Fall 2026

Advanced Short-term Actuarial Modeling

Advanced short-term actuarial modeling focusing on parameter estimation for heavy-tailed insurance data and credibility assessment for ratemaking.

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

Summary

1 / 6

Reviewers describe the material as difficult, though one notes exams are more predictable than in related courses.

Grade history

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

Prerequisites

Course map

ACT SCI 652 or declared in undergraduate Business Exchange program

    • ACTSCI 652
    • declared in undergraduate Business Exchange program
    take one
ACTSCI 653

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • ACTSCI 652
    • declared in undergraduate Business Exchange program

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: 4.0/5 raw quality · 3.7/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

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

Paul Johnson is criticized for rushing through lectures and failing to explain the broader context, which leaves students struggling with problem sets. Reviewers also describe his demeanor as condescending when questions are asked.

Other students praise Johnson as a great professor who cares about students and answers questions well. They note that his slides are concise and exams are more predictable than in related courses, despite the difficult material.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.50 GPA, 72.7% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.14 GPA, 45.5% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.30 GPA, 57.6% A/AB (n=33 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Greg Wanner: Greg Wanner was willing to help students who were stuck and cared about them, though his explanations were sometimes unclear. The reviewer recommended buying an Exam C/4 manual to practice topics covered in class.

GREGORY WANNER is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PAUL JOHNSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. 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

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction23 / 400

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 polarized reviews, with some finding his lectures rushed and condescending while others praise his concise slides and helpfulness.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.50 GPA, 72.7% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.14 GPA, 45.5% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.30 GPA, 57.6% A/AB (n=33 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Reviewers describe the material as difficult, though one notes exams are more predictable than in related courses.

Students report frustration with rushed lectures and lack of broad context, while others appreciate his willingness to answer questions.

Topics

  • Parameter estimation for heavy-tailed and skewed distributions
  • Credibility assessment for ratemaking

Skills

  • Estimating parameters of heavy-tailed and skewed probability distributions
  • Assessing data credibility for ratemaking

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

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AB
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Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · 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

1320 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 653 · Fall 2026

Advanced 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": "1272:242:003682",
    "course_id": "ACTSCI 653",
    "course_uid": "course_201b25ecc8a2ddee30b320c8",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "003682",
    "source_subject_id": "242",
    "title": "Advanced Short-Term Actuarial Modeling",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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": "818aca5e7afdf42fdd99fa2e3546d53e807866268212ad6b760721ce4c48c18a",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}