ILA 101: Welcome to our ILA 101 Course
ILA (Individual Life and Annuities) 101 is your first step toward the FSA, and one of the most important. What you build here carries through ILA 201, CP 351, and into your career as a credentialed actuary. You'll work through the full arc of how life and annuity products work, from design and pricing through valuation and risk management. We make the complexity easier to absorb.
Our ILA 101 course will be available for purchase in late September 2026. Stay tuned for updates.
From Confusion to Confidence: Why Coaching Actuaries?
Upper-level FSA exams reward smarter preparation, not harder work. If you've studied with us before, you'll recognize the structure and support we provide. If you're new, you'll ease in quickly, with tools and guidance built to get you feeling confident from day one.
Expertise You Can Trust
Your course author, Ling L. Leoh, FSA, MAAA, pursued the ILA track herself and brings nearly 20 years of real-world depth in life insurance and annuities, from PRT pricing to enterprise risk management and ALM modeling. You'll see that experience come through in how the material connects to real actuarial work.
A Supportive System
The FSA syllabus is broad, and it's easy to lose momentum without a clear path through it. Coaching Actuaries organizes the material into digestible lessons, so you always know what to study next. Practice and self-grade with our Practice tool, and let Mastery Score® pinpoint your weaknesses and measure your readiness.
Designed to Maximize Your Time
Your time matters, and this course is built to use it well. Concept Checkers help you review key ideas, while Coach's Remarks guide you through tougher spots. You'll move through the material with a clear, deliberate rhythm, so you can focus where it counts and walk into exam day prepared.
Support When You Need It: Meet your course author
Every lesson in ILA 101 is shaped by course author Ling Ling Leoh, FSA, MAAA, and the real-world depth she brings to the material. And if you ever get stuck along the way, our discussion forums connect you with credentialed actuaries who understand upper-level exam material, with most questions answered within 2 business days.
Ling Ling Leoh, FSA, MAAA, brings nearly two decades of experience across the life insurance industry, having worked in a broad range of actuarial functions including financial modeling, pricing, risk management, and actuarial transformation. Her career spans both traditional and non-traditional roles, giving her a well-rounded perspective on how actuarial concepts connect to real-world business decisions. She holds a degree in actuarial science from Drake University.
Ling Ling Leoh, FSA, MAAA Course Author
Aspiring Actuary Testimonials: A word from our students
There’s no better proof than a happy student. After each exam, we follow up to hear about your success and collect your feedback. Your input ensures your experience here is always improving!
I also appreciate the four mock exams you created. You’ve intentionally covered a wide range of concepts and testing styles, which really helped me strengthen my understanding.
WJCP 351 Student
I would recommend CA for INV 201. You won't get a better instructor, manual, and layout of the material for such a complicated exam. I also really liked that Dr. Lo was able to group together all relevant past exam questions, and gave cleaner and more coherent solutions.
Adam KINV 201 Student
What You Learn: A Formidable Curriculum
ILA 101 is all about Pricing and Introduction to Valuation and Risk Management. You'll trace the full arc of how life and annuity products work, from the drawing board to the balance sheet.
Candidates who do well aren't just the ones who study the most. They're the ones who study with the right structure, tools, and support. That's what Coaching Actuaries provides.
Understand Life and Annuity Products
You'll start with the products themselves. Learn how common life insurance and annuity products are designed, what features define them, and how actuaries think about the risks embedded in each. This is the lens through which everything else in the course makes sense.
Master Assumptions and Experience Studies
Assumptions are at the heart of actuarial work, and knowing how to develop, challenge, and refine them is a skill that matters long after the exam. You'll explore how experience studies evaluate past results, close the gap between expected and actual, and drive better decisions in pricing and product management.
See How Pricing, Valuation, and Risk Connect
The final pieces bring it all together. You'll study valuation and capital frameworks used in U.S., Canadian, and international regulatory contexts, alongside the risk mitigation strategies life insurers rely on. By the end, you'll see how pricing assumptions flow into valuation, and how risk management shapes both.