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100+ Free IFoA SP1 Practice Questions

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2026 Statistics

Key Facts: IFoA SP1 Exam

5

Syllabus Modules

IFoA SP1 syllabus

3h20m

Exam Time

IFoA exam format

30%

Largest Module (Risks)

IFoA SP1 syllabus

200 hrs

Recommended Study

IFoA guidance

Written

Exam Type

IFoA exam format

100

Practice Questions

OpenExamPrep

IFoA SP1 Health and Care Specialist Principles is sat as a 3 hour 20 minute online open-book written exam (short and long-answer, not multiple-choice), with around 200 recommended study hours. The 2026 IFoA syllabus weights the subject across five modules: Health and Care products and general business environment (15%), Product design and specific features (25%), Risks and risk management (30%, the largest), Models and valuation (15%), and Monitoring experience and setting assumptions (15%). The IFoA does not publish a fixed question count or pass percentage; the Board of Examiners sets each sitting's pass mark and reports results as pass or fail. This free bank provides 100 MCQ knowledge-prep questions mapped to those weightings.

Sample IFoA SP1 Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your IFoA SP1 exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1A standalone critical illness (CI) policy pays a lump sum on which event?
A.Diagnosis of a specified condition such as cancer, heart attack or stroke
B.Inability to perform the duties of one's own occupation for a deferred period
C.Reimbursement of incurred private hospital treatment costs
D.Survival of the policyholder to a fixed maturity date
Explanation: Critical illness insurance pays a tax-free lump sum on the diagnosis of one of a defined list of serious conditions (commonly cancer, heart attack, stroke) provided the insured survives a short survival period. The benefit trigger is the diagnosis event, not loss of income or incurred cost.
2Income protection (IP) insurance benefit payments typically begin only after which feature has elapsed?
A.The survival period
B.The deferred period
C.The waiting period for pre-existing conditions only
D.The free-look cancellation window
Explanation: IP includes a deferred (elimination) period, the time the claimant must remain incapacitated before benefit becomes payable. Longer deferred periods reduce premiums by excluding short claims and aligning with employer sick pay or savings.
3Private medical insurance (PMI) is best described as which type of contract?
A.A pre-funded contract building a savings reserve for old-age care
B.A fixed-benefit contract paying a set sum per night in hospital
C.An indemnity contract reimbursing eligible private treatment costs
D.A lump-sum contract paid on permanent total disability
Explanation: PMI is an indemnity product that meets the cost of eligible acute private medical treatment, subject to policy limits, excesses and exclusions. Because benefit equals incurred cost, claims inflation is driven by medical cost trends.
4A health cash plan most commonly provides which form of benefit?
A.A waiver of premium during periods of unemployment
B.Full reimbursement of major surgery in private hospitals
C.An indexed annuity for the duration of a chronic illness
D.Fixed cash amounts towards routine everyday health costs up to annual limits
Explanation: Health cash plans pay fixed cash sums toward routine, predictable expenses such as dental, optical and physiotherapy, subject to per-category annual limits. They are low-cost, high-frequency, low-severity products distinct from acute PMI.
5Long-term care (LTC) insurance is primarily designed to fund which need?
A.The cost of personal and nursing care for those unable to perform activities of daily living
B.The cost of acute surgical treatment in a private hospital
C.Lost earnings following a short-term accident
D.A lump sum on diagnosis of any cancer
Explanation: LTC insurance meets the ongoing cost of personal/nursing care, with benefit usually triggered by failure of a number of activities of daily living (ADLs) such as washing, dressing or feeding. It targets long-duration, often late-life, care needs.
6Compared with individual cover, group health and care insurance schemes typically feature which characteristic?
A.Higher per-member premiums because employers demand profit margins
B.Lighter or no individual medical underwriting due to anti-selection being reduced by compulsory or near-compulsory membership
C.Mandatory survival periods of at least 12 months
D.An obligation to invest reserves entirely in equities
Explanation: Group schemes spread risk across a workforce and, where membership is automatic or near-compulsory, anti-selection is reduced, allowing simplified or no individual underwriting. This generally lowers acquisition costs and per-member premiums versus individual sales.
7Which distribution channel typically carries the HIGHEST acquisition cost per policy for a health and care insurer?
A.Group business written through a single employer
B.Direct online sales via the insurer's own website
C.Tied or independent financial advisers paying commission
D.Affinity marketing through a large membership organisation
Explanation: Adviser-led (intermediated) distribution generally carries the highest unit acquisition cost because of commission and the advice process, though it can produce better-underwritten, more persistent business. Direct, group and affinity channels usually have lower per-policy acquisition costs.
8What is a primary objective of State healthcare provision that private health insurance must operate alongside?
A.Guaranteeing a fixed investment return to private insurers
B.Maximising shareholder dividends for the State scheme
C.Eliminating the need for any private cover entirely
D.Providing a baseline of care to the whole population, often funded from taxation or social insurance
Explanation: State systems typically aim to provide universal or near-universal baseline care funded by general taxation or compulsory social insurance. Private products are then designed as supplementary, complementary or substitutive cover depending on what the State provides.
9Major medical expenses cover differs from a basic cash plan mainly because it targets which exposure?
A.Large, low-frequency, high-severity treatment costs rather than routine everyday expenses
B.Only routine dental and optical costs
C.Pure income replacement during sickness
D.Funeral and bereavement costs
Explanation: Major medical expenses cover focuses on infrequent but expensive episodes (such as major surgery), making it high-severity and low-frequency. Cash plans, by contrast, target frequent low-cost routine expenses.
10Which factor in the operating environment would MOST directly change the demand for private medical insurance in a country?
A.A fall in the corporate bond yield curve
B.A reduction in the scope or waiting-list performance of State healthcare
C.A change in the insurer's reinsurance retention level
D.An update to the insurer's internal claims IT system
Explanation: If the State reduces what it provides or service deteriorates (longer waiting lists), demand for substitutive or supplementary private cover typically rises. State provision is a key external driver of private health and care demand.

About the IFoA SP1 Exam

IFoA SP1 Health and Care Specialist Principles develops the ability to apply, in simple and more complex scenarios, the actuarial principles relevant to providing health and care insurance, including products, design, risk management, pricing, reserving, capital and monitoring.

Assessment

Online computer-based written exam (open-book) with short and long-answer questions across the SP1 syllabus

Time Limit

3 hours 20 minutes

Passing Score

No fixed percentage published; the Board of Examiners sets the pass mark each sitting and results are pass/fail

Exam Fee

Set annually by the IFoA; check the current IFoA exam fee schedule for SP1 (Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA))

IFoA SP1 Exam Content Outline

15%

Health and Care Products and General Business Environment

Understand critical illness, income protection, long-term care, health cash plans, major medical expenses and private medical insurance, group versus individual cover, distribution channels, regulatory and tax regimes, professional guidance, and the role of the State in health and care provision.

25%

Product Design and Specific Features

Apply actuarial principles to designing health and care products, recognise the interests of the various stakeholders, create a suitable design for a given situation, and assess the relative merits of different product designs and features such as deferred periods, escalation and guarantees.

30%

Risks and Risk Management

Assess sources of risk including claim rates and amounts, persistency, anti-selection, catastrophes, counterparties and climate, then apply reinsurance (purposes, structures and retention), underwriting (purposes and approaches), claims management, data checks and asset-liability matching to manage them.

15%

Models and Valuation

Use deterministic and stochastic models, multi-state models and sensitivity analysis, and apply formula and cashflow techniques to pricing, reserving, capital and surplus management, including new-business strain and the role of embedded value.

15%

Monitoring Experience and Setting Assumptions

Address data quality and exposed-to-risk, analyse morbidity, lapse and expense experience using credibility and external data, allow for selection effects and trends, and feed results back into pricing, reserving and risk management.

How to Pass the IFoA SP1 Exam

What You Need to Know

  • Passing score: No fixed percentage published; the Board of Examiners sets the pass mark each sitting and results are pass/fail
  • Assessment: Online computer-based written exam (open-book) with short and long-answer questions across the SP1 syllabus
  • Time limit: 3 hours 20 minutes
  • Exam fee: Set annually by the IFoA; check the current IFoA exam fee schedule for SP1

Keys to Passing

  • Work through all 100 available questions
  • Review every answer and explanation
  • Track weak areas and revisit them
  • Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

IFoA SP1 Study Tips from Top Performers

1Anchor your revision on the five syllabus modules and their weightings, spending the most time on Risks and Risk Management since it carries 30% of the marks.
2Practise applying principles to scenarios rather than memorising lists; SP1 marks reward application and higher-order judgement, not just recall.
3Learn each product (CI, IP, LTC, PMI, cash plans, major medical) by its benefit trigger, key risks and design features so you can compare them quickly under exam conditions.
4Drill reinsurance, underwriting and asset-liability matching as risk-management tools, being clear on purposes, structures and the trade-offs in setting retention and underwriting levels.
5Use the open-book format wisely: build concise, well-indexed notes so you can locate principles fast instead of reading large amounts of Core Reading during the exam.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is the IFoA SP1 exam?

SP1 is a 3 hour 20 minute online computer-based written paper. The extra 20 minutes over a 3 hour paper allows for downloading or printing the question paper at the start of the sitting.

Is IFoA SP1 multiple choice?

No. SP1 is an open-book written exam made up of short-answer and long-answer questions that test application and higher-order skills. This free bank uses 100 multiple-choice questions purely as knowledge-prep mapped to the SP1 syllabus.

What topics are weighted most heavily in SP1?

Risks and risk management is the largest module at 30%, followed by product design and specific features at 25%. Products and environment, models and valuation, and monitoring experience and setting assumptions are each weighted at 15%.

How many study hours does SP1 require?

The IFoA recommends around 200 study hours for SP1. The subject assumes you have already worked through the Core Principles material, including Actuarial Practice (CP1).

What is the passing score for SP1?

The IFoA does not publish a fixed percentage pass mark. The Board of Examiners sets the pass mark for each sitting and results are reported as a pass or fail rather than a numeric score.

What products does SP1 cover?

SP1 covers the main health and care products: critical illness insurance, income protection, long-term care insurance, health cash plans, major medical expenses and private medical insurance, on both group and individual bases.