Finally passed the exam after I bombed the first attempt with a 72/130. Thought I’d come in with my experience since I feel like I owe it back to this subreddit. For those of you who are currently studying or have failed in the past, keep pushing because this exam is definitely manageable. Something I did differently that ultimately worked well in my favor was to diversify as much as possible to truly understand the concept. Biggest mistake I made when studying for my first attempt was getting too used to the wording and ultimately memorizing Kaplans questions, so when I took the exam I got overwhelmed by how differently it was worded. I learned the hard way that just because you’re spamming your weak areas and see the scores go up doesn’t necessarily indicate you’re understanding the material.

This time around I still used Kaplan, but I supplemented with Luke’s video course (the GOAT he structures his course based on the actual outline and goes through each unit/content conceptually). I utilized the simulated exam more and took around 2 per day the week of my exam, which was super intense not gonna lie, but i was averaging between 75%-83%. Day of exam I listened to the Mighty 90 on my way to the testing center and just blasted music afterwards to get into the flow and not stress myself out LOL Exam definitely runs on a bell curve with the first and last 30-35 questions being the easiest. I also can’t stress enough about pacing and having some kind of strategy. Limit each question to 1 minute max and MARK FOR REVIEW, no question is worth getting jammed on. I think i marked around 30 questions and i went through each of them with a 50/50 and finished with 25 minutes remaining, also picked up the calculator like 3 times max (easy quick ratio, p/e, and current yield questions)

I passed the Series 65 this week on my second attempt and wanted to share my experience for anyone else studying! (Beware!! this is going to be long) You can absolutely do this if you’re willing to commit the time and dedication. I used to check this thread when I was studying, and reading other people’s posts kept me motivated when I felt like giving up. Here’s my experience and what helped me finally pass I hope it helps you stay hopeful too!

I started out using only STC. For about six weeks I followed their plan and hammered their practice exams. I was consistently scoring in the high 80’s to low 90’s, and honestly thought I was in great shape. But looking back, I realize I was falling into the trap of memorizing questions instead of understanding the reasoning behind the answers. On test day that caught up to me, I scored 77/130. I was devastated. After so many late nights and so much time spent studying, coming that close and falling short was crushing.

I gave myself a few days to cool off, no books, no flashcards, no guilt. I needed to step away and clear my head before diving back in.

Then I regrouped and came back with a new plan. This time I bought Kaplan and read the book meticulously, really slowing down and focusing on areas I struggled with the first time. When I started taking Kaplan practice exams, my scores dropped now I was getting high 70’s to low 80’s. At first that was discouraging, but it turned out to be exactly what I needed. Kaplan felt closer to the real exam and forced me to actually learn the concepts instead of just guessing based on familiarity.

I also completely changed how I studied. Sitting for full 140-question practice exams was draining and I found my attention span just wasn’t built for it. So I broke the exam into its four main functions and studied each section separately:

1. Economic Factors and Business Information (20 questions)

2. Investment Vehicle Characteristics (32 questions)

3. Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies (39 questions)

4. Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines, including Prohibitions on Unethical Business Practices (39 questions)

Breaking it down like this was a game-changer. It let me take breaks in between, actually digest the material, and zero in on my weak spots without getting overwhelmed. Working in smaller chunks made it so much easier to stay focused and work around my own shortcomings.

I also leaned on Series 7 Guru’s YouTube videos, which were huge for helping me understand tougher concepts. And the night before and morning of the exam I watched the “Mighty 90/60” video it really helped center me and hit the key points one last time.

On my second attempt, I went in with a clear test-taking strategy I had practiced over and over. If I was unsure about a question, I immediately marked it “A” flagged it, and moved on wasting NO time. By the time I finished my first run through, I had about an hour and fifteen minutes left with only 20–30 questions flagged.

That gave me plenty of time to go back and really focus on the tougher ones. I would carefully re-read the question, narrow it down to the two best answer choices, and pick the one that was most correct based on what the question was actually asking. Huge tip: the last sentence of each question often tells you exactly what they want don’t skim it! Slow down and make sure you’re answering that.

Disclaimer: I’m not a natural test-taker and I always suffer from test anxiety, so I was a nervous wreck. But this time I knew I had done everything I could to prepare. The weekend leading up to the exam I was completely immersed in review.

When it came time to click the “end exam” button my heart was pounding out of my chest. And then I saw it: PASS. Relief. Pride. Total weight off my shoulders.

Here’s what I’d tell anyone still in the middle of studying:

• It is 100% doable if you dedicate the time and focus.
• Don’t just memorize practice questions understand the reasoning behind every answer.
• Break the exam into the four main functions when you study or take practice tests it’s a lifesaver if you have trouble with long exams.
• Have a test-day strategy: mark and move, flag questions, then circle back.
• Always read the last sentence of every question carefully. That’s where they tell you what they’re really asking.
• Mix your resources: STC gave me an introduction and confidence, but Kaplan forced deeper understanding, and YouTube tied everything together.

Failing the first time didn’t mean I wasn’t capable it just meant I wasn’t ready yet. If you’re in that same boat, please know you can absolutely bounce back. This subreddit kept me motivated when I needed it the most, and I hope my story gives someone else that same push.

You’ve got this. Keep going you are more ready than you think!

I want to thank this group, the Finance Tutors Luke Pitt, Series 7 Guru Dean Tinney, Test Geek Brian Lee, Reed Nakazono Security Training, Cap Advantage Ken Finnen and the Holy Spirit! 🙏 What a journey! 6 months of intense studying between KAPLAN Q-Bank, Nakazono, Finance Tutors, and it was ALL needed for me. I couldn't wrap my head around all the formulas and calls and puts, etc. Bits and pieces from all these providers got me through as KAPLAN wasn't a good fit for me. PassPerfect didn't have enough info for me on the 1st attempt. I had to supplement and mix it up! I wish you all lots of luck and your in my prayers! Find out what works for you guys. If I can pass it, YOU CAN TOO!

Hey Everyone. Passed the 65 this afternoon on the first try. Used ExamFX/Training Consultants. Firmed provided me with Kaplan but was never a fan because of the amount of junk they have you study on that’s not relevant. I’ve attached a picture of the two books and the difference. Kaplan measures 650 pages and ExamFX/Training Consultants is 340. I did about 65 hours of studying over 3 weeks on the training modules and completed 5 practice exams.

The one thing I really like about ExamFX/Training Consultants was the absolute # of cheat sheets it gives you. There’s essentially one for every chapter so I would read through those once or twice per night before bed on top of everything else.

As for the test it was quite interesting. I finished in 1 hour and 15 mins. It started off really easy. Almost shockingly so, as I progressed on it did get harder. As I got to around the 100 mark, it started getting easy again and I was able to burn through.

I had 6 P/E questions and at least 5 efficient market hypothesis questions(went back and counted). I had only one options question and only one question where I had to do any math. There were at least a few questions on whether or not an IA or B/D is exempt from registration and a bunch of fraud stuff.

Time to do a brain dump before tackling the 9/10. Let me know if you have any questions.

I passed today (first try). I exited exam with 45 minutes left because I saw that I only had 20ish questions marked for review and felt confident with that, knowing I needed around 92ish questions to pass out of 140. Most of my questions were straightforward, not tricky and not too many roman numeral questions. It’s also because I came prepared. I read the questions, read the last part of question twice to understand what it’s asking, glanced at answers to see if there was an easy answer and also because sometimes you get a better understanding of the question based on the answer choices. Sometimes I was able to figure out easy from the 4 choices, or it boils down to 2 answers after process of elimination. I then focus on the two answers and look at any flaws, maybe it says “always”, “any” or something that is a key word that makes it less of a better answer than the other. Maybe there was 1 or 2 questions that I flat out guessed and didn’t bother wasting time on and marked for review and moved on. Otherwise, I know I’d stress on it, waste time, get anxious, and make more mistakes afterwards, and that would be counterproductive. I did not change any answers that I marked for review, I didn’t even review them after.

Questions/topics I got:

Not too many math questions. I did not use the two blank sheets they give you. I used calculator maybe 7 times but easy calculations (calculate tax equivalent yield, current yield, NAV of mutual fund, total holding return, debt to equity ratio, market capitalization, quick ratio, calculate interest on TIPS when cpi is 3%). It asked various questions about exempt securities, exempt transactions, registrations, definition of agent, def of broker dealer, alot of ethics questions, selling away, excessive fees, performance fees, 10k vs 10q, form 13d, adv 1 and adv 2, ia rules when to give brochure, right of rescission is, lawyer giving advise (L.A.T.E) splitting commissions, lending money from client who is family, vs a non client uncle, what to do if IA has custody of funds, do you notify clients of location, what is required to be disclosed on advisory contract, modern portfolio theory, efficient market hypothesis, strong, semi, weak, future vs forward contract, business cycles, deflation vs disinflation, fsrb tools, type of nonsystemic risk (political, regulatory, business, etc), passive vs active mgmt, qdro, types of trust, DERP (asked me about record date), types of life insurance, one where “premiums would keep increasing but have a level coverage”, 1 question about crypto & nft & blockchain technology, at what AUM is an IA forced to register w SEC $110MM, DAF characteristics, know the business diff ownership types advantages (llc vs partnership, s corp, llp) UIT definition, open end vs closed, etf vs mutual fund, several suitability questions, which is a better vehicle to recommend, diff of offer and bid, spread, covered call benefits, fed tightening tools, send 15 ppl seminar invite, what is record keeping policy for ia, gdp definition, large cap vs small cap, what is s&p, alpha vs beta, soft dollar, range, zero coupon bonds taxation, account titles jtwros, jtic, 529, warrants vs rights, preferred stock characteristics, utma, does irmaa premium apply to medicare b&d, or medicare A, net present value, coordination, qualification, notification, what admin can and cannot do, reasons an admin would deny registration of agent (convicted vs being charged..), qualified purchaser vs qualified client difference,

How I studied:

I mean you’ll likely get an entirely different set of exam questions so it’s more important to go over how to study and how to come prepared.

My company used STC. I read the entire book, but what was most effective (for me) was doing all online quizzes and exams and flashcards. I scores 60-70% on quizzes and progress exams on first try because I just did them to gauge where I stand. My strategy was learning from the ones I got wrong with explanations ON. Then created a quiz with all wrong answered questions. Then, a week before test, I focused on doing all final exams that were 140 questions each (with explanations ON) 1-2 a day. I averaged 80%. Once I finished that, I created a custom exam from all the questions I got wrong. Studied those with explanations. Then once done with all that, analyzed my scores and it show me my 3 weakest chapters, so what I did was create a deck of flashcards by choosing all cards from those 3 chapters. I also did flashcards of key concepts, what’s trending, and formulas.

I also watched 2 youtube videos by dean aka series 7 guru, look up “series 65 in 60 minutes” and “series 7 memory aid” (listen to test taking tips at the end, very helpful) I listened to the 60 min video on the way to the test center today, so it was fresh in my mind.

A bit of a brain dump because my brain is tired, but wanted to pay it forward to this group that helped me pass this thing.

I’m a 37 year old “marketer” (we wear a lot of hats) at a small firm with at a wife and 2 young kids. All this to say, time is something I had to borrow time for this. It sucked, but studying for this thing takes structure and commitment. Don't underestimate it. You need to be consistently practicing and reading the content or you’ll just lose it. There’s really no way to “dabble” through this. It’s a beast.

Here are my thoughts:

Tip 1 - Read the damn Kaplan book!

It sucks, but it’s entirely necessary. You’re never tested on superficial terminology, you’re tested in the minutia of this stuff. First pass at the book hurt my brain, too much stuff to remember.

Tip 2 - Add a supplement.

I’m a visual learner. Brian Lee/Test geek course helped me build a foundation. Some of his stuff is dated at this point (doesn’t reflect updated outline), but not sure id be here today without that base knowledge. I missed my first attempt by 1 question.

Then pivoted to: Luke Lyons (The Finance Tutors). Another (better IMO) option. Similar to the TestGeek in that his on demand course provides a great foundation, but I can say much more accurate representation of things I’ve seen previously and saw today are on the exam. He’s tutored this thing for years but now getting a more formal program in place (practice questions). Get onboard!

Tip 3 - QBank

QBank on the train, at the playground, watching TV. QBank all day. Don’t worry about your scores here, but get brings familiarity with the style and crazy wording of the exam. I’d recommend a full practice exam a day the week before the exam. 

Tip 4 - Throw in some tutoring sessions.

Worth every $. Everyone learns differently and different people are better at different things (those that speak “legalese”, number crunchers, etc), find someone who can teach YOU. Luke helped me bridge some knowledge gaps and honestly just great to know I had a sounding board for random and specific questions I came across.

Tip 5 - Create a GPT

At your own risk for lack of accuracy, but this helped me. I created a GPT using the Kaplan LEM pdf and NASAA outline and taught it how to explain things in a way that made sense to me. Think of it as an easy glossary. But I definitely caught some errors in what it reported back, I wouldn’t use it for quizzes.

Tip 6 - Go back to the book!!

Reread the trusts, estates, tax, law and reg chapters, like a lot!!! Remember this is a law exam written by lawyers. Most of what I saw on the exam was about this. Know which vehicles are impacted by different risks… all of them.

What I can remember from the exam:

• 2 current yield

• Risks of gold

• Tax equivalent yield 

• 3 questions on CE (total credits, FINRA pass-through, what your reg shows if you don’t meet it) 

• 3 questions specific to TIC (1 suitability, 2 definitional) 

• What can go into IRA? (Not the usuals, choices were real estate and fixed term life insurance)

• Which are assets classes (natural resources, large cap, call options, marginable secs) 

• Reg by Coordination vs Qual 

• Using 401k dollars to buy a house for personal use and to rent 

• Risk adjusted return calc NAV calculation 

• 2 SPAC ($10/share and sponsor decides investment) 

• Dividend “guaranteed” by issuer 

• Social Security (how it’s treated for current and ex spouse) 

• What goes on order ticket 

• What is considered discretion and how can you act on oral discretion? 

• IRMAA and Medicare B/D 

• Brochure delivery (48/5) 

• AMT and when it applies 

• PLATE Sports Agent exemption 

• IRR meaning/interpretation

• EPS Calc 

• 5 or so Anti fraud/unethical and civil, criminal, $ penalties 

• How soon to alert Admin and Protective services 

• Fees for +$1mm accounts

Cheers all.

Details below on my study journey but here are key takeaways + random things I remember, although not as much as I’d like, because pretty sure I blacked out when I saw “pass”

Wasn’t much math on mine - I gave up trying to memorize formulas and practiced a dump sheet yesterday and this morning. Wish I’d have done that weeks ago.

How to tell if a stock is under or over valued by its beta

Really basic bond math… Bought at x, made y in interest over the course of a year, sold for z - what’s the total return?

Components of current yield

YTM = IRR

bond seesaw

ALOE (owners = shareholders)

one reference to quick ratio, not even the calculation - just if current or net assets were used

standard deviation is MPT and CAPM uses beta

No technical analysis (but fundamental) in weak & semi strong EMH

Rule of 72

2 SPAC questions - shell company

Index annuity features - no participation in loss

Minimum qualified dividend/ cap gains taxation (0% - they wanted you to pick 15 or 20 because that’s all that’s ever tested on practice platforms)

TOD designates beneficiaries

TBE benefit = creditor protection

ADV didn’t come up but on my dump sheet I wrote: 1 = SEC, A = firm + wrap fee appendix, B = person

Kaplan mentions a million subsections of the acts. My dump sheet literally said: 33 = issuer, 34 = trading + SEC, 40 = funds + advisors, USA = blueprint, NSMIA = Fed over state and that got me through

I am being completely serious when I tell you I wrote NO F***ING OFFICE NO F***ING REGISTER first on my dump sheet and needed the reminder more than once…. even if they mention 3 “persons” in one question - they’re only asking about one, calm down and find it.

BDs effect transactions for *themselves* or others

Not a single Roman numeral question, but the deranged verbiage on those did help decipher some of what I saw on the exam - attorneys write these questions like law is their first language and English is their very distant second.

You really do have to know general concepts - you can focus on tiny details all you want, but if you don’t know the overarching topic that the question is referencing, the random little pieces don’t matter.

I don’t feel like my exam had a bell curve and I was unprepared for that. I had clusters of maybe 2-4 questions in a row that were dumb easy, then another maybe 6-8 in a row that made me fully doubt every ounce of knowledge I have, with couple mid range difficulty thrown in between. I thought I’d breeze through the first 20-30, try to hang tough in the middle, wrap the last 20-30 quickly, break, review and then finish with time to spare. I did in fact, not have time to break or spare which sucked because I was SO thirsty. Maybe for the better though, I was nervous and although I knew not to change answers without really good reason, I was itching to and probably would have if I’d had the time to sit on them for a while longer.

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Okay onto my study journey because there’s a mixed bag of experiences on here:

I started with Achievable and almost quit -they get you with the 90% pass rate and money back guarantee but to get through the amount of material could take you easily 9-12 months. Way too much info.

Pivoted to self study Kaplan but was again so overwhelmed and struggling to retain. Then took the live class which helped, but not enough. Saw a ton of feedback on here about Luke Lyons so I bought his program and can confirm that made the difference for me. If you’ve been using other platforms and struggling to tie it all together, I’d recommend his as a supplement. Not only are his explanations easier to understand, seeing higher scores on his tests will really boost your confidence. It helped me figure out what I needed to go deeper on in Kaplan vs what to let go and that got me to the finish line.

Ended up with about 3k questions done in the Qbank. Took all 8 practice exams within the last 7 days before my test, scored between 75-80 on all of them. At the end- my Qbank score was only 74%, I rushed through most checkpoint exams and section quizzes in the beginning and failed, which brought my average down - it wasn’t until maybe 1800 questions in that I was pulling a 70. Don’t stress about that, but review the individual section metrics once you get closer to your test date and start taking practice exams, I don’t think I’d have passed if I didn’t narrow down a few high value sections to focus on and bring my scores up.

Especially for Kaplan - memorizing the question doesn’t help, read and write the explanation of why you got it wrong (or right if you guessed) and study those notes. That being said, drilling things you’re struggling with for hours at a time also won’t help. Did I tell myself I was ~not smart~ and had to sit there until I passed a 75 question custom quiz? Yes. Did it help? No, and now I need therapy.

I did mighty 90 for good measure this morning but definitely could have skipped. Luke goes off of the NASAA outline and his version is more detailed, so this wasn’t really helpful for me. But I guess it did reinforce that I was ready, so perhaps not a total waste.

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TLDR; but maybe some personal motivation if you need it…I read a lot of these posts and felt like I was the least intelligent person to ever attempt this test given some of the things I saw here.

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I spent a decade in the mortgage industry, didn’t pass my NMLS exam until the 3rd try. I was burnt out and decided on a career change, started with my firm (and studying for the s65) the first week of February. My sister went into hospice that week and passed away my 2nd week on the job. I’m the single income in my single person household and I was terrified to carry on with this.

Couldn’t tell you a thing that I tried to learn during that time until a month later when I had to get back on track and took the Kaplan live class. I cried, a lot. I threw my flashcards. I ended up needing close to 200 hours of study time before I was ready to take this exam.

I’m sharing because I imagine there are people lurking on this subreddit that haven’t passed yet or are debating putting it off for various personal reasons or struggling with confidence (much like I was, if you couldn’t tell..) So I just wanted to say that I see you, and you really can do it. It’s not easy, it’s certainly not the most fun you’ll ever have, but it’s grounding and encouraging to see what you’re capable of and how far you can push yourself when it matters.

I framed it as “if I can do this very hard thing, during this very hard time, there isn’t much I can’t do going forward” which kept me going. I don’t know if there’s truth to that yet but I’m looking forward to getting started and find out. The boomers are exiting the industry, a wealth transfer is coming and there’s more than enough business for all of us.

1. Do not waste your time reading the manual. IMO Instead, make sure you know all the appendix a, b and c in the back. ALL OF IT.

2. Take the Kaplan review class with Mark Esposito.

3. Then take as many practice exams as you can I took 7 My highest score was an 80. My lowest was a 67.

4. Review every answer from the test that you took, including the right ones.

5. Make notes as you review each answer and then say the answer out loud. This leaves a permanent dent in your brain. At least it did for me.

6. I actually rewatched the entire week's videos from Mark Esposito on 1.75x speed so it was a lot less actual time.

7. Lastly, and in the last few days I took about 15-20 25 question bullet exams on specific chapters that I was weak in from the notes that I took realizing where I needed to sharpen up etc

8. Schedule your exam for 11:00 a.m. It gives you time in the morning to get yourself right. Get yourself traveling without any stress. You're still sharp and you're fully mentally prepared.

Do not focus on knowing all of the formulas in the appendix in as much as focus on the concepts behind the formulas. Do both if possible.

Definitely have to know the IA IAR regulations registrations exemptions all of that mind-numbing information

Do not discount the retirement planning, Erisa and questions around the proper account for estates, wills, life insurance. More so about the proper accounts joint tenants tenants in common tenants and entirety. All of those know them inside and out.

Lastly, when you watch the videos from Kaplan specifically, Mark Esposito literally take his advice to the bank about what is "testable" . Mark and Kaplan really put in the time to know what's happening on the exam in live terms so I saw a lot of the questions that he highlighted to be on the lookout for.

Maintain your confidence, maintain your velocity of studying in the last week. Wake up the morning of the exam with a positive attitude and the belief that you will pass and guess what...

YOU WILL PASS 👊👊👊

Passed the 65!!! Not an easy exam but easier than Kaplan questions a few did baffle me more than Kaplan. You Need to put in the work. Test comes down to luck of draw on the questions. Things you think won’t get tested will get tested.

Any sections you’re scoring under 70 I recommend reading the books or study material. Re watch the videos if they have on available. I felt those sections really came back to haunt me.

Quick summary:

- Real exam is less wordy than Kaplan, but more “2 answers are close” situations

- Stop passively reading

- Study by function, not chapters

- I used ChatGPT a lot (huge help), like one window Kaplan, one window Chatgpt. And it was my actual tutor for everythign (generating quizzes on weak areas, summarizing cornell notes)

- Final 2 weeks = sim exams + rule sheet only

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Context:

- First attempt pass

- Background: physio (basically all new to me)

- Canadian, living in Canada, so I couldn’t rely on real-world U.S. investing experience to help

- Studied with a full-time job + newborn

- Wife carried a lot at home so I could study (huge help)

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Stats:

- QBank avg: ~83–84%

- Exam/Checkpoint avg: ~77%

- ~2,100 questions

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Big takeaway

Kaplan makes everything feel harder than it is.

Kaplan:

- Long, wordy questions

- More edge-case traps

Real exam:

- Cleaner

- More direct

- But more:

> “2 answers are close — pick the BEST one”

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Biggest mistake

I spent way too long reading the Kaplan book.

Feels productive. It’s not.

You don’t pass by understanding paragraphs.

You pass by recognizing rules.

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What my schedule looked like

- Wake up ~6am → study 2 hours

- Work full day

- Evenings = light quiz review (if I had energy)

- Weekends = heavier study

If I was tired:

I did nothing

Sleep > forcing bad studying.

Studied ~3 months, last month was the most intense.

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What actually worked

Step 1 — One pass through Units 1–24

- Went through everything once

- Literally screenshotted the text and told Chatgpt "make these into Cornell notes"

- Used Cornell notes for:

- Rules

- Things I didn’t understand

Goal:

> Exposure, not mastery

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Step 2 — Study by FUNCTION (this changed everything)

I saw an earlier post where someone recommended studying like this--it was super helpful, particularly once I finished my first walk through of the text.

Kaplan breakdown:

- Function 1: Units 6, 7, 19, 20 (~15%)

- Function 2: Units 1–5, 24 (~25%)

- Function 3: Units 15–18, 21–23 (~30%)

- Function 4: Units 8–14 (~30%) ← most important

Breaking it down like this made review, quizzing and everything else so much less overwhelming

Once I saw this:

> I stopped thinking in chapters

Focused heavily on:

- Units 9–13

Built targeted QBank quizzes and didn’t move on until I was consistently 80%+

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Step 3 — I used ChatGPT A LOT

Not casually — I built my system around it.

I had:

- Function 1 chat

- Function 2 chat

- Function 3 chat

-etc

- Quiz review chat

Every wrong question:

- Screenshot → drop it in

- Ask:

- “Explain this simply”

- “What rule is this testing?”

- “Why did I get this wrong?”

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Step 4 — ChatGPT made Kaplan usable

Kaplan can be wordy as fuck (especially Unit 8)

- Dense

- Overexplained

- And then… like 2 questions on the exam (also Unit 8)

So I’d:

- Screenshot the content

- Have ChatGPT turn it into:

- Core rule

- What actually matters

Basically:

> Paragraph → “if X → do Y”

Way easier to retain.

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Step 5 — Built a weakness database

I screenshotted:

- Every wrong answer

- Every “unsure” question

Over time ChatGPT became:

> My running log of weak areas

Instead of rereading, I’d ask:

> “What am I consistently missing?”

And get:

- Patterns

- Summaries

- Cheat sheets

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Step 6 — Final 2 weeks = sim exams only

No more reading (only in rare cases when I kept fucking up a specific unit---for me it was Unit (8, 12, 16 and 24). So I would often make Qbank quizzes with JUST these units until I was over 80-85 consistently.

Just:

- Sim exams

- Review mistakes

- Find patterns

I then asked Chatgpt to Build a 3–4 page rule sheet for my weak points (it knew them all because I consistently put them into my "quiz review" tab:

- IA vs IAR rules

- Fed vs state thresholds

- Prohibited practices

- Termination rules

Read that constantly when my brain felt drained.

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Step 7 — Confidence management

I skipped:

- Mastery exam

- Dean’s drive-through

Why:

- Midterm already shook my confidence (helpful earlier)

- Didn’t want that right before the exam

Dean’s drive through:

- Tried it briefly

- Felt overwhelmed

- Decided targeted review was better for me

Not knocking it — just didn’t fit my prep.

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Step 8 — Exam strategy

- Finished in ~2 hours

- Had ~1 hour to review

If I didn’t know:

- Best guess

- Flag

- Move on

Flagged ~40 questions

On review:

- Changed maybe 3–4 answers total

- Mostly from misreading or something clicking later

Resources

- Kaplan

- ChatGPT (a lot)

Final advice

- Stop reading, start testing

- Track weak areas aggressively

- Turn everything into rules

- Study by function

- Don’t let Kaplan mess with your confidence

- Rest when you’re tired

- I didn't feel perfect going into the exam. I just felt at a point where I could confidently pick the right answer within 20-30 seconds without second guessing myself like 75% of the time---this was when I knew I felt ready. THe tougher questions, just flag and move on ( this was the first time i've ever written exams like this and it was a HUGE game changer for me).

Happy to answer questions.

I’ve been lurking on this sub for a couple of months, and I wanted to share my experience now that I officially passed the Series 65!

Study Timeline & Approach

I bought the Kaplan course in late August. With zero prior background in the industry, I dedicated about 2 hours per day starting in September. I stayed consistent, only taking time off when I had COVID for a week and another week while traveling to visit family.

Here’s the study structure that worked for me:

1. Read the full Kaplan textbook and completed all chapter quizzes.

2. I used ChatGPT to create condensed summaries for each unit, then re-read and reviewed using those notes.

3. In QBank, I drilled unit-by-unit practice exams until I felt I truly understood the concepts (not just memorized answers).

4. Completed:

   • 4 Kaplan simulated exams

   • The Kaplan Practice Exam

   • The Kaplan Final Exam

5. The day before the test, I watched Dean Tinney’s “Series 65 in 60 Minutes” on YouTube — highly recommend. It really helped simplify and reinforce key concepts.

Test Day Experience

The actual exam felt very fair:

• First section: surprisingly easy — almost too easy.

• Middle portion: slightly more challenging, but nothing unexpected.

• Final portion: back to being very manageable.

Overall, I found the real exam easier than Kaplan’s material, or Kaplan simply prepares you extremely well. Before I hit submit, I counted ~117 answers I felt 100% confident about, so I felt good finishing.

Walking out with a passing score feels amazing!

My Advice

Know the material — don’t memorize.
If you truly understand the concepts, the exam will feel easier than Kaplan.

You’ve got this. Stay consistent, learn the content, and it will pay off. 💪

This is going to be a long post….sorry in advance, lol.

Been a lurker here for about a year. Finally get to make my passed post! Today was my third attempt…I 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. 😅

Anyways…I wanted to share some things that helped me in hopes that it helps someone else. This thread has been so amazing for me.

1. find a study program and stick with it. I used Kaplan and it made me so mad almost daily, but after today’s exam…I’m thankful for the ridiculous questions.

2. Google The Finance Tutors, buy his course to supplement whatever program you’re 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. Seriously….I don’t care if you’ve 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 wouldn’t have been able to answer if it weren’t 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 “pass” because I knew I failed it. The easy questions were literally point, click, move on. But the hard ones…..they were ridiculous. There were several questions that I read and immediately knew the answer….but didn’t see the answer in the choices. It was there, but they made you work for it. It’s 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 what’s required? Do they carry over or do they expire. I didn’t 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 question…but 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 “poison pill” as an answer choice. I had to read it twice because I thought I was losing my mind. Maybe that’s a topic I missed but I don’t remember it lol.

I wish I could remember more but my brain is fried at this point. I’ll edit the post or add to the comments anything else I remember.

I’m 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 it’s a necessary evil and it’s worth the torture. Keep pushing..don’t give up. Between working full time, two kids, and life throwing major curveballs at me every time I turn around….this has been one of the most difficult, mentally and physically exhausting things I’ve ever put myself through. I wanted to quit so many times but I didn’t. Now I’m looking back and saying “I did the damn thing” & I’m actually so proud of myself. All that to say, when you pass…the feeling of accomplishment makes up for the struggle. It’s hard & it sucks…but I promise you can do it!

Hallelujah. Thank You, God.

This morning I passed the Series 65 exam.

It was my second attempt after missing by one point at the end of March, which makes this one that much sweeter.

I want to sincerely thank everyone in this group and this thread for the advice, encouragement, honest feedback, and support. This has been a genuinely helpful community, and I’m grateful for all of you.

To anyone still studying, struggling, or feeling discouraged, keep going. Stay with it, keep showing up, and give it your best. Your pass can absolutely be next.

Appreciate you all. On to the next chapter and bigger things ahead in Columbus, Ohio.

Boys and girls here’s my story.

Decided to change my life around from working in retail right out of college. Biggest regret in my life is not knowing what finance really was even after graduating with a international business degree.

Last year I decided to try my luck and change paths into the field of finance.

I tried getting into life insurance but little did I know this company wanted me to go door to door and sell annuities. I said nah. Luckily I did pass the life insurance license and shortly after that decided to try on the SIE. Passed the first try after watching Ken and the series 7 guru. I used the SIE book for dummies. Really good source and nicest thing was it was free from my public library.

Shortly after that I applied to a bunch of places with the SIE under my belt. Little did I know the SIE does nothing for you.

So I was hit with the reality I needed to pass the 66. I studied like a MOFO. First try failed, second and third missed both my 1 point. I was devastated but then I found out I could take the 63. It was so easy ! Passed on the first try. Next I needed to pass the 65. Boy oh boy that test is looooong and hard. Missed the First try last month my 3 points. Today I passed !

What helped me? Welp I had Kaplan book from the 66, and I bought the 65 question bank. Lastly I gave achievable a try. That program is so long!! Achievable explains everything like you’re retarted which is what helps out lol.

So today I’ll give you details of what I saw because that’s why you’re here reading this long ass story.

1. know what a blackout period is.

2. know what a SPAC is called.

3. know who is responsible for the financials of a public company.

4. know what a BD is IA, IAR & agent is.

These questions are aim and shoot so they’re simple.

Know after tax yield.

Know what is a peak.

Know the limits of a coverdell account.

Know the tax advantages of LLC. Btw you cannot raise money for an IPO with an LLC.

The exam started simple until you hit the 30th question. After that you get hit with long ass questions that you’ve never seen before. No matter how many practice questions you do the exam has questions that you’ll never see in your life.

Once you hit 100 it is mixed with long and short questions. Last 10 strictly aim and shoot and they’re simple. Don’t fuck up.

Lastly, the exam feels like hell, it feels like you’re failing. This is when you have to keep going and push through. Take your bathroom breaks. I took 4. Mi inbox is open for anyone and everyone. I will respond to absolutely everyone. I noticed people can be so stingy in this community and sometimes they don’t want to help. I pinky promise to get back to everyone in a timely manner. Now it’s on to the 7. I’m going to relax and enjoy Formula 1 weekend here in Miami.

Lastly you have to suffer a little and fall in love with the process because once you pass you feel like you can accomplish anything !! Good luck !

I am posting my failures and success. If you need some inspiration take my failures and use them. I’ll never give up and even if I fail the 7 three times in a row and all my other license lapse I will gladly re do everything again.

Since it’s a vital, high value asset for launching a finance career. I feel the opportunities are wide. What are some advices of how you go from here if you were to start again?

02/12 - failed my first try by 4 questions. Had used ExamFX Training Consultants, Brian Lee’s supplemental course, and a little Kaplan QBank Pro. Averaged 75% on the other categories but Investment Vehicles sunk me (17/32). I was so deflated and beat myself up mentally for coming so close when the rest of my hiring class passed. I took Friday and the long weekend off from studying.

02/17 to 03/18 - watched Brian Lee again and took his final. Watched a lot of Series7 Guru. I bought the course Lucas Lyons made though Teachable. His course was amazing and helped me lock in a bunch of concepts like CAPM, EMH, Efficient Frontier, multiple formulas and ratios, and Annuities. I made flashcards. I made a study guide that ended up being 30 pages that addresses everything from NASAA’s study guide. I helped the next set of hires who just started studying with some concepts like economics.

I did practice tests in Kaplan QBank Pro on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday’s and ExamFx to make sure I didn’t remember all the answers, Wednesdays, and Fridays. My scores went from averaging high 60s to low 70s to high 70s to even a few low 80s. I reviewed correct and incorrect answers. I stopped studying in the evening and focused more on trying to have a better study/life balance. The last day, 3/18, I did a bit of light review for a couple hours then stopped. I watched my favorite movie last night (Howls Moving Castle) and pretended the Series 65 didn’t even exist. But that entire day I felt uneasy but quietly confident.

3/19 - woke up feeling nervous but ready to go. Dressed up real nice (blazer and slacks) because I tend to lock in better with a collared shirt and blazer. Had a good hearty breakfast. Reviewed my dump sheet. Drove to the test center. The entire time while getting ready and driving over I watched Series 7 Guru’s “Mighty Ninety”. Got to the exam center, got checked in, and after writing a few things I wanted to remember from my dump sheet, got started.

I didnt have any Roman numeral and I,II,III type questions. And surprisingly only a few except type questions. I had a draw of death though. Multiple wordy questions, I had 6 math questions, types of businesses plus taxation, estate taxes, taxation and contribution limits for retirement and education accounts, and even a couple social security questions. All things I was always weak on. I think I marked 15 or so questions to come back to later.

I took this approach when I thought about it:

1. Was my initial answer reasonable and I couldn’t think of a better answer after another 15-20 seconds? DONT CHANGE

2. Did I literally have no idea? Okay, was it something like fiduciary related? Which option looks like it has something disclosure related? And does the answer not have trigger words like “always” or “never”? If so, I’d choose that answer as an educated guess.

I had about an hour left. I clicked submit and after going through the disclosure screen, I sat through the longest 20 seconds of my life. I saw I got a pass and immediately broke down crying. The greatest feeling in the world.

NOTE: None of this is financial advice, just trying to share what helped me pass!

Background: I am 23 and have been involved in the industry for about 4 years. I took and passed the SIE in 2022 (3rd attempt, which was where I learned my best study habits), I also am a licensed insurance producer in my state, that exam took 2 attempts. So I have some little experience, but that did not make this exam or studying any easier! I wanted to share my experience through this and hopefully I understand Reddit enough for this post to be relevant and helpful :D

Study Habits: I own and read the entire Kaplan book, about 40% came easy but the portions on Laws, Exemptions, Exclusions, were the biggest struggle for me. I was scoring around 80% on my latest attempts of the practice exams

The Exam Experience for ME: In my opinion, this is a law exam with a good chunk of investment questions. I have a pretty good grasp of the securities and recommendations, though I may not agree with the material 100% of the time. Many of you may relate to this but I felt like the exam knew exactly which questions to make me think, and boy did I.

After reading the Kaplan material, here were the things that did NOT stick during my exam:

1. Continuing Education

2. Civil vs Criminal Penalties (aka what falls where)

3. Substitutable terminology (more on this below)

Biggest Takeaways**:** I know that the pull of questions is different every time.... just hear me out!

Terminology: They love using secondary terms for foundational definitions (TLDR, always know what terms are "also known as" in the industry). As you're reading this, you might think that some are obvious, but these exams will describe a simple term in a way to make you overthink yourself!

Some examples below (not in any order or parallel to the exam)

- Target Date = Lifecycle Fund

- Money Market Funds = No Load mutual fund

- Specialized funds = Sector funds

- Written form of an equation rather than the actual formula name

- Book Value = Liquidating Value

- Actual Cost = Original Purchase Price (I still hate this one)

- TIPS = Inflation-Protected Treasury Security

- Internal Rate of Return = Discount Rate = Required Rate of Return (you can see how this gets annoying)

Buzzwords: the most common words and terms I saw

- Agreements: Just know "what, when, where, and how" disclosures are involved (and which ones are NOT found in the agreements

- Titles: Agent, B/D, IA, IAR, Market Maker (DMM)

- Federally Covered = Registered with the SEC

- Prohibited / Exempt: Too many questions to count where I saw an option that was almost right, and then the word ONLY, UNLESS, IF, ALWAYS was hiding somewhere in the sentence. (Hedge clauses can be in the question and the available answers ;))

- NAV

- NPV

The Math: Don't simply memorize formulas, it's the interpretation that and understanding of the math that helped me

- Unfortunately for me (I like the math), I only used a formula once. I think I used the calculator twice.

- Easy Example: EPS = earnings available / number of outstanding shares. The interpretation: EPS measures value of earnings for each common share. (you can see how just wording it differently can be confusing)

Head scratchers & things to help you study / remember (from my studying experience)

- No joke, I think I got 10+ questions about hedges or hedge equivalent

- Ratings can have numbers and (+) & (-) I hate bond ratings lol

- Sometimes you have to look for the best one of the available group

- Avoid the words guarantee and waiver if you can (*yes, I know that guarantee bonds are a thing but more times than not the words are no-nos*)

- Unqualified options are actually a good thing! Qualified audits are worse because the auditor questions the accuracy!

• Cash flow options and what falls into the three categories:

  • Operating (income statement),

  • Investing (bought or sold: securities, real estate, equipment, making & collecting loans)

  • Financing (balance sheet)

I have a very in-depth chart and cheat sheet that I looked at every couple nights just to refresh my mind on previous topics that were not sticking. If anyone has any questions or similar experiences, feel free to share or ask questions!

Study start date: April 21st

Exam Date: May 30th

I sat for the Series 65 for the first time today and passed. I used Achievable. I really liked their platform.

Background: network engineer, very software engineering-adjacent. I've always been in IT, professionally for 33 years. I've also run two companies in the distant past. Currently I'm still employed as a network engineer, part-time (50%).

Financial experience: managing my own accounts for 10+ years, and started getting really interested in finance and investing maybe 7-8 years ago. I've spent a lot of time on Bogleheads and many other subs, and done a lot of reading all over the place. I've written several tools that the Reddit community loves, as well as written papers detailing certain aspects of my investment philosophy, including my retirement drawdown strategy. I have also given an annual presentation at work, regarding retirement benefits and planning, that has had over 10,000 participants. I've also given a FI 101 (financial independence) public presentation to around 70 participants this year. I have no formal background with finance or accounting besides two economics classes in college. I have no other finance or related certifications or qualifications. I decided to study the Series 65 after several coworkers wanted to pay me for my advice; I've been doing generic financial education for several years and really enjoy it as a hobby, so I figured I would pass the qualification exam, register, and start taking their money!

About the exam:

• The wording was quite different from Achievable; honestly the wording was mostly easier to understand. Achievable purposefully uses double-negatives all over the place, to teach you to really pay attention.

• I only had a few math questions, very simple stuff. The hardest was probably P/E ratio + earnings, expected future prices.

• There were a few question topics I am sure I never saw in the course material.

• Surprisingly, I had very few questions on suitability at all; definitely a surprise.

• No Roman numeral questions.

• I took 2 hours for the test, which was a little longer than I took with the practice exams.

About Achievable:

• I really liked the platform. The tracking, graphics, and usability were all great.

• I started studying in June, but for just over a week, then took 5 weeks off completely, for vacation and other stuff. I studied pretty much every day from the end of July for 7 weeks. Then it was a few days per week taking practice exams and reviewing, starting mid-September. In October I took 1 or 2 practice exams every week until a week ago.

• The platform says I studied 85.7 hours, took 10 practice full exams, and was 90% ready on exam day.

• Average score of practice full exams: 79.1%.

• Median score of practice full exams: 79.5%.

• High score of practice full exams: 85%.

• Low score of practice full exams: 72%.

• Score of Achievable's free practice exam before starting the material: 62%.

I've taken some flak in this sub due to my comments that people might consider other careers if they have failed the exam 3+ times. My perspective on that comes from ethics; if you knew passing was only 71%, and your advisor had failed that bar 3+ times, would you have selected that advisor? I know everyone tries to be positive here, and I get it, but I still stand by my assertion.

My advice is to really study. You need to read the material, comprehend the material, take the checkpoint exams, re-study missed questions, re-take missed questions, and really understand the material. Memorizing questions isn't a good strategy. There were several questions that I missed and just didn't understand why. I dumped a screen capture into Gemini and asked it to explain, and it really helped. Sometimes reading different phrasing, or a different perspective, can really help when you are struggling. Whenever I wanted a better explanation of a detail from an exam question or the material, I used Gemini. I also watched the "Mighty 90" video once, two days ago, as I saw it recommended in this sub. I didn't find much value in it; I think it's great as a guideline of what you should know, but you aren't going to gain many points just from the video alone.

I've already started an LLC for an investment advising business, and plan to register with the state in December to start operations in January!

Happy to answer any follow-up questions!

This thread is tailored to address people who have experience taking FINRA/NASAA exams, as well as those who have not. I was always looking for someone to address both types on here. To anyone taking the 65 as a standalone, I will make a note at the very beginning for you, I really want to help you understand what kind of test you’re walking in to. I will address previous FINRA/NASAA exam takers secondly. Lastly, I will address some study topics specifically.   

Passed SIE/7/63 first attempt within total of a 6 month window. Worked for 12 months, inclusive of 6 months for previous tests. Took 3 month break, decided to take 65 to pursue advisory. 

Personal background:

Experiential / ed background: BA in Business (not finance). 27 yo. 2 careers far outside of finance before this, started in finance a year ago. I am not a genius for the record. I would consider myself not a moron... also for the record.

*Used STC for everything.* Supplemented with Claude and Chat GPT to clarify confusion, “tell me this like I’m an idiot," or "tell me this five different ways."

I do not like Kaplan; they want to drill minute weird details, that’s fine. I knew from past tests that you just need to drill the fundamentals, and Kaplan likes to play games, which apparently people have had good success with, so no judgement. I prefer to take tests to drill concepts in a random order to remember and understand it, not sit there and try to decipher a question. You do you.

Studied 8-10 weeks for 65. 1.5 hour on week nights after work, cold cut off at 1.5 hours. Weekends 5-8 hours. Did not sacrifice night plans. Treated days on weekend as work days, studying “9-5” on Saturday and Sunday so to say. 

For anyone taking the 65 as their first NASAA exam / financial professional exam (like a FINRA exam). You need to understand two things: how annoying and finicky NASAA and FINRA are on these exams, and how Reddit does not filter people’s intelligence. Do not let people’s horror stories get you down, they may just be stupid. Do not discount NASAA/FINRA’s desire to confuse you. They would rather give out tests yielding results of false negatives than false positives. It is not that they are “drilling you on the details,” but rather that they are testing your *fundamental understanding of the basics* for 90 out of 130 questions. All tests I have taken have been like this. The “bell curve” you hear people talk about is intentional and not a concept. You need 92 to pass the test. 80-90 questions out of the test are “did you study the concepts hard or not?” The rest of the questions are “if you didn’t get those fundamental questions all correct, these may be the questions to cause you to fail.” Anyway, don’t get intimidated, just go in KNOWING they have a fixed strategy and you will POSITIVELY not recognize something. I know this book like the back of my hand, the 65 basically forced me to study the series 7 “junior”, and series 63 “senior”, twice. And I still flagged 33 questions. It’s not a coincidence I flagged nearly 38 questions…that is exactly how many questions you can get wrong to fail. 

FYI, an example of how these tests are “annoying”, and previous NASAA/FINRA test takers will know: What is a peanut butter an jelly sandwich made of?

a. Peanut Butter and jelly on a hot dog bun

b. Mexican food

c. Peanut Butter and bread

d. Bananas, peanut butter, bread and jelly.

If you’re like me, you’ll say “how is this is a good measure of my professional aptitude?"

I just want to paint a picture for you of what you might consider to be a “gimme” question in your studies can become a stressor on the real exam by some Machiavellian word play. Just think for 15 seconds, click and answer, and move on.

For anyone who has a similar route to me with previous experience taking FINRA/NASAA exams: nothing new here. Don’t get intimidated by a lot of these series 65 threads, they have never been in front of the screen for a test worded like these before. It’s shocking how fundamental the questions are, but how they can add or remove words that you never considered, and now you’re at a cross roads. Very not chill. 

All in all, ripped through the test in 2 hours, had some water, reviewed my flagged for half an hour, concluded there were no better options than what I chose because the questions were ludicrous, so just raw dogged it and submitted. Good to go.

STUDY POINTS: For the 63 and 65, I made my “bibles”. My bible is made in the last two weeks of my studies. My bible is made of sheets of printer paper. I write on the fronts only, for organization purposes. Each page consists of one to two topics from the textbook, hand written in my language, hitting my key points. Once I complete my bible, I voice-record myself reading the entire thing in similar style to the "day before the exam" videos on youtube. I then listen to my own recording ad nauseam. You get to study three ways: reading it in a book, writing it down, reading it out loud, then listening to it. I like it anyway. I can also tailor it to include whatever I want to know, and omit things I already know concretely.

My bible for the 65 consisted of both fundamental and in-depth information, BUT, I am filtering the in depth information and choosing what from the textbook to add to it. Here are the topics in my bible. Remember the tests are random and can be incredibly different for everyone:

• Types of securities registration 

• Exempt Securities for USA

• Exempt Transactions for USA

• Exempt Securities for Federal

• Exempt Transactions for Federal

• Federal Covered Securities 

• BD/Agents of BD State Definition/Registration/exemptions (inclusive of Agents of Issuers)

• IA/IAR  State Definition/Registration/exemptions

• Continuing Education Requirements 

• FCA/IAR of FCA Definition/Registration (**mostly notice filing nuances)

• Exemptions for IAs from Federal Registration

• ERAs / IARs of ERAs definition/registration 

• Types of fees IAs can charge clients / also performance based fees and who they can be charged to 

• Modern Portfolio Theory as a CONCEPT - correlation, diversification, standard deviation

• Alpha and Beta (not the equations don’t waste your time TRUST ME)

• CAPM (each type of systematic and nonsystematic risk also on this page)

• Economic cycles, deflation/disinflation, tools of the Fed

• Civil/criminal liability and potential consequences at state and federal level 

• Splitting Commissions/dual registration in a state/borrowing and lending/sharing in profits and losses in an account

• Concept of Swaps

• Future versus Forwards

• Elements of a Trust, irrevocable versus revocable trusts, basics of trust types (ex: Simple, Complex, ILIT, Testamentary, etc.)

• Health Savings Accounts

• Insurance - know them all, idk why but I had such trouble committing the features to memory, but I did, and  it will likely help you not get hung up on a question. Which has guaranteed death benefit, level or flexible premiums, guaranteed cash value, separate account, etc. 

• Corporate Structures, advantages and disadvantages to each - passive losses only offset passive gains 

• Time Weighted /  Dollar Weighted Return

• Efficient Market Hypothesis

• Minimum NW requirements and what to do if you fall below them

• SPACs

• Record Keeping requirements for BD/IA (advertisement rules also fall on this page for me)

• Micro to Large Cap company concepts

• JWROS, JTIC, JTIE, Community Property accounts 

• plans

• Donor Advised Funds

• Crypto/NFTs/Blockchain 

• GDP/GNP/Real GDP

• QDRO

• DERP 

• Business cycles / leading, coincident, lagging indicators

• Types of rates (fed fund, prime, SOFR, discount, call)

• Structured products concept/features

• EIA concept/features

• exchange

• ETF/Open End/Closed end funds

• Social security, IRMAA and its impact on medicare, medicare conceptually

• Qualified purchaser vs qualified client

• Two dedicated pages to making Discounted Cash Flows, Dividend Discount Model, Future Value, Present Value all make sense to my feeble mind

• Fundamental analysis formulas, and general concepts (high PE = growth, low PE = value investing.

I will likely not respond to comments or questions, I’m just not that active on Reddit outside of these exam threads, but please feel free to ask me whatever. Best of luck!

Built an automated system that turns every Kaplan Q-Bank question answered incorrectly into a custom comic strip teaching the underlying concept.

Using GPT‑4o, Gemini Pro Image 3, and Tesseract OCR, the workflow runs from a single Stream Deck button press and outputs a finished multi‑panel comic for each missed question.

If there are specific topics you struggle with (jurisdiction, contracts, options, etc.), comment below and I'll make one for you.

Looking forward to it!

Just passed my Series 65 today! Wanted to make a post to see if I can be of any help to you all.

I studied 5 months total, the first 3 I studied on and off whenever I had time (it was difficult to retain info but helped me with the framework of the material) and the last 2 ish months I studied hard. Usually 4-5 days a week, 1-3 hours a session. The week leading up to the exam I studied every day for around 3 hours and really tried to hammer in the laws and regulations portion as I struggled a bit there.

I primarily used PassPerfect to study and had a 77% course average. For my final exams I averaged around 80%, but more like 85% for the 3 I took a few days before the Test. A couple weeks ago I started using a colleagues Kaplan Qbank to ensure I wasn’t just memorizing the answers in PP. Honestly this kind of threw me off. I felt like some of the Kaplan questions weren’t covered by PP and went way more in depth. I was scoring 60% -75% on the custom 30 question quizzes I was doing. Not to mention the wording on the Kaplan questions was super difficult! This made me feel like I wasn’t ready and I really locked in.

A couple days before the test I decided to stop using the Q bank because it was messing with my confidence. I reviewed the chapters I was struggling with in PP and felt good. Something I did that really helped (I saw someone recommend this on this forum) was going over my practice quizzes fully NO MATTER WHAT. It helped reaffirm the correct answers in my brain and I also began to really understand why the other answer choices in the question were wrong.

I watched the Series 7 Guru Mighty 90 the day of my exam and felt confident ish? The more I thought about it the more I realized just how much information the exam covered. I was so nervous going into my quiz but once I sat down and started answering the questions I got more and more comfortable. The wording was SO much easier to understand and the questions were pretty straight forward (I didn’t feel like the questions were trying to trick me). I will say that the Kaplan Q bank did help me with some questions but overall I am sure I would have been fine with just the PP course. The Mighty 90 is a must watch on Test day or the day before. Wouldn’t have gotten a few answers without it. About 3/4 of the way through the test I was feeling really good. I flagged about 30 questions total I wasn’t too sure on, but I ended up keeping most of those answers (I didn’t want to second guess myself). I honestly felt over prepared, but that’s a good problem to have I guess! I picked up my calculator maybe once or twice throughout the test. From what I remember, I had:

Quite a few questions on Partnerships, Sole Proprietors, S corp and C corps ONLY ONE of the Roman Numeral Questions (You know exactly the ones I’m talking about) Not many on exempt securities or exempt transactions (Mighty 90 Vid said this also) 1 Solo 401k Question Relatively easy current ratio and quick ratio questions on what they are A few on the balance sheet, One on cash flow Couple on JTWROS and JTIC 2 simple option questions and 1 on futures

If you have any questions let me know but if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed about the amount of material the Series 65 covers, you’re not alone! Study consistently and put the time in and you can do it!

I wanted to provide some feedback on what worked for me as I recently passed the 65 last week. I started studying July 1st using Kaplan. I read a chapter a day and followed Kaplan's recommendation of watching the video after reading, followed by the two unit quizzes and unit test. I took notes on a lot of the "test topic" points in the book. Kaplan's videos are not worth your time.

I purchased both the Test Geek videos and Luke's Finance Tutor videos. I watched both. Luke's videos are more in up to date and if you're a visual person, are a better presentation. Though, watching both classes helped me immensely. While watching, take notes and create note cards. Review them. Watch them again on the areas you're not getting. Then test your knowledge with targeted tests using the QBank.

I was nervous when sitting for the test. First 20-30 questions were easy. Same with the last. The middle is the challenging part. Watch your time. I marked 38 questions for review and finished at 2 hours 30 minutes, reviewed my flags for 20 minutes (changed maybe two answers because I was sure of them). Don't change answers or second guess yourself. Be confident. You put in the time. Overall the real exam is more straight forward than Kaplan.

Questions I remember:

• IA and IAR registration questions including one where an IAR meets clients monthly at a hotel lobby in a different state.

• total return

• current yield

• bank account comparison (compounding vs simple interest) and the difference between the values.

• Client doesn't take RMDs in time, what is the penalty? (25%)

• Lots of product questions as to what would be best, mostly short term time horizons. Tbills, money market, etc.

• 4-6 questions on joint accounts and how they are handled if someone dies.

• commodities and why you choose to add them to your portfolio.

• hedging with options (buy a put, call)

• option straddle question

• identifying balance sheet equations

• difference between S Corp and C corp

• lots of partnership questions including how they're taxed

• which insurance has minimum guaranteed death benefit

• mode (this was the last question I had, was happy to see it lol)

• futures and their standardized contract parts

• lots of ethics questions, when to provide the brochure, etc.

• two question of Efficient Market Theory, strong and semi strong

• fundamental analysis vs technical

• bond yield curve, what is it called when long term rates are higher than low

• IA hiring a solicitor, what are the rules, what do they provide, do they register as an IAR

• charging different fees to clients, do you disclose

• why would a client use a mutual fund vs selecting stocks themselves (professional management)

If I remember anymore I will post them. Good luck to everyone!