I am taking the Series 79 in a week. I am using the Knopman study material, and scoring in the high 60s on the practice tests. The problem is I am getting killed when it comes to all the calculation questions, half the questions on knopman are calculations. I know the rules and regulations pretty well. Should I be worried because I hear the real test doesn't have a lot of calculation problems?
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A week is a lot of time before the exam.
Why exactly are you getting the calculation questions wrong? They are easy marks that you should be able to cash in on. You are right, though. I found the actual test to have significantly less calculation-based questions and it was very heavy on the regulatory component.
Despite this, the practice exams and benchmark exam was a strong predictor of the final result.
The simple calculations I seem to be getting fine, such as compute ROE, ROA, FIFO, LIFO, Total Debt etc. It is the valuation, DCF, and dilution questions that seem to be killing me. Those are the ones that I seem to get all the time too lol
I have posted this several times before, but here is how to pass the Series 79:
Read through the entire Knopman book twice taking good notes as you go.
Read through your notes twice.
Take each practice exam. You should be scoring in the low to mid 70s.
Review every exam and read through your notes twice.
Re-take every exam. You should be scoring in the upper 70s to low 80s.
When you say re-take every exam, does that mean take the same exam as before to make sure you know the material and recognize your mistakes? I have been doing that and the second time taking the test I have been getting high 90s.
Yes. You should be good then, but as I am sure you know, after one or two re-takes, you're essentially filling the test out from memory.
My approach when I had a week left before my exam was the following:
Took two full practice exams and looked to see what chapters I needed work on most. (note I was scoring in mid 60s when i did these tests).
Identified those chapters int he book I needed to work on, and prioritized based on the chapters I did worse on combined with their weight on the score
Took the Unit exam first to see how I scored (if i scored below an 75%) then I assumed I just assumed i made a stupid mistake ont he test and reviewed some portion of the test. But if I scored below an 75%, I re-read the entire chapter.
For the calculation problems, they will often walk you through the problem itself and the steps to take. After reading it, i would cover the answers/steps, and try and recreate it using the mechanics so you get the flow of it.
I did steps 1 through 4 over the course of the next 4 days, then spent days 5 training to memorize more rules/regulations. 6 was a rest day. and on test day scored an 82.
I felt that the Knoppman practice tests were SIGNIFICANTLY harder than the real test, albeit if you cant do the calculations then you're still screwed. For those, its just reps and understanding what part of the mechanics you're fucking up.
Recently just took the "Benchmark" exam from Knopman and got a 68. I feel like that test was a lot harder then the other 3 diagnostic exams that knopman provided. I got a 83 on the third diagnostic exam and scored mid to high 70s on the other diagnostic exam. What are your views on the final "Benchmark" exam compared to the actual test? Nervous that I scored that low on the last exam before the test.
How did you do on the exam?
I passed I got an 81, thanks to everyone that gave advice. I then took the S63 a week later and passed with a 93.
Hey man, could you PMme? Going through same scenario and taking exam on Friday. Thanks!
This is old now but I wish I had more color from people when I was studying so I'll add my thoughts.
I just passed in the low 80s, first time. I used Solomon, and they're awesome. Karen Solomon will email you back answering direct questions if you take the time to ask. Great team as well. Questions were pretty similar to what I saw on the exam.
That being said, there are FAR more regulatory questions than I was expecting. Chapter 1 questions were phrased as story problems at times, so was easy to get thrown off when you're expecting simple math. It's a bell-curve, so easy questions at the beginning, harder and harder in the middle, and easier on the back-end. Read through each chapter word for word to understand the concepts and how they tie together. Put in the 100+ hours of recommended studying.
Make sure you're getting 85%+ consistently on every quiz simulator, and at least a couple full timed exams with 85%. I did one full exam with a 92% and felt like it was too close on the real exam.
It's very passable, but it's no joke.
Starting in 2 weeks - Series 79 advice (Originally Posted: 06/24/2018)
I'm taking the Series 79 at the end of August (I think August 21 is the exact date) and I plan to begin studying tomorrow. How much should I be studying every day? How did you study for the exam (note-taking, reading the text, practice questions, etc.) Can anyone give me a gauge on how difficult the exam was for you? Appreciate any comments.
I passed the 7 and 63, not the 79, but the #1 thing that helped me was doing practice problems. As many as possible.
I suck at taking tests, so for me the 79 was no walk in the park
I read every word of the knopman book, and did all the questions. You'd be surprised at how little you know from just doing the questions, unless you're very meticulous about going through the entire subject covered by the book.
You have two months to prep. I would def do a readthrough by the end of July, with many of the questions covered. Then just bang out all the questions every weekend until the 21st until you hit the 80%-85% mark without blinking.
The 63 should be a cakewalk once you finish the 79 though.
Thanks for the reply. Know it's kind of pointless to ask, but do you think 2 months is sufficient time to prepare or should I move into high gear and really haul ass at this point? Thanks for any advice you might have.
He is at RBC. They don't have to take the 63.
Do you have materials from Solomon that I could use? I have STC and failed the first time. I really nervous about messing up again.
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