23 Comments
 

I used Knopman and passed it first try. I thought that the 79 was super difficult and I was failing all of my practice exams. I somehow passed the real thing. Just stick with the action plan and you should be good. If you're not working full time yet then give yourself at least a week to prepare. If you are on the desk then give yourself a month. 

 
Most Helpful

Used KM and passed by studying for it in 2 weeks.

In terms of rules/regulations, I would just try to wrap your head around these.

Exempt Transactions: Reg A/A+ (mini offerings/mini 'IPO'), Reg D (Private placements), Reg S (Offshore), Rule 144 (Restricted/Control stock), Rule 144A (QIB), Rule 147 (Intrastate offerings - US residency test)

Accredited Investors (5%+): Form 13D (active w/ 5%+ inv), Form 13G (passive w/ 5%+ inv), Form 13F (institutional managers --> $100m+ net long positions), Form 13E (taking public company private)

Insiders (10%+): Form 3 (registering to become an insider within 10 days), Form 4 (changing your insider ownership through the open market), Form 5 (annual beneficial ownership statement, changing ownership within the 'non-open' market).

This obviously isn't a full list but I feel like these are the major ones that took me like a good day of fully understanding. Would just continuously hammer the QBank (I did like 1300+ questions) and do individual 20Q chapter quizzes for the units you're struggling on. Hope this helps

 

I found the actual exam to be marginally more difficult than the KM benchmark/diagnostics. I passed with ~5 days of studying and ~1500 practice questions (probably overkill, but better safe than sorry).

 

Maybe i'm jumping into conspiratorial waters here but I genuinely feel like the exams were updated to be harder and Knopman does not know about it or does not want to tell us since they have not yet updated their information and some people are still passing.

All my series exams were much harder than the Knopman ones. I failed the 63 despite gettings 90s on their practice questions. Retook it and used another provider along with knopman and passed. Passed the SIE and 79 first try but the questions on the real ones were vague and much longer than the Knopman ones. 

Didn't get any simple Gross Profit Margin or Equity Value questions, they were deeply layered and interconnected as well as being much more wordy than Knopman.

 

Just took S79 back in June, started as associate with F100 FP&A then F500 Corp Dev experience so had some knowledge of IB world but not much. I used Knopman and studied 75 hours and found it to be the easiest exam of the three. Likely because it was naturally more interesting/relevant so I had better retention that way compared to the SIE/63 which were incredibly boring and irrelevant. There was also practically no trickery questions. All straight forward and easy to interpret.

And with ~10 math calcs on the exam (consisting of basic university level finance) it really was not bad at all.

If you’re capable of landing Associate role from out of industry, wouldn’t worry about it too much.

 

You should see the associates I have to work with at BBs. Idk how some of them passed 79

 

Just recently took it. Studied with Knopman for a little less than a week and passed on first try (granted, was studying all day until very, very late)

I found it much more difficult than the SIE and was extremely unsure of the outcome when submitting. Difficulty of the exam was definitely understated. I don't know if I'd say the test was easier or harder than Knopman. Knopman tended to ask more specific questions and the real test had more vague situation based questions. I have heard that the general sentiment that the real exam is easier than Knopman but not sure if I agree. 

Lots of Fairness Opinion, Exempt Securities, Private Placements, Forms, and General Financial Statement  / Valuation questions (which you shouldn't even have to study for considering banking experience). 

Good luck!

 

My firm used knopman too. I got a 93 on the benchmark so thought I was good to go. I was shitting bricks when clicking submit, cus the questions were so long I barely had time to go back and review. Passed tho,,,but with ptsd. I hear knopman is the industry standard for the 79 at least, so "TRUST THE PROCESS" as Brian likes to say and "DONT GO ROGUE"

..one other thing I wanted to mention. doing the math calculations with the thick markers + little paper that prometrics gives u was not it

 

Dolores sit tempora fugiat ipsa dolorem magnam natus. Doloremque quibusdam ex et quo et dolores. Nobis ab culpa dolor voluptate alias similique. Voluptate libero et sint quia sint corrupti. Sed aliquam maxime nostrum sit ducimus voluptatem quia perspiciatis.

Vel aut blanditiis voluptas dignissimos non. Sequi fugit harum est qui. Ratione atque ut corrupti voluptatem ut laboriosam repudiandae. Temporibus illo deleniti voluptas tempore voluptas. Praesentium fugit qui qui numquam veniam. Sed eos dolorem et nemo sed saepe est omnis.

Nemo quia et mollitia sequi tenetur consequatur atque. Eligendi iure praesentium qui id. Praesentium magnam nihil nemo architecto. Voluptas eum occaecati consectetur totam corrupti. Officia itaque a odio numquam at ut. Non rerum est magnam.

Molestiae voluptas nulla assumenda. Voluptatibus animi aspernatur est eveniet atque minima quia. Dicta expedita dolorem sunt et eius harum et. Ad hic natus voluptatum consequatur accusamus.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (53) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”