Exam ALTAM Sample Questions, Free and Interactive
ALTAM (Advanced Long-Term Actuarial Mathematics) is a written-answer exam. You do not bubble a letter: you derive reserves and probabilities, justify the method, and write the result in a form a grader scores against a point-weighted rubric. The math is the entry ticket; the rubric is the game.
The SOA publishes a Sample Questions and Solutions set for ALTAM, currently 56 written-answer items (April 2025 version). FreeFellow hosts all 56 in a free interactive simulator: read the stem, work each sub-part, type your answer, then compare against the SOA reference solution with the rubric weights visible.
Start practicing the 56 ALTAM sample items
What the 56 Items Cover
The set spans all seven syllabus topics, 234 graded sub-parts in total:
| Topic area | Items | What you write |
|---|---|---|
| Survival Models for Contingent Cash Flows | 9 | Multi-state probabilities, Kolmogorov forward equations, transition-intensity work |
| Premium and Policy Valuation | 9 | Gross premiums, reserves, modified reserves, expense recognition |
| Joint Life Insurance and Annuities | 9 | Joint-life and last-survivor functions, reversionary annuities, dependent lifetimes |
| Profit Analysis | 10 | Profit vectors, profit signatures, NPV and IRR of product cash flows |
| Pension Plans and Retirement Benefits | 12 | DB accrued benefits, actuarial liabilities, normal cost under accrual methods |
| Universal Life Insurance | 5 | Account-value rollforwards, corridor requirements, secondary guarantees |
| Embedded Options | 2 | GMxB-style guarantees and option-cost reasoning in life products |
Pension and profit testing carry the most weight in the sample set, which mirrors where candidates report the live exam concentrating its hardest multi-part items.
Why Rubric Visibility Changes the Preparation
On a multiple-choice prelim, a near-miss scores zero and you move on. On ALTAM, a sub-part is worth points for the setup, points for the intermediate values, and points for the conclusion stated in the right form. Candidates who practice without seeing rubrics systematically lose presentation points they never knew existed: an unlabeled reserve, a probability stated without its time index, a method used correctly but never named.
The simulator shows the weights per sub-part, so every practice session doubles as rubric training. Write the answer, then read the reference solution the way a grader would.
Pairing the Samples with Concept Drilling
Fifty-six items is a training set for format and integration, not for first-pass learning. The standard sequence:
- Learn and drill by topic with the 890 free original multiple-choice questions, which cover the same seven topics with step-by-step solutions.
- Move to the simulator once a topic holds up under MCQ drilling, and write full answers under rubric scoring.
- Finish with mixed, timed items: the live exam interleaves topics inside single questions, exactly as the sample set does.
The same free model covers the rest of the actuarial sequence: FAM samples feed into ALTAM, and the ASTAM samples cover the short-term sibling. The free actuarial prep roundup maps the whole path.