Use code WELCOME for 20% off your first purchase.

Exam Updates

Fall 2025

Summary

The SOA has now released the significant changes effective for the Fall 2025 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The public announcement can be found here: 
This page will not attempt to summarize or duplicate the entire announcement, but instead will focus on the changes between the previous set of exams and the new ones.

The intended reader is someone who has been taking FSA health exams before the transition and intends to continue taking FSA health exams after the transition.

There were previously 3 health-related exams. Now, there are 4.

The syllabi for the new health exams can be found here:
Two new additions on top of the syllabi typically provided by the SoA is a course strategy guide and introductory study note.

Links to all three of these will be provided on the left-hand side of the page when you are logged in for easy access.

The course strategy guides serve as a roadmap for what to learn, why it matters, and how to study it effectively so you can tackle the assessment with confidence. More specifically, it provides the following:
  • Course Overview & Objectives
    A one-page summary telling you what the course is about, why it exists (its role in the broader SOA curriculum), and how it builds on or feeds into the other Group & Health (GH) or cross-practice (CP) courses.
  • Recommended Study Approach
    A step-by-step plan for how to tackle the materials: read the Guide, scan the learning objectives/outcomes, watch any linked videos, then work through the syllabus readings in a prescribed order—highlighting what to skim on first pass versus drill into later.
  • Syllabus Topics & Learning Outcomes
    A clear listing of the major “buckets” of content (e.g. Reserving, Financial Statements, Risk Adjustment, Plan Provisions, etc.), often broken into five or six topics, each with descriptions of what you’re expected to learn.
  • Reading List & Sequence
    For each topic you get a curated sequence of readings (textbook chapters, SOA study notes, professional articles, ASOPs/standards) flagged with “first read,” “second read,” “skim now, study later,” etc.
  • Assessment Guidance
    Advice on exam format (multi-part, scenario-based questions), the emphasis on critical thinking over rote answers, and tips on how to apply what you’ve learned as opposed to simply recalling details.
The introductory study note isn't content to learn - it's your one-stop shop for what exam you're taking, how it's structured, what materials count, where to find updates, and which study notes you'll need. More specifically, it provides the following:
  • Exam Logistics & Format
    They open with the exam date, duration (three hours), format (written-answer, 50 points), and location scheduling.
  • Curriculum & Sequence Policy
    A reminder that you can take any four fellowship courses in any order, but you must include one 100-level/200-level pairing in your four.
  • Syllabus & Materials
    Clarification of what “syllabus materials” are (textbooks, readings, videos, strategy guide, study notes), where to find the full syllabus and Learning Objectives, how updates or errata will be communicated, and where past exams live.
  • Study Aids & Guidance
    Pointers to the Course Strategy Guide, the SOA’s Guide to Written Exams for cognitive verbs, seminars/workshops and study manuals (with a disclaimer that they’re not official SOA content).
  • Exam Day Rules & Calculator Policy
    The strict list of approved TI calculator models (with memory-clearing rules), plus disqualification for non-approved devices.
  • Study Notes Appendix
    A table of the course’s SOA-published study notes (with former codes, and “*” marking which notes are in the revision set), along with any errata notices.
  • Disclaimers & Acknowledgments
    Statement that study notes aren’t SOA’s official opinions, thanks to authors, and notice of joint sponsorship by actuarial bodies.
In terms of how the exams have changed from their predecessors, find a summary below:

GH101 has the following changes compared to its predecessor GHDP:
  • The previous sections, "Plan Provisions and Government Programs", "Manual Rates", and "Underwriting" remain, but have been significantly slimmed down. Specifically, the "Government Programs" section was removed (and transferred to GH201).
  • A significant portion of the "Employee Benefit Strategy" section from GHRM was added to the this exam's syllabus.
  • There are a handful of videos, a form of content which has not been present in the previous syllabi before.
GH201U has the following changes compared to its predecessor GHVRU:
  • The previous sections, "Reserving", "Financial Statements", and "Regulation" remain, but have been significantly slimmed down.
  • A section titled "Government Programs" was added, which came from the previous GHDP syllabus.
  • A small section titled "Flow of Funds" was added.
  • There are a handful of videos, a form of content which has not been present in the previous syllabi before.
GH301 has the following changes compared to its predecessor GHRM:
  • The previous sections, "Provider Reimbursement", "Claims and Disease Management", and "Risk Adjustment" remain, but have been significantly slimmed down.
  • The "Employee Benefit Strategy" section was removed (and transferred to GH101).
  • Two small sections, titled "Medical Data" and "Predictive Analytics", were added, which are both eLearning Modules, a form of content which has not been present in the previous syllabi before.
  • A small section titled "Social Determinants of Health" was added.
CP321 is composed of the following:
  • Plan and Product Provisions - this section comes from items that were removed from the previous GHDP syllabus.
  • Manual Rates - this section comes from items that were removed from the previous GHDP syllabus (both "Manual Rates" and "Underwriting").
  • Reserving - this section comes from items that were removed from the previous GHVRU syllabus.
  • Financial Statements - this section comes from items that were removed from the previous GHVRU syllabus.
  • Asset Adequacy - this is a small section composed of two study notes and an ASOP.
  • Retiree Group Benefits - this is a fairly large section composed of several new study notes and a few websites.
If you have any questions about the transition, do not hesitate to reach out to us at support@justenoughprep.com, and we will be happy to help assist.

Spring 2025

Summary

The SOA has released changes effective for the Spring 2025 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:Overall, there were only minor changes to the syllabi, as there will be significant changes in the next sitting with the Fall 2025 restructuring. The general trend is that there was a handful of added and removed readings, but overall no major shift in the total amount of content / size of syllabus. Find the details on the changes below.

GHDP has the following changes:
  • Added - Insuring LTC, Chapter 4: Hybrid Life and Long-Term Care Products. A fairly short chapter.
  • Added - GHDP 146-25: A Hard Pill to Swallow: Appreciating the Mathematical Dynamics of the Affordable Care Act. This material was previously part of the GHVR syllabus until it was removed in Fall 2024. This section was tested only once in the past (Q6c of the GHFVCU Fall 2021 sitting).
  • Added - GHDP 147-25: Attempting to Boil the Ocean: A High-Level Overview of Medicaid and its Risk-Based Managed Care Programs. This is a fairly average sized section, but also includes a companion Excel file, making it likely there will be math problems asked from it.
  • Added - Group Life Waiver Study is a relatively short reading about a Canadian LTD experience study.
  • Removed - GHDP 142-23: Medicaid A Primer was removed from the syllabus. This section had only been tested once in the past (Q5 of Spring 2021 GHFVCU).
  • Removed - Combination Products was removed from the syllabus. This section had only been tested once in the past (Q3e of Spring 2021 GHDP-C).
  • Removed - GHDP-101-13: Group Disability Insurance (sections 4 & 7) was removed from the syllabus. This section had been tested three times in the past, the most recent of which being Q13a+b of Fall 2022 GHDP.
  • Removed - GHDP-127-19: Chapters 16 and 19 of Disability Income Insurance: The Unique Risk was removed from the syllabus. This section had only been tested once in the past (Q13c+d of Fall 2022 GHDP).
  • Removed - Timing's Everything was removed from the syllabus. This section had been tested three times in the past, the most recent of which being Q8g of Fall 2023 GHDP.
  • Removed - 2019 Group LTD Disability Experience Study was removed from the syllabus. This section had been tested only once in the past (Q4d of Fall 2023 GHDP).

GHVR has no syllabus changes.

GHRM has the following changes:
  • Added - Surprises in the No Surprises Act: An Interview with Greg Fann. This a fairly short, but insightful article about the No Surprises Act.
  • Added - Surprises in the No Surprises Act: An Interview with Greg Fann (Part 2). This is simply the second half of the interview of the preceding addition to the syllabus.
  • Added - GHRM 116-25: HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment Technical Paper on Possible Model Changes. This is a relatively longer study note.
  • Removed - GHRM 112-23: HHS-Operated Risk Adjustment Methodology Meeting Discussion Paper, Ch. 4. This section had been tested four times in the past, the most recent of which being Q1a+b of Spring 2024 GHRM.
  • Trivial Renaming - Handbook of Employee Benefits, Chapters 2 and were changed to a study note and renamed to GHRM 115-24.
  • Small Section Removed - Healthcare Risk Adjustment and Predictive Modeling, Chapter 21: Risk Adjustment on the ACA Exchanges. Section 21.8.2 has now been removed from the syllabus. The section removed was fairly short, and discusses issues in ACA Risk Adjustment, with separate sections for Massachusetts and the National Risk Adjustment programs.

Fall 2024

Summary

The SOA has released changes effective for the Fall 2024 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:Overall, there were only minor changes to the syllabi, and the general trend is that GHDP has one additional section (which largely came from GHVR), while GHVR has less content than before. The Retiree Benefits content has been moved from GHVR to GHDP. This is a fairly small section overall, but has been tested fairly regularly over the past few years.

GHDP has the following changes:
  • Added - Retiree Health Benefits - Accounting and Valuation Assumptions. This section largely came from the prior sitting's GHVR syllabus (specifically GHVR-816-16). This material has been tested quite frequently in the past (Q5 of GHVR Fall 2023, Q6 of GHVR Spring 2023, Q9 of GHVR Spring 2022, Q5 of GHFVCU Fall 2021 just to go back a few years). However, certain notable sections were omitted during the transition, namely the concept of Funded Status and the computation of Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost (NPPBC), as well as change in APBO over a year. Students should still pay close attention to this section and expect it to continue to be tested in the next sitting. It's also worth pointing out there is an additional Excel case study, which is brand new to the group and health syllabi and should also be carefully studied in order to be fully prepared.
GHVR has the following changes:
  • Trivial Renaming - Chapter 6 of Individual Health Insurance was changed to a study note and renamed to GHVR 835-24. This is plausibly due to the removal of the other chapters from this textbook from the syllabus.
  • Removed - Chapter 8 of Individual Health Insurance was completely removed from the syllabus. This section was tested only once in the past (Q3 of GHVR Spring 2023).
  • Trivial Renaming - Read. Think. Write. was simply moved to a different part of the syllabus (same exam).
  • Removed - GHVR 830-21: A Hard Pill to Swallow: Appreciating the Mathematical Dynamics of the Affordable Care Act was completely removed from the syllabus. This section was tested only once in the past (Q6c of the GHFVCU Fall 2021 sitting).
  • Removed - Group Insurance Chapter 8: Retiree Group Benefits. This section was removed from this exam. This material had been tested quite frequently in the past (Q10 of GHFVU Fall 2022, Q5a of GHFVCU Fall 2021, Q2 of GHFVCU Spring 2021, just to go back a few years).
  • Removed - GHVR 816-16: US Employers' Accounting of Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions Study Note was completely removed from the syllabus. This material had been tested quite frequently in the past (Q5 of GHVR Fall 2023, Q6 of GHVR Spring 2023, Q9 of GHVR Spring 2022, Q5 of GHFVCU Fall 2021 just to go back a few years).

GHRM has no syllabus changes.


Spring 2024

Summary

The SOA has released changes effective for the Spring 2024 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:The overall trend we noticed from the changes is that the syllabi are shrinking in size (more content is being removed than new content is being added).

GHDP has the following changes:
  • Removed - The Essentials of Managed Healthcare textbook was removed entirely. This removed 2 chapters from Plan Provisions and Government Programs, and 1 chapter from Manual Rates. The last time this textbook was tested was the GHFVU Spring 2022 Sitting (Q6 and Q12c), before it was moved to the GHDP exam. Overall, this textbook was not a major part of the syllabus and was not frequently tested.
  • Removed - Pricing Critical Illness Insurance in Canada (a study note from the Manual rates section). This was a fairly small study note, and had only been tested once in the past (GHADV Spring 2018 Q3).
  • Added - 1 new website: Critical Illness Turns 40!. This website is fairly short.
  • Added - 1 new Excel model (details TBD): Calculated Risk: Driving Decisions Using the 5/50 Research. We will update this post as soon as we know more about this item.
  • Updated - The Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefits (study note from the Plan Provisions and Government Programs section) was slightly updated.
  • Added - 1 new study note / Excel model (details TBD): Retiree Health Benefits - Accounting and Valuation Assumptions. However, this will not be tested until Fall 2024.
Note: While it looks like more was removed than added to the syllabus, the items that were removed were not tested frequently.

GHRM has the following changes:
  • Removed - The Handbook of Employee Benefits textbook was removed (6 chapters from the Employee Benefit Strategy section). However, 2 of these chapters were migrated into a single study note, so effectively only 4 chapters were removed from the syllabus.
  • Removed - Chapter 18 of Life & Health and Annuity Reinsurance (study note from the Risk Adjustment section). This was a fairly long section, with a large amount of testable content.
  • Removed - Value Based Pharmacy: A Canadian Example (study note from the Provider Reimbursement section). A fairly short study note that was not frequently tested.
  • Removed - Chapter 16 the Canadian Handbook of Flexible Benefits (study note from the Employee Benefit Strategy section). A fairly short section overall.
  • Added - 1 new website: Restoring the Indifference Ideal: If It’s Not Adjusting for “Risk,” It’s Not “Risk Adjustment”. This website is of medium length.
Overall, a lot more was removed from GHRM than was added.

GHVR has no syllabus changes.


Fall 2023

Summary

The SOA has released changes effective for the Fall 2023 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:GHDP and GHRM remain the same. GHVR has the following changes:
  • 2 study notes added in the Financial Statements section (both relatively short)
  • 1 study note removed from the Regulation & Taxation section (medium length)
  • 1 study note modified in the Regulation & Taxation section (2 examples removed)

Spring 2023

Summary

The SOA has released changes effective for the Spring 2023 sitting of FSA Group and Health Exams. The updated syllabi can be found here:These changes can be summarized at a high level as follows:
  1. Design and Pricing (DP) exam name remains unchanged.
    • Exam length has decreased from 5 to 3.5 hours.
    • 3 out of 5 former DP sections remain. Plan Provisions now also includes Government Programs. Employee Benefits and Provider Reimbursement have been moved to RM.
  2. Valuation and Regulation (VR-US) replaces Finance and Valuation (FV-US).
    • Exam length has decreased from 5 to 3.5 hours.
    • 4 out of 6 former FV sections remain. Government Programs has been moved to DP. Actuarial Appraisal has been dropped.
  3. Risk Mitigation (RM) replaces Specialty (SPC).
    • Exam length has increased from 2 to 3 hours.
    • 2 out of 4 former SPC sections remain. Employee Benefits and Provider Reimbursement from former DP have been added. ERM has been dropped.
  4. The total exam time of Group and Health has been reduced from 12 to 10 hours.

Mapping

The below shows a mapping of syllabus items from the old exam onto the new exam:

  • "NEW" denotes syllabus items on the Spring 2023 exams that were not previously covered by the Group & Health exams.
  • "REMOVED" denotes syllabus items on the former Group & Health exams that are no longer covered in the new exams.
  • Use the checkboxes on the right to filter by source type.
GHDPGHVR-USGHRMREMOVED
GHDP440218
GHFV-US432124
GHSPC011820
NEW8530
Source Types
Above you can see:
  1. The new GHDP is largely made up of the old GHDP.
  2. The new GHVR-US is largely made up of the old GHFV-US with roughly half the sections of old GHFV-US removed.
  3. The new GHRM is a mix of the old GHDP and GHSPC (with roughly half the sections of the old GHSPC removed).

Recommendations and Observations

  1. If you have recently passed the old GHDP, we recommend you take GHRM in May 2023. The new GHRM is comprised of half old GHDP material that you (hopefully) already know and the exam will count towards a different exam requirement.
  2. The overall amount of content covered by the new Group & Health Exams is less than the old Group & Health Exams. Previously, there were 175 syllabus items. Now there are 137 syllabus items. Similarly, the total exam time is shorter (12 to 10 hours).
  3. One textbook was removed (old GHSPC, Financial Enterprise Risk Management). One textbook was added (new GHDP, Insuring Long-Term Care). The majority of syllabus item changes are across Study Notes, Websites, and ASOPs.
  4. There are new syllabus items in GHDP: Manual Rates, Plan Provisions / Government Programs.
  5. There are new syllabus items in GHRM: Claims / Disease Management.
  6. There are new syllabus items in GHVR-US: Financial Statements, Regulation / Taxation.