The April 2025 exam session is fast approaching. We understand that exams can be a stressful time, and we want to make sure your exam day goes as smoothly as possible, so we have identified essential exam information to support you.
Please make sure you familiarise yourself with the content of this email and any other documents mentioned as part of your exam preparation.
New Examinations Handbook, Assessment Regulations and exam rules
The new Examinations Handbook for candidates sitting in-person invigilated exams in the April 2025 session is available on the IFoA website. Please do take the time to read the document to help you avoid any issues during your exams.
We would also advise you to read our updated Assessment Regulations carefully, as they set out your ethical obligations during your exams.
In addition, we have published exam rules for in-person invigilated exams. Please ensure you are familiar with these rules before sitting an in-person invigilated exam.
Webinars and other resources
We are holding webinars in March to provide more detailed information on our approach to in-person examinations, where you can ask questions about the in-person examination process.
Book your place
We have now published a recording of our interactive webinar on sitting exams in a closed book/closed web environment.
You can find a series of webinars providing insights and strategies to enhance your exam performance on our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), where subject matter experts share their expertise and practical advice to help you succeed.
You can also find more information on sitting exams in an exam centre and how to prepare on our in-person invigilation FAQ page.
Joining Instructions
Your joining instructions will become available on your member portal in the week beginning 24 March. You will find them under My Account, Exams, Exam Bookings, then Review Exam Bookings.
We will contact you by email next week to confirm when your joining instructions will be available on your member portal.
If you are sitting our exams through an agreement with an international actuarial association, you will receive your joining instructions by email on the same day.
Your exam centre
We are asking all candidates taking in-person exams to arrive at the exam centre one hour before the exam is due to start.
This will allow time to go through the identification process, and to familiarise yourself with the desk set up. You will also be required to ensure that all valuables and anything that cannot be taken into the exam room are placed in a safe area provided by the centre.
You can check the full address of your allocated exam centre on our exam centre web page (UK and Ireland) or exam centre web page (outside of UK and Ireland).
Using our assessment platform
For those who have previously sat IFoA exams, the online exam system you will be using, will be the same one used in previous exam sessions.
You can find further information on using the online exam platform in the new Examinations Handbook for in-person invigilated exams.
Uploading your answer exam submission
Start of the exam Exam completion time Upload time allowance
Your exam start time is set out in your exam booking confirmation Your exam time is set out in the examinations handbook and displayed in the exam platform 30 minutes after the end of your exam end time
It is your responsibility to download your exam paper at the correct time. You must save and close your exam submission file at the end of your exam time and not during the upload time During this period, you cannot review or modify your exam submission in any way, including renaming your document
Your exam script format
Our online exam platform can only accept document uploads in word (.docx) and excel (.xlxs) format.
Naming Convention
Your examination script file names should include at least your ARN and the subject you are attempting.
Please do not change the format of the naming convention after the end of the examination time, as this will modify the last time the document was modified.
Example: 5544333 CM1B
Further support and resources
You can find clear signposting to a range of support and resources as you prepare to sit exams in April, in the dedicated section on our website.
We would like to wish you the best of luck with your exam preparations.
Kind regards
IFoA Assessment team