-Episode 3: Bounds on option prices and increasing stock price
-Episode 4: Propositions 1, 2 and 3
II. Binomial Option Pricing (4 episodes)
-Episode 5: Binomial tree and replication
-Episode 6: Risk-neutral pricing and American options
-Episode 7: Stock indexes, currency options and Greeks
-Episode 8: Options on futures and state prices
III. Black-Scholes Formula (1 episode)
-Episode 9: The Black-Scholes formula
IV. Greeks (2 episodes)
-Episode 10: The Greeks
-Episode 11: Elasticity, Sharpe ratio and holding-period profit
V. Hedging (2 episodes)
-Episode 12: Delta hedging
-Episode 13: Market-maker profit and more hedging
VI. Exotic Options (4 episodes)
-Episode 14: Asian and barrier options
-Episode 15: Compound and gap options
-Episode 16: All-or-nothing options and supershares
-Episode 17: Exchange, chooser and forward start options
VII. Lognormal Stock Prices (4 episodes)
-Episode 18: The lognormal distribution and confidence intervals
-Episode 19: Deriving the Black-Scholes formula
-Episode 20: Estimating lognormal parameters and volatilities
-Episode 21: Histograms and normal probability plots
VIII. Monte Carlo Valuation (2 episodes)
-Episode 22: Introduction to Monte Carlo valuation
-Episode 23: Control variate, antithetic and stratified sampling methods
IX. Brownian Motion and Ito's Lemma (6 episodes)
-Episode 24: Standard and arithmetic Brownian motion and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes
-Episode 25: Introduction to geometric Brownian motion
-Episode 26: Correlation, multiplication rules, Sharpe ratio and risk-neutral price processes
-Episode 27: Ito's Lemma
-Episode 28: Valuing a claim on Sa and power options
-Episode 29: The Black-Scholes equation
X. Interest Rate models (6 episodes)
-Episode 30: General continous interest rate models
-Episode 31: Arithmetic, Rendleman-Bartter and Vasicek models
-Episode 32: Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model
-Episode 33: Black model
-Episode 34: Binomial interest rate model
-Episode 35: Black-Derman-Toy model
Please note that the online seminar is a dynamic product and that we will continue to update it in order to be most helpful for students to prepare for the exam, so we may modify it from time to time. Any significant changes will be announced in this space.
The online seminar is for the exclusive use of the student who purchases it. Within two business days after ordering the online seminar (but usually within a few hours), students are emailed information needed to create an online account that can be used to view the online seminar. Usage is tracked by user name and IP address. If suspicious activity is found, we reserve the right to suspend the account for violation of the terms of use.
To Register for the Online Seminar
Students may register for the online seminar through either the Actuarial Bookstore (1-800-582-9672) or Actex (1-800-282-2839). Students have access to the online seminar until exam day, although if a study fails the exam, the student will have access to the online seminar for another study cycle. Refunds for the online seminar cannot be provided once a student has started to view it.
Student Discount for Online Seminar
Students who are registered at an accredited college/university may qualify for a substantial discount for the Online Seminar. To check to see if you are eligible for a $200 savings, please email us at info@actuarialbrew.com using your student email address the name of your college/university and the name of your math/actuarial professor along with his/her email address or phone number. Students must inquire about discount before placing an order for the Online Seminar.
Seminar Combo Package
Students receive a substantial discount when combining one of our live seminars with our online seminar. The online seminar is very similar to our live seminar, so this is a great way to get both the personal interaction of the live seminar with the repeated viewing option of the online seminar.
To order the Chicago Seminar Combo package, students may register through either Actex or the Actuarial Bookstore.
Complete Online Combo Package
Students will receive a discount if they would like to order the Complete Online Combo study package, which includes the Online Seminar, electronic Review Notes, electronic Review Questions, electronic Set of 4 Practice Exams and the electronic Flashcards.
The Complete Online Combo study package may be ordered through the Actuarial Bookstore.
Host a Seminar
If your company is interested in hosting a seminar at your location, please let us know by sending an email to info@actuarialbrew.com.
Seminar Instructor
Joe Francis, FSA, CFA
Francis is the author of ActuarialBrew.com's Exam MFE/3F Review Notes. He also co-authored Financial Mathematics - A Practical Guide for Actuaries and Other Business Professionals, which is an approved text of the Society of Actuaries for Exam FM. Francis has been teaching MFE/3F seminars since the exam was introduced.
Francis has over 10 years of experience in the actuarial education field. He also has almost 15 years of experience working in the insurance industry.