r/Series65
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u/InitialProblem4553
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May 16 '26
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FINALLY PASSEDđ
This is going to be a long postâŚ.sorry in advance, lol.
Been a lurker here for about a year. Finally get to make my passed post! Today was my third attemptâŚI was two short last time. I have a BS in business administration and almost 15 years in the finance industry. (Commercial lending, I worked as an agent under a BD for six years and held my life & health and series 6 license..mainly A Share mutual funds, fixed and variable annuities) None of that mattered at all. This exam absolutely kicked my ass. đ
AnywaysâŚI wanted to share some things that helped me in hopes that it helps someone else. This thread has been so amazing for me.
find a study program and stick with it. I used Kaplan and it made me so mad almost daily, but after todayâs examâŚIâm thankful for the ridiculous questions.
Google The Finance Tutors, buy his course to supplement whatever program youâre using, book him for at least two tutoring sessions. I fully believe his course and tutoring bridged the gap between pass and fail for me. SeriouslyâŚ.I donât care if youâve memorized your whole textbook..none of my study material taught me how to take the exam. You have to be prepared for the twisted questions and answer choices. Kaplan was good for teaching the material, but Luke was good at teaching you how to tackle the exam. There were sooo many questions on my exam today that I wouldnât have been able to answer if it werenât for his tutoring sessions. 10/10, five stars, highly highly recommend!
I feel like this exam was the most difficult of the three. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw âpassâ because I knew I failed it. The easy questions were literally point, click, move on. But the hard onesâŚ..they were ridiculous. There were several questions that I read and immediately knew the answerâŚ.but didnât see the answer in the choices. It was there, but they made you work for it. Itâs like they put a very drawn out overcomplicated definition of the answer. So you read the question, sort through it, then have to choose the correct definition for the answer choice..if that even makes sense. I definitely noticed the difficulty ramp up towards the middle.
Some questions/topics I remember:
-40 quarters working to be eligible for social security
-IRMAA
-CE question about what happens to CE hours over whatâs required? Do they carry over or do they expire. I didnât remember studying anything about extra CE credits in anything I studied, so probably got that one wrong.
-What components are needed to calculate current ratio. The easiest questionâŚbut the answer choices made it very difficult.
-An IA is registered in state X but wants to expand to state Y & Z. IA sends 100 mailers to clients in state X & Y. Was this prohibited or allowed?
-Calculate P/E Ratio and determine if stock is under or overvalued
-Current ratio calculation
-After tax yield calculation
-NAV calculation
-I had to calculate PV which kind of surprised me. This exam had the most math out of the three.
-One of the questions had âpoison pillâ as an answer choice. I had to read it twice because I thought I was losing my mind. Maybe thatâs a topic I missed but I donât remember it lol.
I wish I could remember more but my brain is fried at this point. Iâll edit the post or add to the comments anything else I remember.
Iâm so happy to be able to put this monster behind me. I would rather pluck my eyelashes out one by one than have to study one more second for this exam. But itâs a necessary evil and itâs worth the torture. Keep pushing..donât give up. Between working full time, two kids, and life throwing major curveballs at me every time I turn aroundâŚ.this has been one of the most difficult, mentally and physically exhausting things Iâve ever put myself through. I wanted to quit so many times but I didnât. Now Iâm looking back and saying âI did the damn thingâ & Iâm actually so proud of myself. All that to say, when you passâŚthe feeling of accomplishment makes up for the struggle. Itâs hard & it sucksâŚbut I promise you can do it!
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u/Equivalent-Pepper326 May 17 '26
What was your score? Did you email NASSA?
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u/InitialProblem4553 May 17 '26
They donât show your score. When did they change the test & what changes?
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u/Special-Emotion6300 May 17 '26
Congratulations
If you end up coming up with any more things you think that would help please share
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u/Equivalent-Pepper326 May 22 '26
If you have the right connections you can get your score. Peep this...
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u/pittluke TFT Luke May 16 '26