SIE in 2 days; am I ready?
I’ve been studying with Knopman Marks for a week doing only video lectures and just completed the final chapter. I’ve scored about 70% on all chapter assessments and around 70% on Benchmark. I also took the SIE practice exam on FINRA’s website and got a 77%.
Do you think I’m ready for the real deal with it scheduled in 2 days time? I want to believe yes, but the 30-day period before retake and thought of explaining not passing to my firm gives me pause. Should I take another full week to hammer down concepts or do you think 6-8 more hours of study over these next two days can work out the kinks?
You need to keep drilling Q-bank questions. Real test is slightly more difficult than Knopman (based on my experience). I scored much higher on the practice assessments and didn’t find the actual test as easy as I was led to believe. Lucky for you, two days is more than enough time to get into a more comfortable spot considering where you are now. If you haven’t already, review the key concepts document. You should know that front to back.
Get into the mid 80s at least. You have time. A few days before the exam I was in the mid to low 80s on the whole Q Bank and got it up to high 80s before passing the SIE.
Try drilling by chapter and only show yourself new questions. Then filter to only questions that you missed in the chapter. If you miss them again, write down the relevant fact the question was testing. If you do this for every chapter, I guarantee the next practice exam you take will be well above your previous average.
Best of luck man
Wouldn't worry about getting into 80s, I passed being in mid 70s and low 70s.
Thank you! Appreciate it!
It's a lot more up in the air than "just get an 80 on x and you're great". The one on FINRA is easy. You should have gotten like an 83-84 on that. You should re-read the textbook very quickly and honestly try to get more info down on the nitty gritty. I believe the exam tests for depth not how is a muni different than an ADR. Go 15 hours each day for next 2 days and you should be ok. Best of luck.
Thank you - I guess the question is more what’s needed to pass. Sure, to know everything with maybe a few slip ups I should be at like 85-90, but is that necessary? Or is getting high 70s on the benchmark and FINRA practice enough to pass the real exam?
Not trying to fail, but also not trying to score 90s when above 70 is a pass. Thanks for the well wishes!
Past results say you should be hitting 80 on knopman to feel safe. The FINRA practice test (in my own opinion) is way way easier than the real thing. So a 70 on that doesn't say much. I would say the real test feels harder than knopman bcuz the stakes are high and the questions are asked in different ways. I was more nervous handing that test in than in any exam I took in college. It's ridiculous to ask "what's needed to pass" because no one can tell you. But everyone says clip a few 80s on practice knopman and that's how you know.
You'll be good, I studied for SIE in two days scoring between 50 and 70's on practice tests. Truth is, the actual test is much easier than most practice tests.
my guy is a junior in recruiting, never been on a desk, and he took the SIE in 2 days. lol ok
Let’s put it this way: it will VERY bad to your firm and hurt your junior competency brand if you fail this test. Do you really want to be on the borderline if you have time to up your score to the mid 80s? Treat these exams with the same vigor to perform as you would in the first weeks hitting the desk. You expect to put in 70-80 hour weeks, treat these exams as if you are studying full time.
Don’t pacify yourself into thinking any of these exams are easy because some rando on WSO said they opened the book Friday and aced it with an hour of time left on Saturday while failing every single Knopman exam in between. Maybe God was with them but there is no guarantee he will be with YOU. Control the controllable, don’t be the idiot with his tail between his legs because he didn’t take any of the entrance exams seriously. It’s your future.
I sat for the SIE earlier this week and passed. My bank uses Knopman as well.
Few thoughts:
The actual exam content was very similar to the Q Bank and Benchmark Exams. The wording in the questions, was not. This threw me off pretty bad and resulted in me “marking for review” about 16 questions by the time I got to the end. I was able to knock it down to 5 questions I truly felt were 50/50. Ultimately, I stuck to answers I was familiar with that we’re relevant to the topic of the question.
The answer choices for a good portion of the exam were much more straightforward than the Q Bank, very “point and shoot”. This allowed me to bang through a solid number of questions.
If you don’t know the answer with 100% confidence, pick the answer that is most closely associated with the broader topic of the question.
Be careful with answer choices that are absolute (Ex. “Under no circumstance” etc.), there are circumstances where this is the case, but there are many where exceptions may apply.
One of the questions that threw me off was “Gross National Product is defined as:” — so know the difference between GDP and GNP.
Know the bond pyramid for yields on discount and premium bonds. If you having trouble remembering, look at it in your car right before you go in and immediately write it down on the piece of paper you get during the exam.
——
I was scoring mid 70’s until a few days before my actual exam, when I got an 81 and an 89 on 2/3 benchmark exams. General consensus is 80’s is a safe buffer to pass.
You got this.
People heere are freaking you out my guy. Just follow Knopman's advice and you'll be golden. The idea is not to focus on question volume but on quality. Focus on undeerstanding all of the answers in the question and why they are right/wrong, what they are.
I think you're in a good spot, keep on working at it and get some sleep.
How’d it go
Nobis rerum magnam non enim unde. Nam molestias ducimus tenetur quam sint reiciendis et quasi. Non dicta sint quae voluptatem qui dolorem recusandae. Sequi voluptate voluptatem explicabo et aut quis ut. Laudantium quo consequatur illum. Voluptatem consequuntur exercitationem qui nam non. Laboriosam facere consectetur architecto.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...