Can I Be An Actuarist Without Having A Math Or Science Background

Can I do actuarial science without maths?

Yes, you can do… As there is no eligibility criteria, if you give exam as Non member from IFOA.But, my personal suggestion is don’t go for Actuaries if you don’t have mathematics. As actuarial science is all about mathematics and numbers.It’s difficult to get success in Actuaries without mathematics.By doing hard work , if you manage to clear few exams, still you face problem when you apply for job. As companies check educational background. Most of companies these days are preferring candidate with maths or stats or eco Background only.Hope this helpsAll the best

Is actuarial science a tough degree to pursue without a science background? And is it tough to pursue in general?

I can only speak from (outdated?) experience in the US where most actuaries earned credentials by going through the exam process in work/study programs, rather than earning a university degree in actuarial science.The exams were truly a mixed bag.  The early exams focused on math and served mainly as "qualifiers" to keep the riffraff out.  During my 30+ years in actuarial work, I never used anywhere near the math covered by those exams.  Later exams focused to varying extents on general reasoning, accounting and a s**tload of memorization.  Depending on your aptitudes, some of the exams will be pretty reasonable to pass while others will be slogs at best.Frankly, none of it was rocket science.  It was just a lot of effort.  Of course I knew a few individuals who breezed through the exams with little effort, but for most of us mortals it was simply a time sink that sucked up 8 months of your life out of each year you were studying.  If you're the type of person who can dedicate that much effort, then join the club.  But keep in mind that if you can dedicate that much effort to another endeavor (without the benefit of the structured exam syllabus as guidance) you can be very successful in most other fields.Bottom line - I'd support most people with good math/logic skills ("skills", not necessarily "education") who want to go into actuarial work.  The exceptions are people say 35 or older who wanted to make a career change - why suck the air out of your family's life at that point?

Can I still study actuarial science without an economics/finance background?

Yes. There is no requirement that actuaries have any particular academic background.Before I continue I should point out that there is a very big difference between studying actuarial science in a university and becoming a qualified actuary. The two are not the same. Simply having a university degree in actuarial science does not make you an actuary.In most places, in order to qualify as an actuary you have to pass a series of exams set by the relevant actuarial body. There are no academic prerequisites for sitting those exams. Just register, turn up, and write the exams.Having said that, those exams are brutal so it does help if you have some academic background in the material.In my case, my degrees are all in math (and I actually taught undergrad statistics at one stage) which meant I could follow the math and stats underpinning some of the material without too much difficulty. But I had never taken a course in economics or finance - along with the rest of the material, I learned that entirely on my own.Fact is, even if you did study actuarial science at university, once you’re past the first few exams it’s all self-study.I’d been working as an actuary for several years before I met anyone with a degree in actuarial science. Until then every actuary and actuarial student I knew had a degree in “something else” - math, engineering, physics … mostly STEM subjects but I do know a couple with humanities degrees and I know one qualified actuary who never graduated from university.

Is it possible to pursue actuarial science without a mathematics background?

I’m not sure where you live but this is with respect to the US.You can major in anything in college and become an actuary. You do need a math background in order to pass the actuarial exams but those exams are given outside the University or college you attend. So wherever you go to college, you’ll need to take some serious math including 4 semesters of calculus and 2 of probability and statistics. After that, you need to pass the first couple of actuarial exams and get good grades in your other courses.If, as I suspect, you’re not in the US, then it might be more difficult but it would depend on where you actually are and the university you attend. The bottom line is the same; you need math to pass the actuarial exams.Good luck.

Is it possible to become an actuary without having a mathematical degree?

Hope my answer is not too late.I have a math degree and am an actuary. I never thought about being an actuary when I applied for the math degree. My thought was to develop my problem solving and analytical skills. Also I wanted to keep my options open.In my career, I re-used a lot of equations and techniques as I used in Biostatistics such as PCA, MC simulations and clustering. You will find the actuarial maths are easy and simple given you have a math degree.As a you have a scientific and logic mind, I strongly suggest you take a math degree. It is important to me because I wouldn’t be happy if I just follow the maths without understanding it.Nowadays, a lot of topics about how to apply the machine learning and other maths into actuarial. It is an advantage if you have a strong machine learning background. This advantage is getter bigger in the future.Finally, go for the actuarial if you are very certain you want to be an actuary.

Can a non-math commerce student do actuarial science?

I think you need to first ask yourself why you chose to not study maths and why do you want to come to the field of Actuarials which is based on primarily mathematical techniques ?To succeed in any field you need to have interest in the same. Have you tried to gauge your interest by reading course material of some exams ? Or is it only based on “what's popular these days?” theory ?If after deep contemplation you decide to stick to pursual of Actuairal science then please go ahead and apply for ACET which is entrance test for getting a student membership.Be careful, clearing ACET does not mean you will be good and happy doing calculations as an ACTUARY whole your life. It just mean you are eligible to study , whether you will be able to ace it or not depends on your interest and natural inclination. Hence first make sure you really want to do it. Also, there is no harm in trying if opportunity cost of trying is not high.Hope this helps.