Fall 2026

Fundamentals of Short-term Actuarial Modeling

Covers the definition and selection of probability distributions for heavily tailed and skewed insurance data.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Paul Johnson3.7/5

Summary

1 / 6

The course is naturally very difficult and demanding, requiring significant time for practice problems and homework to succeed, which may stress students with outside obligations.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(GEN BUS 317,STAT/​MATH 310,STAT 333, 340, or concurrent enrollment), declared in undergraduate Business Exchange program, or Capstone Certificate in Actuarial Science

ACTSCI 652 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026

Paul Johnson

/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.80/5 from 15 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 3.8/5 raw quality · 4.1/5 difficulty · 8 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Paul Johnson is praised for clear explanations, helpful examples, and availability for questions. Reviewers note he makes difficult material understandable and is considerate, though some find the course workload demanding.

Some reviewers criticize Johnson for reading slides, lacking engagement, and being condescending or unsympathetic to student questions. They describe the course as overly stressful for those with outside obligations and suggest external coaching may be necessary.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.48 GPA, 71.9% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.41 GPA, 59.1% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.42 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=42 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for Gregory Wanner describe detailed but potentially boring lectures based on the textbook. Weekly quizzes are manageable, but exams are difficult with limited curving. The instructor is noted for slow email response times.

GREGORY WANNER is recorded teaching in Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PAUL JOHNSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction40 / 600

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Paul Johnson receives high praise for clear explanations, availability, and making the difficult material accessible, with students finding the course useful for their careers.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.48 GPA, 71.9% A/AB (n=32 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.41 GPA, 59.1% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.42 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=42 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

The course is naturally very difficult and demanding, requiring significant time for practice problems and homework to succeed, which may stress students with outside obligations.

Some students find the lectures unengaging due to reading slides and report that Paul Johnson can be condescending and unhelpful when answering questions after class.

Topics

  • Probability distributions for insurance data
  • Heavily tailed and skewed distributions

Skills

  • Defining and selecting probability distributions for insurance data.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

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Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ACTSCI 652 · Fall 2026

Fundamentals of Short-Term Actuarial Modeling

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:242:003681",
    "course_id": "ACTSCI 652",
    "course_uid": "course_9f3d31814669db24532fa2c2",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "003681",
    "source_subject_id": "242",
    "title": "Fundamentals of Short-Term Actuarial Modeling",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "c4b1a1a740b433d73aa29000146cbd07e12b76734ec52b9721c8947b92d1ae87",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}