Exam P Sample Questions, Free and Interactive

Exam P was my first actuarial exam, and the SOA's published sample set was the practice resource that mattered most in my final two weeks. The format always frustrated me though. The PDF on soa.org is 30+ pages. You print it (or split your screen), work problems on scratch paper, flip to the back for solutions, self-grade. Half the friction is logistics.

FreeFellow now reproduces all 654 published Exam P sample questions inside the practice surface. Same content the SOA distributes (verbatim, with attribution naming the publication and question number), but with the worked solution rendered alongside each question after you submit, performance tracking that re-surfaces missed items, and an adaptive engine that prioritizes the topics you're weakest on. Free, no signup to browse, no credit card.

Start practicing Exam P samples

What the 654 Sample Items Cover

The set spans every section of the Exam P syllabus, weighted toward where the live exam concentrates:

Topic area Approx. sample count What you'll see
General probability and Bayes ~150 Set operations, independence, Bayes problems with two and three events, combinatorics
Univariate distributions ~250 Binomial, Poisson, normal, exponential, gamma, beta, uniform; PDFs/CDFs, expectation, variance, MGFs
Multivariate distributions ~150 Joint PDFs over rectangular and non-rectangular regions, marginals, conditional distributions, covariance, transformations
Risk management concepts ~100 Deductibles, policy limits, loss elimination ratio, expected claim cost under coverage modifications

The sample set has a recognizable trap density. Bayes problems with three or more events appear repeatedly. Joint-distribution problems over non-rectangular regions force you to draw the support before integrating. MGF manipulation under linear combinations of independent variables is over-represented relative to other topics, which mirrors how the live exam likes to test the moment-generating function as a unifying concept.

Why P Samples Are the Highest-Signal Free Practice

Three reasons specific to Exam P:

The probability syllabus is conceptually compact (you can teach the material in 40 hours) but operationally trap-heavy. The samples train your eye to spot the trap before you start computing, which is the actual skill the exam tests.

The SOA samples include exact-style Bayes problems that nothing else mirrors as cleanly. Coaching Actuaries Adapt and ACTEX manuals approximate this style; the SOA samples are the calibration source for everyone else's approximations.

The samples are pre-calibrated for difficulty. The SOA labels each item by source publication, which tells you how recent the calibration is. Items from the 2020+ batches reflect the post-2020 emphasis on multi-step conditional structures.

Key Concept

Sample question difficulty has trended up since 2020. Items from older publications can feel easy compared to your live sitting. Weight your final-stretch practice toward the post-2020 items.

Three Tactical Rules for the 654 Items

Don't start with the samples. Build base competency first on the FreeFellow Exam P original bank. The samples are calibration, not foundational learning. A candidate who starts on samples cold will get 25 percent right and learn nothing.

Drill conditional probability and Bayes specifically. Roughly 80 of the 654 items hinge on conditional structure. Filter them, drill them in a block, then drill them again at the one-month mark. If you miss more than 30 percent on this subset, you have a Bayes formulation problem that will cost you on exam day.

Save 300+ for timed practice in the final two weeks. Working samples in topic order is fine for learning. Working them mixed under exam pacing (six minutes per question, 30 at a time) is what builds the stamina the live exam demands.

What the Samples Don't Cover Well

Three honest gaps to fill from other sources:

  • Three-or-more-variable joint distributions. The newer SOA emphasis on these is sparsely represented in the older sample batches. Use the FreeFellow original bank, which is calibrated against post-2020 sittings.
  • Order statistics for continuous distributions. Light coverage in the sample set. If you see it on exam day, lean on textbook practice (Hogg and Tanis, or any standard probability text).
  • Survival and hazard functions in actuarial context. Out of scope for P (this lives in FAM) but worth knowing exists, since the syllabus is slowly tilting toward setup intuitions you'll see again in FAM.

How P Practice Compares Across Free and Paid

Source Exam P Sample Questions Format Cost
FreeFellow All 654, interactive Same surface as topic practice $0
ASM Probability Manual All 654 in study manual PDF in printed manual $120 to $180
ACTEX Exam P Manual Selected items + commentary PDF in manual $130 to $200
Coaching Actuaries Adapt P All 654 + originals Interactive within Adapt $200 to $300 per exam
SOA only All 654 Static PDF on soa.org $0

FreeFellow is the only free interactive surface. The paid platforms wrap the same SOA content in their own UIs and charge for the wrapper.

Start Practicing

Practice all 654 Exam P samples alongside the FreeFellow original Exam P bank. Both are free.

For the closely-related Exam FM sample set: Free Exam FM Sample Questions. For broader Exam P prep strategy: How to Pass Exam P (2026 Study Guide).