Advice for Series Exams
Just started as a FT Analyst on Monday. I have to pass my three series exams (SIE, 63, 79) in 60 days, so by July 31. Does anyone have advice for taking and passing all three exams in this period of time? I can schedule to take it twice, but I would basically have to start studying right now and take one or two within the next two to three weeks to meet the 30 day retake cutoff. I also have been provided the Knopman Materials by my bank for free.
Any advice? What should my plan of attack be?
Thanks guys.
What's your finance knowledge like? Are you being given any time to study or are you being staffed up immediately? Passing all three in that timeframe while working real banking hours will be brutal. Usually people do them during training and are given set periods ("you're taking it in a week, go cram").
My strategy for all of the ones i've taken (SIE / 63 / 79 / 7) has basically been to quickly read through a chapter, do a ton of questions for that chapter, repeat until done with the book. Then start taking full practice exams. The advice people will generally give is to focus on the questions, not the book. Don't thoroughly read the book and take diligent notes and THEN do questions. Blitz through the book, start jamming through questions, then use the book as a reference for any concepts that you are consistently missing or don't understand.
SIE - Very broad, also the easiest. If you have a decent knowledge base in finance and economics that will help a bunch in cutting down on study time.
Series 63 - State regulatory garbage. You WILL fail if you don't put in the time for this one. Nothing complicated, but pure memorization of stuff you won't know and won't need to know immediately after hitting "Submit Exam".
Series 79 - Some stuff that's repetitive with the SIE, but more in depth. Spend time with the regulatory type sections. They're easy, but you won't know those or be able to logic your way through them. Of the four exams i've taken this was probably the hardest, but I had to take it while working fulltime (driver's license expired in training, testing center wouldn't accept my temp).
In terms of how long you need for each exam, I can't really tell you. It depends on your background knowledge and how well you generally do on tests like this. Just start grinding out the study hours and taking practice exams. If you're comfortable with the practice questions, you will be comfortable with the actual exam. They tend to be quite similar and Knopman / STC know what they're doing when they pull their practice materials together.
Thanks for taking the time to write this out!
I studied economics and had a business minor which included one finance class. I just finished a Buyside internship for 4ish months but thats about it. I've been around finance all my life (yeah, I know) so I won't be clueless but I'm obviously missing a bunch of stuff.
I technically am a lateral hire starting as A1 but I won't have any training period. The rest of the class starts in a month and a half and they'll get one because they did SA. I started a week after graduation to be able to get the job. This week I was really lost and just thrown into it. My bosses are being very lenient about not being able to do tasks immediately (I basically got this job because of my language skills) but I'm not sure how long that will last. Probably logged in and at the computer from 7am to 8-9pm right now.
I think they'll give me time. Right now I have my tests scheduled for July 16th (S63), July 23th (SIE), and July 31st (S79). Each a week apart roughly. If I take them these days though I have to pass and cannot fail. Taking them these next three weeks would let me retake them just incase.
That should generally be fine but it will be a rough three weeks and you need to convey to your seniors that you NEED time to study. Don't try to be a trooper who stays up until 4am every night after a day's work if it can be avoided. There's a tendency to be shy about asking about stuff like this when you first start, but most banks will totally understand. Speak with your staffer about it.
What about lecture videos?
Thanks for the feedback. I don't know anyone that has failed either I'm just nervous I'll have to study while doing regular hours. Everyone I know had a training period.
Just took all three as an incoming ft analyst. Here was my strategy to get them done as fast as possible
My study plan for each exam:
Day 1: zip through all training videos in day. I did 2x speed for everything and skipped stuff I already knew/seemed super intuitive. Between each chapter, do like 50 questions on the chapter you just watched.
Day 2: do practice questions literally all day long. I did at least 2000 for every exam.
I did this two day strategy for all three of them and would just take the exam on day 3 first thing in the morning, then use the rest of the day as day 1 for the next exam. Finished all three in exactly a week.
Absolute animal! I absolutely don't have the bandwidth or willpower to do that. Good last resort though.
Bro you're a machine
built different
Haha definitely do not do this. This does not work for everyone.
How about for series 86 and 87? Need to take SIE, 63, 86, and 87 within 3 months, but everyone says 86 is one of the most difficult.
Will banks give you discount on study material? Not able to find an answer anywhere. If not, which study material did you guys purchase?
Same boat, brother. Any chance you could share Knopman materials? I wanted to get a head start because I have no idea what my schedule will be like.
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