ActuarialExam ALTAM
SOA Exam ALTAM · Advanced Long-Term Actuarial Mathematics
Updated April 2026

SOA Exam ALTAM Study Plan & Practice System

Exam ALTAM is the advanced long-term actuarial mathematics exam for candidates focused on life insurance, annuities, pensions, and long-term health. Follows Exam FAM. Upload your ACTEX digital edition, scanned ASM manual, or your own ALTAM notes and exclam.ai turns them into a fully guided study plan with adaptive flashcards, quizzes, and a weekly schedule.

Typical hours
~300
Typical weeks
~18
Topic areas
5
Pass rate
~45–55%

Exam format

Multiple-choice and written-answer format. Candidates must show work on multi-step problems. Requires deep understanding of life contingencies and profit testing mechanics.

Written-answer questions require showing your work — partial credit is available.

Heavy on profit testing, embedded value, and pension accounting.

Prerequisite: Exam FAM must be completed first.

The advanced life-side exam — ASTAM is the short-term counterpart.

Format details change periodically. Always verify the current exam structure on soa.org before your exam.

Exam ALTAM topic areas

The 5 topic areas tested on Exam ALTAM, with approximate weight bands from the public SOA syllabus. Click any topic for a dedicated study page.

Topic names and approximate weight bands sourced from the public SOA Exam ALTAM syllabus on soa.org.

How exclam.ai helps with Exam ALTAM

Upload your study manual

Drop in your ACTEX Exam ALTAM digital edition (full-corpus PDF), scanned ASM pages, TIA handouts, or your own notes. exclam.ai parses them into structured content for a fully guided study plan.

Generate flashcards & quizzes

AI generates flashcards for formulas and concepts, plus multiple-choice quizzes targeting each of the 5 topic areas. Edit any card.

Get a weekly adaptive plan

Coverage phase, review phase, and mocks — distributed across your ~18-week timeline or whatever you choose.

Exam ALTAM study plans by duration

Pick the timeline that matches your exam date. Each plan covers roughly 300 hours distributed across a different number of weeks.

Popular Exam ALTAM study manuals

exclam.ai works alongside any of these vendors. Upload paths vary — ACTEX sells full digital editions as downloadable PDFs (cleanest upload), ASM print manuals can be scanned for the full corpus, and The Infinite Actuary provides downloadable PDF handouts alongside their videos. For ASM digital (app-locked) and Coaching Actuaries (online platform), upload your own notes taken while studying. We do not distribute or reproduce any vendor content — your manual stays with the publisher.

ASM Study Manual
Print manual · scan to PDF
ACTEX Study Manual
Digital edition · downloadable PDF
Coaching Actuaries
Online platform · upload your notes

Exam ALTAM questions

Should I take ALTAM or ASTAM?

Depends on your career direction. Life insurance, annuities, pensions, and long-term health → ALTAM. Property/casualty, short-term health, or general insurance → ASTAM. You only need one to reach ASA.

How much harder is ALTAM than FAM?

Candidates generally rate ALTAM as significantly harder than FAM due to the depth of profit testing and pension content plus the written-answer format.

What is the written-answer section like?

Multi-step problems where you show work and receive partial credit. Requires tight time management — practice writing out full solutions under exam conditions.

Start your Exam ALTAM plan today

Upload your ACTEX digital edition, scanned ASM pages, TIA handouts, or your own notes — exclam.ai builds a fully guided study plan around your exam date.

See pricing