Series 7 and Series 63
I recently got offer for equity research. As part of the position, I am required to take the Series 7 and Series 63 exam. How should I prepare for these exams? Are there any good exam prep materials I should use?
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Knopman for the win!
Series tests for ER? That's bizarre considering that they are retail sales related licenses. That said, they are a joke and easy as all shizz. If you know anything about Finance at all, you should be able to Ace both by simply taking a few practice tests. It won't matter which "exam prep" materials you use.
This is bad advice. Especially with the Series 79.
I would not take any of them lightly.
I know nothing about the 79, but the 7 and 63 I do unless they've changed drastically. They are not difficult and you can just take a bunch of practice tests to learn the material. If I can do it with the CFA, I sure hope someone can do it with those two. There are nuances you might not know like blue sky laws and all, but most of the material is common sense for anyone that has worked in Finance. Waste all the time you want, but I still recommend doing practice tests only unless you're failing them horribly. If you're failing them horribly, then I question your career choice.
When the firm sponsors you, they will likely offer classes + study material. STC is probably the most common. ER typically requires 7, 66/3, 86, and 87.
Congrats!
Yeah we have to take series 7, 63, 86, and 87. Lame.
EDIT I also heard you don't have to take 86 and 87 if you cleared CFA Level II.
EDIT EDIT Also agree with something creative. Just took my series 7 about two weeks ago. Definitely nothing tricky, very high level and basic (I heard 79 for bankers is harder), but you still need to review all of the material (especially take the practice exams) because there is a lot of it.
You still need to take the series 87 if you have CFA L1 and L2 but, yes, you are exempt from the 86. Also, if you have full CFA you can do something called the Series 17 instead of the Series 7 (series 17 is an bbreviated version)...although I'm not sure if that applies for US citizens...
I would recommend skimming the materials and then taking the practice tests until you are consistently getting above 85%. Look back and review the information on the questions that you miss. That's what I did, and it worked fine. You don't want to score too highly as it looks like you wasted your time. It's all easy, but there is a ton of material to cover on the 7. Also, if you have the option, take the 7 first as there will be a lot of information that is repeated on the 63, and it's better to get the long one out of the way first.
Our financial advisor recently expressed an interest in hiring me for the FA assistant position. I am currently working in retail banking customer service of our large banking institution and have no experience in investment banking. I would like to prepare for this position before being hired so I can being studying now for the Series 7 exam which I am required to pass. I'm apprehensive about taking this position because if I fail this exam I believe I will not have the job and will lose the current position I am in. I typically get nervous under pressure. How can I best prepare for this exam? I have been reading from multiple people on the blog that the STC materials are the most helpful with some suggesting also "Series 7 for Dummies". Very stressed over this make or break decision. Any suggestions? Thanks.
About stressing: yes there's pressure, but they came to you so they probably have an interest in seeing you succeed, for whatever the reason. People fail (I failed) and then take it again and pass (I passed). It happens. But if you just do the practice tests, over and over, maybe three times each test, YOU WILL PASS.
Are you talking about the STC materials? I just purchased the STC 2011 Examinations and Explanations off of Ebay, but now have to get the Study Manual. I want to begin this process now before I'm hired so it will be that much more embedded in my brain. Thanks for your input.
Really not hard. I studied for the 7/63 one weekend each, and passed on my first attempt (by a fair margin). Just pay attention to the question distribution - I was surprised how much there was on muni bonds and other random stuff.
86 is harder - very counter-intuitive. You get questions like "What would best help you forecast a company's earnings?" (a) the 10k (b) interviewing their suppliers (c) a report on sales trends among similar companies (d) conducting a customer survey...and the answer will be (B & D). "past performance does not indicate future performance!" You just have to adjust to their bizarre logic, then it's easy. Go through the practice tests for this one.
87 is just rote memorization like the 7 and 63. A little trickier and more ambiguous, but not bad. It's very short.
Yea this is very important for the 7 ... do some research to figure out the question distribution before studying. Options and munis get a lot of face time on the 7. The STC book I used had 20+ chapters all similar length but ~5 chapters had only one or two question on the test. Its very ineffective and waste of time to put equal weight on all chapters/material while studying.
Thanks for the advice. I'll try the question distribution method. Makes sense. I've also read from others that there seemed to be a lot on muni bonds and options.
The strategy I use for all this stuff is pretty simple and I have found it to be the most efficient way of spending study time. Whenever you get your study materials, go through and count the number of pages in each chapter. Then go look at the distribution of questions, and for each chapter, divide the expected number of questions on that chapter by the number of pages in the chapter.
After you've reviewed through all the material once or twice, focus on the chapters that have the highest ratio here of questions / pages. For example, let's say the exam is expected to have 7 questions on Margin, and the Margin chapter is 35 pages long. The Margin ratio would be 0.2. Suppose State Laws are supposed to be 10 questions, and the chapter is 20 pages long. This ratio would be 0.5. therefore you should spend more time studying State Laws than Margin.
You obviously shouldn't completely ignore the material, but you need to get a 72% on many of these exams, but there are no minimum hurdles for any of the chapters. It's okay if you miss every single question in chapter X, as long as you make up for it by doing awesome in chapter Y. As long as your cumulative score is above the 72% you'll pass, so spend time studying the chapters that have the most questions per page.
It should work regardless of where you get the materials, but I used Kaplan for the 7. And yes, for the 7 at least, Options and Munis are tested very heavily, and Margin is barely tested even though the chapter on Margin is just as long as Options and Munis. If I were to retake the 7, I would ignore the Margin chapter altogether as that time would be better spend on Options, Munis, or State Laws
Agreed ... reading the entire of chapter inside and out of topics such as Margin is much more inefficient than simply going through the ~50 question Margin practice quiz and reading the explanations provided after you answer each question.
I scored a 91 on the Series 7 exam. The material on the exam is not difficult but there is a lot of material to get through and you need to know how to use your time. Make sure you are using solid review materials (not all are created equally) and have a good strategy for how to study for it.
There's not enough room to write all my thoughts about the exam here, but in case anyone finds it helpful, I've shared in great detail my approach to preparing for the exam on the website Personal Finance Insider dot com. I believe anyone could pass the exam on their first try by following a similar approach. Best of luck to everyone on their exam!
SERIES 63 & 79 - STUDY GUIDES (Originally Posted: 04/08/2010)
Hi guys I am looking to study for the Series 63 & 79 before starting work next month to ensure I pass the exam / have to spend as little time as possible studying once work starts. I found this study guide on the Series 63 on wikipedia (http://www.investopedia.com/exam-guide/series-63/foundation/default.asp) and just wanted to ask whether reading this would be sufficient / helpful for passing the exam. Also, is anyone aware of any free online study guides for the Series 79? I fully appreciate everyone always says, don't worry about these exams, you will be fine and will pass after a few hours of studying. However, I just want to knock them on the head before coming in my first day so can sit the exam as soon as possible once I start work as will be a lateral anyhow. Thank you in advance.
79 is a new test and there is only 1 study guide I'm currently aware of (recently took it)... it's done by Securities Training Corporation (STC Interactive, they also do 63) and is helpful as there's a full Binder of materials as well as practice exams. Just remember they still don't know 100% of the test since it's pretty new and are constantly updating the materials so you should make sure you study it thoroughly, oh and the passing grade could be anywhere from 71-74%. Good luck
STC's stuff is overloaded with lots of details you will never need to know. I recommend the Empire Stockbroker institute book, it sorts through the excess very well and you will learn what you have to for the test, not lots of random trivia about the uniform securities act. I like their options method too.
I don't think Empire does 79 does it? Agree that 63 materials from STC were a bit much on trivial material
Any views on how the Series 63 stuff listed on Investopedia match up to the STC material? Is the material on Investopedia sufficient or no?
I hope you didn't use STC Interactive for your study materials. I found their information was fraught with typos and complete errors both in the reading material and the tests. I started keeping track of all the errors once I noticed how frequently they were occurring. I ended up with over 4 legal pages of mistakes between the 63 and the 65 - it was really bad on the 65. I contacted a couple of instructors and there was a long silence on their end as I showed them many of the errors. I mean, what could they say? They tried to defend themselves but it was so obvious. I don't know who they use for their editors but I'd bet money that the entire team never really read what they were putting out on the market to sell to people to use - either that or they were totally incapacitated when they were supposed to be reading the material. I used Kaplan for my series 7 and passed the first time and didn't find any errors in their material. However, after taking the 7, 63, and 65 I found that in all cases I felt like neither company had really done a good job of preparing me for the types of questions those lawyers came up with on the exams. I felt like I had to guess at over 50% of the questions - not a good feeling. These exams are difficult enough without having to memorize a bunch of useless trivia that STC has one learn. Honestly, STC shouldn't even be in business, imo.
Selling my STC material for series 7 including notes and 10+ practise exams. The material is in two neat folders which are currently in NYC.
Any comments on Knopman's Series 79 prep materials? Are they good? Thank you.
Anyone have 79 study materials? Or know where to get some? Looked everywhere and nothing...
Knopman is solid, took the program and passed with flying colors..I recommend it.
Hi,
I am scoring in the low 70's high 60's on the STC Series 7 exam. My test date is Wednesday. I am very nervous. Should I go back over all the exams before my test date? Help!!!
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