Updated Guide for SIE
With the analyst class starting in the fall, wanted to share tips on SIE and why current students should take it now. Below are my tips and rationale using knopman:
Schedule:
Day 1-4: diagnostic exam and then videos double speed. Take good notes. Don't worry if you don't understand it all yet just be sure to get the notes down and understand broadly what the videos say.
Day 5: Textbook. Read the whole thing and take notes, primarily looking at the Knopman notes/ bold words. Then do quizzes in book. This is a must. They say skip the textbook. I wouldn't. The questions knopman quizzes you on are detailed word for word in miscellaneous lines from the book not covered in the videos. I guarantee you didn't know how a variable annuity was taxed and whether it was general or sub account, and the textbook really highlights that.
Day 6/7/8: Drill questions. Hit as many as you can and be sure you are only doing ones you haven't seen. Take notes on the ones you missed and add a separate notes page in your notes as to concepts you learned from missed questions. This will serve dividends for what I explain later. You're going to see pretty fast what you know and what you don't. Personally After 3 days of questions, I started getting confused on the basics trying to remember so much and the rules.
Day 9: Which is why you go back and read the textbook again start to finish. Not word for word but take 4-5 hours and hit the whole thing. You will start seeing the dots connects again and things will stand out more. By this point you should be clipping low 70s or a 70 at a minimum on questions YOU HAVEN'T seen. Do not just rip questions that you've seen. My diagnostic was a 65. Then I moved up to an 89 and I thought oh shit this is easy. Then I switched the questions to ones I hadn't seen, and I was back to a 73.
Day 10-11: Mix of ripping questions and taking a hard look at the section you keep getting wrong. I would take the final 1-2 days before your exam date so you know where things stand. I ripped an 85 on the final, but I still didn't feel fantastic about it. Also take the FINRA version on their website.
Exam Day: Wake up and review your notes/glance over the textbook. This really helped me just talk rules out loud. I wouldn't rip questions the morning of but maybe take the FINRA one again for a confidence booster. I felt like the actual exam was just different from knopman. Not as hard or quantitative but uses word play to see if you really know what's going on. I would say knopman is obvious if you know the rules but the actual exam gives you the rules and asks you the difference (at least in my opinion). Read every word and focus on how the answers are worded. It's not just a college exam where the right answer is pretty obvious by a mile. They actively have bombs in there. Just keep a list of ones you are "unsure of" and circle around after you go through the full test.
I would take this exam during your junior year Christmas break. That's enough time to get it out of the way while developing a good understanding of basic products for your internship. In all honesty the real thing was harder than I thought, and I was shitting myself second guessing answers. Just try and read every word and really see if you can identify where the question is actively trying to trick you. The passing rate is 75%, so I'm sure I just over stressed. Either way, you will do great. Best of luck.
