SOA Exam FAM Explained: 34 Questions, 57% Pass Rate, Short vs Long-Term (2026)

SOA Exam FAM (Fundamentals of Actuarial Mathematics) is a 3.5-hour, 34-question multiple-choice exam split roughly evenly between short-term actuarial math (general insurance) and long-term (life insurance and annuities). At the July 2026 sitting, 57% of candidates passed (1,341 wrote, 764 passed) on a 60% pass mark (SOA). Registration costs $408 under the SOA fee schedule updated in December 2025.

Where FAM fits

FAM came out of the SOA's curriculum redesign. Before it, there were two exams: STAM (Short-Term Actuarial Mathematics), which covered loss models, frequency and severity, aggregate claims, credibility and ratemaking, and LTAM (Long-Term Actuarial Mathematics), which covered survival models, life insurance, life annuities and reserving. The SOA split that material three ways. FAM covers the introductory parts of both. ALTAM (Advanced Long-Term) covers advanced life contingencies, multi-state models and pension mathematics, and ASTAM (Advanced Short-Term) covers advanced loss models, credibility theory and ratemaking. Everyone takes FAM, then picks ALTAM or ASTAM depending on where their career is headed, so FAM is broader than the old STAM or LTAM but shallower.

Most candidates reach FAM after passing Exams P and FM, and some take it around the same time as SRM, so it's usually the third or fourth exam. P and FM cover material you'd also see in other quantitative fields. FAM is where insurance-specific models show up for the first time (loss distributions, life tables, life insurance present values, reserving), and for a lot of candidates it's the first exam that feels like the job.

What's on it

Short-term (about half)

• Severity models: parametric distributions (exponential, Pareto, gamma, Weibull, lognormal), moments, limited expected values, excess loss
• Frequency models: Poisson, negative binomial and binomial distributions
• Aggregate loss models: compound distributions, normal approximation, stop-loss premiums
• Coverage modifications: deductibles, policy limits, coinsurance, inflation effects
• Risk measures: VaR and TVaR and how they're applied

Long-term (about half)

• Survival models: life table functions, force of mortality, fractional age assumptions, select and ultimate tables
• Life insurance present values: whole life, term life, endowment and deferred insurance
• Life annuity present values: whole life, temporary and deferred annuities, annuity-due vs annuity-immediate
• Premiums: benefit premiums, net premiums, the equivalence principle
• Reserves: prospective and retrospective reserves, net premium reserves, recursive formulas

Most people like one half more than the other, and candidates with insurance experience often put too much time into the short-term material, or the other way around. You can't pass by acing one half and failing the other, and some questions combine the two, like a loss model applied in a life insurance setting. FAM's 57% pass rate is higher than Exam P and Exam FM, which sit in the mid-to-high 40s, but the breadth makes it hard. Loss modeling and life contingencies are two separate subjects, and you have to get both deep enough at the same time.

How to study for it

I'd budget about 250 to 300 hours for Exam FAM, and a typical plan runs 12 to 16 weeks at 2 to 3 hours a day:

1. Weeks 1 to 4, short-term foundations. Start with severity and frequency models. If you passed Exam P, a lot of the probability will feel familiar, and what's new is applying it to insurance: deductibles, policy limits, aggregate claims. If your P skills have faded, review compound distributions and conditional expectations first.
2. Weeks 5 to 8, long-term foundations. Survival models and life contingencies feel different from anything you've seen before. Life table mechanics and actuarial present values reward careful, slow study, and the problems run through several steps (mortality, interest, timing), so practice until the workflow is automatic.
3. Weeks 9 to 12, integration. Mix short-term and long-term practice, 20 to 30 problems a day across both halves.
4. Weeks 13 to 16, practice exams. Take full-length mocks (34 questions, 3.5 hours), which gives you a little over 6 minutes per question, and aim for 65% or better consistently.

Aim for 800 to 1,200 practice questions before exam day, split roughly evenly between the two halves. As rough benchmarks, you'd be scoring 45% to 55% on mixed practice after 300 questions and 55% to 65% on practice exams after 600, and you're ready when you score 65%+ consistently on full-length mocks. Learn the BA II Plus early too, since present value calculations and compound distribution moments both go faster with practiced calculator skills.

For materials, the SOA's own FAM sample questions come with solutions, ACTEX sells FAM study notes if you want structured written material, and Bowers et al., Actuarial Mathematics, is the reference text for the long-term topics. FreeFellow's Exam FAM practice questions are free with an account, each with a full solution, and Fellow adds timed mock exams and analytics by topic.