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ive heard of lots of people at diff firms being fired for not passing exams
They will, sure as I'm standing here, fire your ass if you don't pass on the third attempt. That said, I've not ever heard of anyone not passing in three.
you will be let go if you can't pass the exam. Not sure how many attempts they will give you, I passed mine the second.
Even if you don't get fired, they're going to make fun of you. Relentlessly. It happed to a guy here, YEARS AGO, and he's still getting shit for it.
FINRA only permit you to take it 4 times. They also insist on a 6-month period between a candidate's third and fourth [final] attempt. I gravely doubt that any organization would spend 6 months continuing to pay a salary to an employee that has thrice failed an essential pre-requisite to being able to perform their role. When I was studying for it, I asked an Associate about the test and she told me that when she was at BofA they fired an MBA (top-tier school I might add) after he failed it for the third time. Firm-wide policy which, given the facts at the start of this post, I'd say must be the same case just about everywhere.
Thanks for the input. I passed it today with an 82 and needless to say I will be getting hamboned this weekend.
I still need the 65 though which is annoying.
Congrats man! Will be taking in a few weeks.... any secrets to success?
Took it a couple weeks ago and ended up passing fairly comfortably (85%). It absolutely sucks having to study for it, but the biggest motivation for me was the guaranteed embarrassment you will endure if you fail. You probably won't get fired if you fail it the first time, but no doubt it will give a bad impression. Word travels very fast about this sort of thing, and if you pass or fail (especially if you fail) you'll be surprised how many people hear about it.
As far as studying goes, definitely focus on the practice exams. I used STC and some of the questions were word for word the same on the actual exam and a lot of questions were very similar to ones I had seen in practice exams. If you do each of the practice exams twice, and truly understand all the answers (not just memorize necessarily) I would bet you should comfortably pass. I also didn't study finance in school, and had little trouble with the valuation/finance questions. I did go through my firm's training over the summer though, so I'm sure that helped. Definitely make sure to take this thing seriously (I would venture to guess that most who fail most likely just took it too lightly and didn't put in enough time to study) but there's no need to stress out over it either. Just study smart, not necessarily to actually learn all the material (unless you want to of course). If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask or pm or w/e.
If you have STC materials as I did, I would do every practice test (5) and review each question afterwards both ones you got right and wrong for full explanations. Reading wise I'd focus on chapters 1,7,8,9 because the others contain more material you should already know (valuation etc).
Also, do not take this thing lightly. The analyst next to me failed it last week and got ripped by our boss. It tweaked him big time and now he's really stressed out about passing on the 2nd attempt and keeping his job.
Good luck.
Hey thanks for sharing man. About how long did you spend studying? And what was your work experience like (specific role, # years) going into the exam?
I realize there's no magic formula, but I gotta take mine in about 2 months. I'm about 3 years post-undergrad, but had worked in a non-banking job until about 4 months ago. So, still getting up to speed.
Appreciate the input.
I worked in a non-banking job for 3 years and I have an MSF from a semi-target, I've been working in banking for about 7 months.
I basically studied for about 2 weeks but I cranked like none other. I'm talking all day sat and sun and after work at night, and then the 2 business days before the test my firm gives paid time off to study at home.
I also was drinking caffeine like a mad man to help me grind through the hours of terrible material, both testing and reviewing.
My best advice for strategy is to take a test (4-5 hours) and then review the entire thing, solutions to questions you got right and wrong (4 hours). It's time consuming but it worked for me.
There are 6 practice exams total I think on STC. Also, make sure you read chapters 1,7,8,9 thoroughly.
If you are decent with valuation and financial concepts already those middle chapters are not as important.
Thanks again man
Wow, each exam twice? Intense. @adapt and @downtown: did either of you use the Q&A method for STC exams first, then the closed book? Or just closed book? Thanks.
I just did closed book practice tests
Got it, thanks man!
Good bro of mine failed for 3rd time. He's donzo, @ a BB. He's a smart guy to boot, didn't prep right and scrambling for another gig. Probably could've contested for top bucket, glad I put my head in the books and got through it. Don't mess around.
Good bro of mine failed for 3rd time. He's donzo, @ a BB. He's a smart guy to boot, didn't prep right and scrambling for another gig. Probably could've contested for top bucket, glad I put my head in the books and got through it. Don't mess around.
Dang. That's some incentive.
Ok my advice is as follows.. I'm not particularly intelligent and I got 85 when I took it 2 weeks ago.
What the guy above said is correct.. if you have the time, the simplest way to pass is to do the 5 STC tests Q&A (the 5th one is a bitch, it has 235 questions), and then do them again. The second time, you should be getting mid-high 70s and the actual test is easier than the practice questions. I know its tough to do this when working, but if you do 90mins a day on average, you can be done in 3 weeks (much less if you cram on weekends).
If you don't have the time, then prioritize. The actual mathematical questions are much harder in the practice questions then on the real one, just know the basics (TSM etc). If you have been working in finance, a lot of the stuff will be second nature to you by now so focus on the stuff you don't know. Those of you at BBs, talk to your colleagues who have done it before because they will provide a wealth of information.
Honestly, the only reason people fail is because they work so hard that they don't have time to study.. if you can make the time, you should be fine. Good luck
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