Careers › Business & finance

How to become a Actuary

Uses maths and statistics to price risk for insurers, banks and pension funds.

This needs more than the degree

A student member is not an actuary – only a Fellow or Associate of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) may use the title. Passing the required exams plus work-based skills training usually takes three to eight years after your degree; ASSA’s own former CEO has written that most student members take at least eight.

What does a Actuary actually do?

More about this career

Actuaries use probability and statistics to price risk – what an insurance policy should cost, how much a pension fund needs to pay out over decades. The degree is demanding and the professional exams (through the Actuarial Society of South Africa) continue for years after you graduate, but it’s consistently one of the highest-paid professions for new graduates.

Where this degree can take you

  • Actuarial Analyst
  • Risk Analyst
  • Investment Analyst
  • Underwriter

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • Mathematics (strong)
  • Physical Sciences (helpful)

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the programmes we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 8 of 8 programmes
  • Physical Sciences – asked for by 1 of 8 programmes

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each programme links to the page it came from.

Programmes that lead here

8 programmes at 6 universities. More are added as we verify them.

North-West University

BSc (Financial Mathematics)

Natural & Agricultural Sciences · 3 years

NWU APS 32 points out of 48

  • Mathematics: level 6 (70% or more)

Raw-confirmed 2026-10-04 against the user-supplied NWU 2026 Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences yearbook (admission-requirements tables). Potchefstroom and Vanderbijlpark campuses. NWU adds your six best subjects (excluding Life Orientation) on an 8-point scale, for a total out of 48 - read from NWU’s own APS calculator. The requirement shown is what NWU publishes.

Source: View the official page (studies.nwu.ac.za) (opens the official page)

BSc (Actuarial Science)

Natural & Agricultural Sciences · 3 years

NWU APS 32 points out of 48

  • Mathematics: level 6 (70% or more)

Raw-confirmed 2026-10-04 against the user-supplied NWU 2026 Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences yearbook (admission-requirements tables). Potchefstroom and Vanderbijlpark campuses. NWU adds your six best subjects (excluding Life Orientation) on an 8-point scale, for a total out of 48 - read from NWU’s own APS calculator. The requirement shown is what NWU publishes.

Source: View the official page (studies.nwu.ac.za) (opens the official page)

BSc (Quantitative Risk Management)

Natural & Agricultural Sciences · 3 years

NWU APS 32 points out of 48

  • Mathematics: level 6 (70% or more)

Raw-confirmed 2026-10-04 against the user-supplied NWU 2026 Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences yearbook (admission-requirements tables). Potchefstroom and Vanderbijlpark campuses. NWU adds your six best subjects (excluding Life Orientation) on an 8-point scale, for a total out of 48 - read from NWU’s own APS calculator. The requirement shown is what NWU publishes.

Source: View the official page (studies.nwu.ac.za) (opens the official page)

Stellenbosch University

Selection programme

BCom Actuarial Science

Economic & Management Sciences · 3 years

Stellenbosch aggregate 80 %

  • Mathematics: 80%
  • Home Language – Your Home Language at 60% is required.

Every Stellenbosch programme is a selection programme. The figures shown are the published minimum requirements - the actual selection threshold is usually higher.

Source: View the official page (files.su.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Cape Town

BBusSc Actuarial Science; Quantitative Finance

Commerce · 4 years

UCT Faculty Points Score 500 out of 600 (band a)

  • Mathematics: 80%
  • English: 60% if it is your Home Language, 80% if it is your First Additional Language
  • NBT – NBT Academic Literacy and Quantitative Literacy must be Upper Intermediate or above. First Additional Language applicants need Proficient NBTs.

Band A (guaranteed offer) is an FPS of 500. Band B (likely offer) is a WPS of 525 - the WPS adds a 0-10% disadvantage factor that we cannot work out from your marks, so we only check you against Band A. Band C (475-479, Education Development Unit only) applies to redress categories only.

Source: View the official page (uct.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Johannesburg

BSc (Actuarial Science)

Science · 3 years

UJ APS 40 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 7 (80% or more)

Read from the 2027 UJ Undergraduate Prospectus, programme code B2M52Q. English level 5 (60%+). Technical Mathematics and Technical Science are not accepted for Faculty of Science degrees.

Source: View the official page (uj.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Pretoria

BSc Actuarial & Financial Mathematics

Natural & Agricultural Sciences · 3 years

UP APS 36 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 7 (80% or more)

Most UP closing dates are 30 June; Veterinary Science closes 31 May. Grade 12 applicants apply with their final Grade 11 results.

Source: View the official page (drupalwebprod-files.up.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of the Witwatersrand

BSc Actuarial Science

Science · 3 years

Wits APS 44 points

  • English: level 7 if it is your Home Language, level 7 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 7 (80% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 7 (80% or more)
  • NBT – The NBT is required for Science.

CORRECTED 2026-10-02 by a direct fetch of the live course-finder page: APS 44+, not the 42 the 2026 schools-liaison guide gave. A wait-list band exists at 44+ with English Level 6 instead of 7.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every programme above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?