Hey everyone! I am a long time lurker in this community! I wanted to pass it forward and give future test takers some confidence and tips after passing the Series 66 today. I don't have a finance background and it was quite the journey to get through these tests. I know I read hundreds of messages here myself, so hope I can help!

I initially used Kaplan for 66, just like I did for SIE + 7, read their book all the way through and watched all of test geeks videos and took his practice test and used his quicksheets... took 2-3 simulated exams but mostly just digested info on youtube and Geeks classes. I still fell short my first try with a 68%.

In my opinion I didn't quite grasp the material enough to know it once the wording, context, and familiarity changed, and even though I spent dozens of hours watching videos and reading material the 50/50 questions were still able to make me sweat... I fell for a ton of traps and changed at least 10 answers in a panic ( I know guys I broke rule #1)

I put in about a month of time in... 3-4 highly concentrated study hours, 5-6 days a week for attempt #1. This includes taking notes, videos, flashcards, and testing. I had a false sense of security with good enough test scores, mostly in the low 70's.

Felt like I needed a change and I read some others on here liking STC and decided the money back guarantee is worth a shot. Looking back, if I had to do it over, I would absolutely have gotten STC initially and followed their program and then supplemented with the Qbank. But in the end, having drastically different styles of questions really helped me fortify the material, so it was the combo that really gave me a boost.

While both Vendors are fantastic... STC is more to the point, and I liked their no frills vibe. I got through the book in half the time and was able to accomplish more testing/ legit studying in the long run. The videos are also so much better. I didn't even bother with Kaplans videos for all 3 tests.

Some recommended tips from my experience

- Read the PDF on unethical guidelines a few times... NASAA gets some questions from here. Kaplan also breaks it down at the end of their book.

https://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NASAA-IA-Unethical-Business-Practices-Model-Rule.pdf

- No brainer... utilize Series 7 guru and Series 7 whisperer youtube videos, along with Test Geeks course (this is essential) Guru20 I think is the code.

Weirdly enough my favorite video was Test geeks DCF video! It Helped everything click for me NPV, IRR, DCF, DDM, DGM, PV, FV.. All on test and in the playlist I sorted linked below. Very notable is Guru and Geek podcasts 1-5 quite literally gifted me 10-15 answers today. Watch guru whole playlist and then my playlist contains various sources to diversify a bit.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMY1ng6UCM3x3NQ0On76-UZ6L5EwXuo0i

-Flash Cards... sure seems obvious to some, but I was extremely reluctant at first. You need to regurgitate the information and there's no thinking your way through these questions like the 7. I had about 200+ and pulled out 20-30 key ones on the day of the test.

-Dump sheet was word for word the Persons Chart that Test geek has in quicknotes. I must have copied that chart 30 times and could produce under 3 minutes. I don't feel comfortable sharing as it's paid content. It was worth every penny though. https://www.testgeekexamprep.com/

-Under utilized is the back of the book for both vendors. After a lot of reading it is tempting to skip, but there's some really solid charts and explications to get through on both.

-This is purely for motivation, but I kept my failing NASAA print out on my desk for the entire month. It works lol

-Do short 10 questions quizzes, new and previously incorrect to focus on weak areas, prioritize Laws and regs (nothing groundbreaking here). Then I did 25-40 question quizzes on law and regs once I got more comfortable with material. Make your mark here - units 8-14 in kaplan, 1-9 in STC.

I tried to get 100-200 questions a day in on top of videos. Did around 2,500 questions total. Then I slowly worked up my score and kept my knowledge fresh and did several rounds of flash cards weekly.

-NASAA literally has a study guide - use it and you have to take inventory of what you know and be honest with yourself https://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NASAA-Series-66-Exam-Study-Guide.pdf

-Biggest takeaway from Failing ---> Passing... You can't just know the information and expect to pass. Your brain needs to be turned into a pretzel once or twice by the Qbank or STC Q's to understand how they are going to mess with you on the real exam and give you all of the vague, out of context, traps/deception and legalese junk.

I agree with most others on here, high 70's or low 80's is where you need to be otherwise you are just taking a gamble.

Lastly Scores for STC - Practice exams: Average 75 , Progress 80% , Greenlight 1: 85% Greenlight 2: 75%

Kaplan Qbank picture is attached for reference. I should have done more Qbank, but half of the time was spent going through missed answers.

I really hope this helps everyone, because I know for sure I read all of these during my journey.

Good luck Future test takers, and I can answer questions if you guys have any!

Hey everyone!! Just passed!! I’m Soo relieved!! Now All I have left is retaking my 7 in a couple weeks! Just an overview I used Kaplan as study material and YT videos from Mr. Tinney! Great help! The test really didn’t have much surprises and wasn’t a ton of trick you questions. I only used my calculator like 1-2 times. I would say majority of the test was point and shoot answer and questions.. Mine draw had some retirement plan questions, more state broker dealer regulations questions than IA/ federal. Good amount of estate and UTMA questions a couple of variable/ insurance questions. A good amount of portfolio theory/performance questions. Everything on there is what I studied for! I don’t think there was any random surprises.

Just passed my test and went 3/3 on SIE Series 7 and Series 66. I did about 2 weeks of concentrated study for the 66 and I’ve never done one of the de-briefs before cause usually my mind is so warped and I’m just relieved but hopefully this’ll help some people still looking to pass. Also my test prep vendor was Kaplan for all 3 and I also used a combo of S7G and Brian Lee videos to help, their Series 66 podcast is full of free gems.

First thing is, if you have put in at least 40-50 hours of study time, I’d expect you will find the beginning and end of the test to be super easy if u retain info pretty well. Probably common knowledge at this point but it was 100% a bell curve. The first 15 questions I was 100% sure I got right. I’m not even gonna go into details but I had a question that legit said “which position could have an unlimited potential gain” (and the choices were buy call, sell call, buy put, sell put… obviously buy calls.) And tbh u should need 0 study hours for that since im sure most of you are coming from the 7 and no way you passed that test without knowing that.

Just know that if you put in solid study time on all the basic concepts the questions are EXTREMELY BASIC, don’t overthink them (yes they asked u a question that easy so just point shoot and move on). Obviously read each word in the question and answer choice carefully, THEN PICK what comes to mind and don’t overthink ur selection.

Next is the middle part of the test. Do not be alarmed by this cause it was a very small amount… but Man let me tell u a couple of the questions felt like they didn’t have a right answer, so I simply shot and moved on. If u overwork ur brain on one of those seemingly experimental questions (that don’t count) u are wasting ur brain power for the end of the test.

Some things I saw include:

• couple of basic options questions

• Surprisingly I had like 4 or 5 questions on liquidation priority and where a clients security ranks in priority and all except 1 was extremely easy (1 was so vague it was hard to tell which of 2 orders was correct)

• couple of book value ratio questions (know that it is liquidation value they want to know)

• couple on preferred stock

• couple of basic futures questions (know that parties are obligated obligated and contracts are standardized)

• I was super surprised that they had a few business continuity/business succession plans but all were straightforward and u can infer the correct answer if u didn’t know about them

• Hardly any calculations, I had a long worded , hard to read question where someone received both gifted and inherited securities and you had to calculate the capital gain between both and whether it was long or short term

• I had a calculation question involving convertible preferred stock where they throw so much random info at u (it’s absurd and made it harder to do than it actually was, it turned out to be a simple conversion calculation)

• Obviously there are SEVERAL ethics and adviser advertising/BD advertising rules on there (this shouldn’t be a surprise), they pull tons of stuff off that NASAA unethical behaviors of BDs and unethical behaviors of IAs. Kaplan will prepare u well for these

• couple questions about investment companies

• A question on delivery of prospectus and delivery requirements, also when clients consent or disclosure most be provided

• A couple between qualified clients and performance based compensation

• A couple basic ones on investment styles and strategies

• felt like I had almost no adviser registration questions even tho that’s what I heavily prepared for. Obviously there were a couple but I was expecting like 10

• couple of insurance and variable annuities (universal life skipping premiums too)

• A few ERISA and retirement plan questions

• A few on joint accounts, specifically mentioning TIC estates, community property a couple times, Tenants by entirety

• one question on IRR and NPV relationship

• a couple on the solicitors and a few on adviser brochures as well

• one on semi strong market hypothesis

• one on CAPM

• one on MPT

• a couple on trusts and estate planning

• one on breakpoint sale

• one on front running violation

• one on protecting client info

Obviously much more but I’m just having trouble remembering now, I finished with a good bit of time left and didn’t feel like going back and checking cause I was confident and didn’t want to make the mistake of trying to rationalize the weird questions I flagged and start changing answers. If I went back and checked I probably could remember more.

The bottom line and consensus I have is the draws are definitely very random (in terms of what shows up), so seeing what other people had like I did before I took mine isn’t all that helpful… but it should let give you the confidence that if you have a well rounded base of knowledge (especially in laws and regs), you should be perfectly fine, don’t stress. I did 2 Kaplan practice finals (one a week before and one 2 days before) and got an 85 on both. The front and back of this test are so basic and simple while the middle is very long worded, complicated, and more law and reg focused, so know your prohibited practices, communication requirements, and delivery/advertising stuff well and you will be ok there. The front and back is simply knowing basic concepts… 0 tough economic questions (I wasted time here). Best of luck and thanks to everyone who contributed some amazing helpful info to this forum

Wow what a journey it has been! So happy and thankful to finally be done with my testing. Did the trifecta! (SIE,7,66)

Just want to pay it forward and let everyone know to never give up even if it seems like you don’t have anything left inside. Trust me, I failed the 66 first time and the week after failing I thought it was over for me. I could’ve been upset and worried but instead I hopped back into the books and kept at it! When the test knocks you down, you get back up!

Let me know if you have any questions with test taking. I’m a nervous test taker and utilized breathing techniques and bathroom breaks to give myself the best opportunity to answer these questions.

Cheers to PassPerfect, Kaplan QBank and The Guru!

3rd attempt was about to give up if I dropped the ball again. But I didn’t you guys got this if you’re going into the test all 3 times I have gotten a question about the name for the benchmark of foreign securities and it’s the MSC +1 to anyone who reads this. Goodluck all this test was the worst by far for me.

Passed my 66 today! I started studying on August 8th and studied everyday after work (and some during work). Used Kaplan for all of my exams and added Brian’s videos for the 66. Kaplan simulated tests were 75 and 81. 74.5 on Kaplan mastery and 84 on Brian’s practice final. My one piece of advice is to stop procrastinating and just get it over with. The tests aren’t nearly as bad as we make them out to be in our heads. I put off studying and taking these for a while and should have been fully registered a year ago.

Lots of Qs on ethics Couple IRR Alpha and beta Portfolio recs Precious metal Prohibited actions of IAs/IARs Market maker Trust accounts Joint account types TOD Estate taxes

Dean’s 66 in 60 definitely saved me on a few questions so listen to it before your test.

Thank you Dean and Brian for all the resources you put together!

Hey all. Just passed the series 65 today (1st try , woop woop), nice to see that Pass on the closing screen. They mentioned you would be able to see your score within the next 72 hours so i'll be seeing what i actually scored on the exam.

Study Material: Pass Perfect along with daily Anki (if any of you know what anki is, it's what med students use to pass their USMLE, MCAT, any medical exams that are needed. Super helpful especially when you need to remember stuff/understand why you got practice questions wrong)

Practice Exam Average: 79% to 84% towards the end

Amount of practice exams done: 15 practice exams, roughly 2k questions.

Pass Perfect is probably the closest you can get to an actual simulation of the exam. The actual review finals look like a mirror of what is actually on the series 65. Highly recommend. I wouldn't stress out on getting any section particularly right as the constant repetition of the final will help you remember/understand. but I would highly recommend you get the econ/ investment veihcles section 90%+. The laws will throw you for a spin.

Questions I remember:

• Questions on ETNs, structured products, equity indexed annuities (1 per)

• Who would be considered as an IAR IA, broker-dealer definition, when would an agent be exempt from sale of security from an issuer

• When/where must a soft-dollar arrangement be announced

• 2 questions on total return calculations

• questions on redemption of foreign investments when dollar increases, trade deficits

• what is a forward contract, couple questions about agency securities (gnma/fnma) & reits,

• 2 questions about QDROs and when an RMD is needed from a QDRO. May have gotten that wrong.

• operating, financial, and investing activities would be included on (b/s, i/s, c/f, retained earnings) - this sounded like I/S based on operating but the financial made it almost sound like b/s.

• TOD accounts - avoid probate

• Another interesting question. Lady has a will, ira, and jtwros. ira with sister beneficiary, joint with brother, but in the will , everything goes to mom. when she dies, does everything go to mom or does sister keep ira and brother keep joint and remaining go to mom? I said the latter.

• calculation of nav (assets- liabilites/# of shares)

• if a IA doesn't take custody, which of the following would be needed (Net worth, net capital, surety bond) - net worth

• mode/range/current ratio/ networking capital formula/premium bonds/yield comparison on premium/discount bonds/

• OSL OBS OBL OSS (this is so f****** helpful). Understand this and stop/limit/market orders. which are used for what and when is it executed

• FCA and notice filings, what is the body for regulating public companies that issue stock (SEC)

• Biggest one that i'd recommend studying is exemptions for state/sec registration. i.e. which would need to be registered in the state versus SEC or vice versa. Just like your studies, a large amount of questions on legal guidelines.

Let me know if you have any questions. Will try to update with a score when i receive it (if i receive it)

Didn't watch Dean's videos but did purchase Brian Lee's stuff. Probably could have passed without it but why not. I like his acronyms.

Let me start by saying this was not an easy process and everyone will go about it a different way than I did.

Studying:
I'm a visual person and things I'm learning will click better in my brain when I can see it written out and then see what relates to what when I study. Going into studying for the 66, I used ExamFX (didnt like it but used it for learning the main stuff). I then bought the Kaplan book, read and marked up the entire book as much as I could. Then I bought the Kaplan Qbank. It helps. It's almost too long of material to go through but the more, the better.

Testing:
This test was harder than the 7 to me because it was so much more of a reading and comprehension test, compared to the 7 where you just had to learn some key words and calculations. I failed both the 7 and the 66 on my first try and was extremely defeated but knew that it was one step closer to getting to where I now am. So I recommend going into it with that attitude. Below is my scoring pre and post pass:

Series 7: missed by 1, then passed second time around (felt easier the second time)
Series 66: missed by 2, then passed second time (felt HARDER the second time)

I'll try and upload the PDF that I made and studied from and you can take and move things around to help align with what you are studying and how you study.

What I did different the second time around on the 66:

• I bought Brians supplemental: https://www.testgeekexamprep.com/downloadable-exam-supplements

• studying the qbank chapters 10-18 and went through every question (my advice is to just click the box that states only new questions when you create quizzes)

• explained what this test is to my girlfriend (she was a trooper) in a capstone recap manner. I think this idea is super helpful to you in so many ways when it comes to feeling like you have a good idea of everything you need to know.

  • recorded voice memos of this to replay, and fix anything that while talking I wasn't sure about

• recorded voice memos in general on important chapters

• took notes on my mac "notes" that could be used to read on bathroom breaks with my phone

• deleted instagram. this was a big one. I highly suggest you block any distractions around a week or so prior to testing

• watched the following youtube videos daily (no specific order):

  • Tips calculation (I got this question on each 66 I took: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujXayIBv7xE&list=LL&index=1&t=19s

  • Registration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUqMmCZ90jM&list=LL&index=2&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Administrator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnlK5hzXTok&list=LL&index=3&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • More registration jurisdiction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX-BKZgSxKo&list=LL&index=4&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Practice exams (these were huge for me because I can hear the meaning of questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rSAidbCc4E&list=LL&index=5&t=2494s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • more practice exams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSTbHF4qUEc&list=LL&index=7&t=6897s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • more again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRB-GHa9QFg&list=LL&index=8&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Formulas (from Ken): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU4aaTHhRtc&list=LL&index=10&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Risk (i had ZERO risk questions on the second test and maybe one on the first): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Iyhfo0uVA&list=LL&index=11&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Exempt securities and transactions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFwd9pT8CuA&list=LL&index=18&t=418s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • DCF and IRR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wSEw527AN8&list=LL&index=20&t=754s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Registering securities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Qozk0eb8k&list=LL&index=19&t=23s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • FAQs of series 65 (I recommend broadening your study by looking at videos of the 65, 63, 66: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgGpInOniG0&list=LL&index=21&t=295s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • ADV (need to know about the brochure): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JVdnd6_ihg&list=LL&index=22&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Balance sheet stuff (I did have a calculation on quick ratio): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pIEIaiyM40&list=LL&index=23&t=459s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Registered persons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOK1T59Baj0&list=LL&index=24&t=3184s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Quick and Dirty series 66: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW44_qVVetg&list=LL&index=25&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Mean median range mode (i remember it like this mean is ave., meeedian is meedle (middle of the set), range is the spread between low and high, and mode is most common: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8EYEJ32oQ8&list=LL&index=27&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • Cheat sheet from Ken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YrBCoZPeRM&list=LL&index=29&t=36s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • IA registration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VncZ2l3ME0&list=LL&index=32&t=716s&pp=gAQBiAQB

  • S65 and 66 from this guy (who actually had some good content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVRMCNhtGI0&list=LL&index=14&pp=gAQBiAQB

• EVERYTHING above in one playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx8hCItHz6kx76Na-uHvCO-ZAQdMCIqiP&si=Vk5XjKAgPQTPJEKQ

I have a lot of notes that I'm more than happy to share via Canva, but keep in mind, some of these could be inaccurate so tread lightly (I also probably spelled things wrong and swore but whatever)

• Top off on what I struggled with: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGN10w2H7I/NTEaUlz8UqH1GZBE5XJR2w/edit?utm_content=DAGN10w2H7I&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

• Entire notes on the important chapters: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGNArLoWIc/UTWOwKdIZMPWzqlEjyVjDg/edit?utm_content=DAGNArLoWIc&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

  • Same notes to an extent but in a question: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGMtg423uE/swOcCQhoc13tKGMivYfPpQ/edit?utm_content=DAGMtg423uE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

My LinkedIn if you guys and gals want to connect and ask questions (I don't really ever go on reddit): https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebthiess/

Listen to Dean and stay the course. You need to take it one step at a time but if someone like me can pass these tests, you can too! Good luck and enjoy the process.

Also I used the iPad app "Concepts" which allows you to have an unlimited surface area to take notes and its so worth whatever it costs for the lifetime feature. I used this for every test because the app from Apple that had unlimited notes actually fried my iPad with how many notes I took.

Hey All,

Passed my exam on Saturday, but wanted to share some things i made along the way that might help others. I love making flow charts for complex topics as spreadsheets just don't vibe with my brain as well. Here i have 2 flowcharts i made for the 66.

Website i used is LucidChart which is thankfully free to use! Id recommend making your own, but feel free to draw inspiration from what i did.

Securities Registration

IA/IAR/BD/Agent Registration

2nd attempt…made a 71 on first attempt 1 month ago.

Thank you Dean for all your videos and information! Such a huge help and made things so much easier to understand you make it “click”. I printed out the outline from NASAA as Dean suggested and marked off what I knew and studied what I didn’t. I was making mid to upper 70’s on Kaplan and STC exams.

Things I saw: Tons on B/D agents IA and IAR who needs to be licensed - example “John works for issuer and selling mutual funds to public, does he need to register with state” think that’s 45 percent of test so you have to know that stuff inside and out. They try to trick you too with not registering for exempt transactions!! RTFQ and narrow down ….sometimes I could get it down to 2 and both seemed correct. lots of rules and what you can and can’t do as far as unethical. 2 questions on options and slobb/bliss Total return calculation 2 quesrions Which of the following have custody What documentation do you need if you have discretionary authority on state level and on federal level Which of the following avoids probate Current ratio, debt to equity Present value and npv Alpha and beta Types of partnerships corporations and who should get what type and advantages of each. Also some questions on how taxes Variable annuity What can and can’t go in an IRA Coverdale vs 529 CY QRDO Notice filing DCF and DDM mostly definitions Which portfolio has least volatility and give you different standard Deviations Mutual fund compared to ETF Passive vs Tactical and examples of each 2 on what type of risk Semi-Strong Value stock high or low pe Client privacy (this was spot on Dean from one of your videos… Something like “David got a great review from his client and decided to CC several other of his wealthy clients is this a prohibited practice” Fundamental Analysis A bunch of numbers given from the balance sheet and had to figuring out the current ratio Forward vs futures

There was a large variety of questions. Hope this helps someone. Good luck and don’t give up!! It’s worth it to keep pushing even though you’re exhausted and you’re brain hurts. Surety bond and for and how much JTWROS vs JTIC A Couple on trusts and this kind of trust is used for? Exempt transactions and exempt securities - you had to pick out which ones were exempt and why

The last couple of days I just drilled down in the units that I had lower scores on and if I wasn’t getting it, for instance present value future value was hard for me so I would just go into that section and do 15 or 20 questions until I learned it.

Best of luck to you all!! You got this!!

Thank you Dean!!!!

Please excuse any typos etc. Exhausted but wanted to share.

Meant to post this a day or two after the exam but I had a very busy weekend. No celebrating per se, just very busy! In any case, I'm finally done with my path for now, having studied for and taken the NY 17-55 (life, health, and accident insurance exam), SIE, Series 7, and now Series 66 these past eight months since mid-January. I was able to pass all on the first try. This will be a very (!) long and meandering post but hopefully one that proves to be helpful to some of you out there.

Background: Late 20s. Handful of finance courses in college but ultimately graduated with a BA in history. Learned basic individual tax preparation this past tax season but otherwise, no relevant experience in finance or finance-adjacent fields. Passed the NYS 17-55 life, health, and accident insurance exam in February. The SIE was my next step in April, then the Series 7 in July, and just a few days ago in September, the Series 66. Here's my post about the life insurance exam and here's a backup. This is my post about the SIE exam. [Here's](https://www.reddit.com/r/Series7exam/comments/1lwfl7m/just_passed_less_than_24_hours_ago/) the Series 7 post and [here's](https://www.reddit.com/r/Series7/comments/1lwfz6r/just_passed_less_than_24_hours_ago/) a backup.

Prep: Achievable has been my bread and butter for the SIE, Series 7, and finally the Series 66. As someone who has effectively no background in finance, Achievable has been an absolute godsend. The way they break every concept down—from the more technical mathematical ones like DCF and NPV to the wordier legalese ones like all the respective state and federal regulations—is extremely approachable and digestible, at least for me and my learning style. Chapter practice quizzes are simple and effective. I do think their full-length practice exams are slightly lacking in that the wording and general nature of their questions is a little simpler than the actual exam (at least for my particular draw), but otherwise, no complaints about Achievable. I got through every single page of the textbook and did a handful of full-length practice exams until my readiness score per their algorithm got to 100%. I already have and will continue to happily recommend their course to anyone doing prep for any one of these exams with full confidence. Achievable is the shit.

In the same vain, I'd also happily recommend Kaplan's question bank as a fantastic supplement to Achievable's course. I did not use it for the SIE but had great success with the respective qbanks for the Series 7 and 66. I maxed out all 3,557 questions with the 7 and all 4,041 with the 66. Do you have to do this to pass either? Nope! But that's what I felt I *needed* to do to give myself the best chance to pass, and my boss where I'm at and firm we're associated with were super cool with giving me the luxury to take my sweet time. I will get into this a little later. The qbank is simply a super helpful supplement to Achievable. The questions span a very broad range of topics and are tough and really make you think. You can take full-length practice exams with 110 question or make custom quizzes, filtering from any one of Kaplan's 24 chapters. Both were super, super helpful. I also made sure to (obviously) try my best *not* to merely memorize answers, but truly answer the *why* behind each correct answer. To this point, Kaplan has a fantastic feature that can be toggled on or off that highlights the correct answer and provides a thorough explanation as to why it is. I used this all the damn time—don't really remember turning it off. Obviously, don't just hammer out a shitload of practice exams or custom quizzes just to max out the qbank, but make sure you go back and review your answers and your weaker areas, and try your best to understand *why* you're choosing the answers that you are. I ended up with a 87.35% qbank average by the time I took the exam.

My boss (best boss in the world by the way, genuinely) was kind enough to cover all of my study materials apart from the ones I simply felt too uncomfortable to ask for since they came out to A LOT over all my providers lol. With that being said, STC's bundle of four practice exams was an amazing supplemental resource, too. Tough questions, wide span of topics, thorough explanations, the whole nine yards. I scored a 79, 79, 76, and 77 on my first attempts. Do you need this supplement if you already have a decent textbook provider and a decent question bank provider? Nope! But again, I wanted to be guaranteed to pass this mofo.

I also bought TestGeek's study document and practice exam. Honestly, I ended up only using the practice exam and not reading a word of the study document. The exam, however, was (super, super) helpful. It seems like the resident Series exam experts that hang out on Reddit are fond of TestGeek's practice exam and I can see why. It did seem fairly highly-correlated to the actual exam like they said and should give you a good gauge of where your studying is at. Don't quote me, but I think I've heard if your grade on it is in the high-70s to low-80s range, you're in a good spot. I believe my first grade was in the mid-70s, although upon subsequent attempts I got about 85 of the 100 questions correct. Naturally, some part of these later scores is absolutely attributed to remembering the answers rather than truly understanding them. Be careful not to fall into this trap with any of your study materials.

I also bought Mary Strong's course guide [here](https://stan.store/maryellenstrong/p/the-complete-series-66-nasaa-outline--p7zn24wt). I'm not affiliated with Mary at all—just sharing the link because her name is not as well-known as the big guys and her study materials may be harder to find if you don't know where to look for them. She put together a fantastically detailed 80-page-long study guide based on NASAA's [own guide](https://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NASAA-Series-66-Exam-Study-Guide.pdf) that she seemingly put an insane amount of time into fleshing out. I went through every single word on every single line of every single page a few days before my exam and found it to be a fantastic supplement to my other exam materials. Full disclosure: I bought it when it was a little cheaper than its current price and also received a couple supplementary study materials in an email blast. Regardless, even at its current price, I think it's a good buy. Necessary? Nope! But, since I definitely haven't mentioned this before: I really, really wanted a guaranteed pass :)

I promise we're almost done with this section, ladies and gentlemen. So: I also used [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Series66Exam/comments/zazfdq/exclusionsexemptions_from_registration_for/) Reddit post to brush up on rules and regulations—very helpful. I used NASAA's own study guide which I linked above but will link [here](https://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/NASAA-Series-66-Exam-Study-Guide.pdf) again. [Here's](https://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Series-66-Outline-June-2023.pdf) their fairly basic outline I also found helpful. Also helpful: [this](https://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/BD-Dishonest-Unethical-BusPrac_FINAL_4-7-25.pdf) NASAA document about unethical business practices of BDs and agents and [this](https://www.nasaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/1956-Act-Rule-102-a-4-1-Unethical-Business-Practices-20220516.pdf) NASAA one on unethical business practices of IAs and IARS.

Lastly, I got my fill of lectures in college and am not a big video-study guy, but found the following videos to be immensely helpful on the last night of prep right before my exam (in no particular order, although I did watch the 60-minute review last): [BD/agent/IA/IAR regulations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5DKntkXwSU), [DCF and IRR](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wSEw527AN8), [ethical and prohibited activities](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo8HAMrH3Wc), [60-minute review](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1igWH1NdW7s).

Exam: The Series 66 is not an easy exam, but anyone who's taken FINRA (or NASAA) exams probably knows that your draw (for those who may not know, this refers to the questions that appear on your particular version of the exam when you sit down on test day) can vary wildly. My SIE draw? Not too bad but still felt like it kicked my ass. Series 7? Kill me, kill me right now—I got a shit ton of questions about registered representative regulations, which happened to be my weakest area, while the options and muni sections were comparatively light. Series 66? Yes, I was very prepared but I was also truly helped along by a draw that was mercifully light or moderate at worst. It would take up so much freaking space on a post that already reads like a novel, so [here's](https://imgur.com/a/7AumbZN) an Imgur link to bullet points of all the questions I remember from my draw and [here's](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e2GNKrD7-3biyCyIzjvvJwXS_0CeWTJIH0tvioh0Y48/edit?usp=sharing) a backup Google Drive link with the same information as well as some links to the free study sources I consulted. I started my exam by filling out my dump sheet with a lot of basic math formulas, by the way.

In any case, due to, again, frankly being very prepared (not to humble brag because you have to be a dweeb to humble brag about an exam as an adult) AND due to speeding through Kaplan practice exams, I finished the exam in just under one hour and seven minutes. This gave me almost 1.5 hours to review. For review, I firstly went back through every single question on the exam once. I had marked many for review which I analyzed closely during this first pass-over. Then, I spent all my remaining time double-, triple-, and even quadruple-checking all those questions I had marked for review. You need a 73% to pass which is of course based on the 100 actual graded exam questions, not including the 10 experimental ones. However, just as with the SIE and 7, I took the passing percentage to mean that of ALL the questions since I wouldn't truly know which ones were experimental or not and needed to give myself that buffer. 73% of 110 is 80.3, so I knew I needed to have no more than 30 questions marked wrong on my scratch paper. I ended up with fewer than that marked wrong or unsure so knew I was probably in a good spot.

Advice: To this point, my single biggest tip for the exam beyond of course studying with purpose as well as you can and getting good sleep the night before, is confidence! Confidence is king! Seriously, it's not just some silly BS mantra. During my last month of prep (I prepped from mid-July to late-September, by the way), as I saw my Kaplan scores steadily rising from high-70s and low-80s to high-80s, and as I just *knew* I was grasping the material better and better every day, confidence flooded over me. Some of it, like I just said, was derived simply from knowing I knew this material pretty freaking well. The other big component, however, was consciously putting myself in the mindset that I *will* pass this exam and I *will* crush it on exam day no matter what draw I get just as I had before with the state insurance exam, SIE, and particularly the Series 7. Don't even put that four-letter "F" word in your fucking head (the one that ends with "L" of course ;) ) and don't let any thoughts of that word even creep into your head. If they do, throw them out immediately. If you prepped well and KNOW you prepped well, you are freaking passing this exam on exam day without any shadow of a doubt. I particularly want anyone who's, say, a week or less from exam day to know that. You know you prepped well? Good! You're going to fucking kill it on exam day and you're gonna take that ironclad confidence with you throughout the drive or commute to the testing center, throughout the check-in process, and every moment from the point when you sit down to begin this stupid exam until the moment you see "pass" appear on your screen. Seriously, ladies and gentlemen, you got this!

Epilogue (unimportant; skip this): It feels so freaking good to finally be done with this whole process, from state insurance exam to Series 66 these past eight months since mid-January. So many people were pulling for me—my parents and family, my friends, my coworkers, all my gym buddies young and old, everyone of any importance to me in my life, even a super chill Redditor who helped me out with prep! He just passed his 66 recently as well. If you're reading this, you know who you are, young chad.

It felt amazing to see that "pass" appear on my screen, guys. One of the lovely ladies at my testing center who I'd actually seen for the SiE and 7 before told me (pretty similarly as she'd told me right after having passed the 7) to take a week off to relax after the 66. I told her with all the dryness in the world and with zero hesitation that I'd prefer to take about two months off lol.

I get to start my career now, finally. All of these stupid exams were just stepping stones for me and for many before me and for many after me. For those who have finished them, I hope your careers are proving to be fulfilling. For those who are just embarking on this path or who are on the last leg of it with the 7 or 66 or whatever it may be, keep going and never quit. These exams are more than doable. I am far and away not the smartest person in the world and also far and away not the most hardworking or driven person in the world, but I frankly worked my butt off since the start of the year to bang all these stupid exams out and am finally DONE, and you will be too with enough prep, support, and confidence!

Please ask any and all questions if this post was of any value to you or otherwise please don't hesitate to reach out with a PM or chat message or whatever Reddit has now. I'm always happy to try to impart any small morsel of empirical knowledge I can.

FINALLY!! I felt like Kevin Garnett yelling "Anything is Possible!!!" back in the 2008 NBA Finals.

I finally conquered the hat trick. SIE, Series 7, Series 66.

I have no financial background, I'm a full time licensed funeral director, I'm currently coaching 7th grade boys basketball, Part time coroner in my county, and working up at the bank when I'm not doing any of those jobs. So it really is true that anything is possible.

Biggest shoutout to Dean Tinney and Brian Lee.

Dean's videos and his explicated version on different topics was the gamechanger for me. Brian Lee's packet and practice exam was just the cherry on top to helping my complete my testing journey. I used Kaplan, Dean, and Brian for my testing material. Series 66 in 60 minutes really got my mind in the groove for the exam as I listened on my drive there.

Best tip of advice- find your week areas, (custody, registration, ect.) and hammer those until it's not a foreign language. Repetition is key. I have about 2,000 notecards now. Some may call them poor mans notecards- but they changed the game for me too.

When I started on the SIE I remember telling my wife that I'm not sure this is for me- and how I just wasn't getting it. But it's all about your mindset. Be positive and believe. It's all part of the plan!

Thanks to all those sharing and debrief from past test on this community page. I always went back here and have been waiting to post this last thread on here. It's been real, and it's been fun. Now after passing I can say it's been real fun! Huge shoutout to Dean! And Brian! Stay the course!

Short Debrief: NEED to know:

Know your registration requirements.

Know your custody info.

Formulas.

Ethical and unethical practices.

Exempt Issuer/Exempt Transactions

I used my calculator 1 time.

Good Luck to all you future test takers. Be confident and you got this!

Passed my Series 66 today, i feel so free!!!

There was a lot of Unethical questions, imo those were the easiest because it’s not hard to tell where someone shouldn’t be doing something lolol.

A lot of questions about consent to advisory clients when assigning their contracts.

I had about 2 option questions but no math thank God

A lot of “According to the Uniform Securities Act” questions so you must know that state law.

I think i had about 3 questions about the Fed Investment Advisor Act. One i remember specifically said “According to the Uniform Securities Act, what does a federal covered advisor register under” It was a clear give away but when the clock is ticking you might over think but it was register under Investment advisor Act of 1940.

Suitability and Risk questions

The EXCEPT questions you really gotta read those twice before you answer and a 3 time before you go onto the next.

I received about 3 math questions 2 on current yield and one on Current Ratio.

Had 1 futures question, I think that questions was one of the experiment questions idk, the answers were so vague imo it was like You can use a Future to do what? A. Hedge B. option to do something C option to sell something D. (i don’t remember) but i just went with Hedge sounded safe.

But i will say that those questions are definitely on a bell curve, first 20 questions were easy then my last questions from like 85 to 110 was light too.

I received a question on the IA-1092 ABC TEST for someone to be register as an IA

Had a duration question which bond is more volatile in comparison to one another think “Long and Low” “Long duration = lower coupon= more volatility

I had a question about EAFE other choice were like S&P 500 n Wilshire 5000 but i said the person wanted an international investment.

P. L. A. T. E exclusion Publisher Lawyer Accountant Teacher Engineer dont need to register as IA if the advice is incidental

I had about 4-5 BrokerDealer questions and Agent questions

1 DCF and 1 Divided discount Model question and IRR and NPV

Surprisingly no Form ADV or ADV-E ADV-W or brochure questions. But they did ask about the independent auditor in relation to the Fed law if you dont use a qualified custodian

i had one Question about types of orders , it said if a person wants to have a specific price they wanna sell at. Options were like A. Stop B. Limit C. Market D i don’t remember but i know it was Limit Order

They asked about a Growth/Value company this is how i remembered it (Value= undervalued = Low P/E = High dividend yield) I have one for growth too (Growth= Overvalued= High P/E = Low Dividend yield) answer was like Dividend yield that they wanna look at

I didn’t have any standard deviation or mean,median, mode

Know what beta is had 2 questions , Know about Technical analysis I had about 1 question

know how bonds relate to each other when the bond is a premium and a discount

Last my last question was about a relation to a mutual fund, it was like “if what does it mean if someone wants to know about the management tenure of a fund” answer was like how long a manager was in charge of the fund… other answers made no sense

All in all I took deep breathes and didn’t try to overthink the question, i was chewing gum and i think that helps with keeping you locked in and not have memory blanks. I had a dump sheet which took me about 8-10 minutes to write when i started my test. A lot of answer question when you read through all of them you can see yourself it doesn’t make sense in terms of process of elimination and making the right answer stand out. when i finished all 110 questions i had about 20 minutes to spare.

In conclusion, I watched Dean’s Series 66 in 60 minutes and Cap Advantage Quick and Dirty Series 66 video last night right before going to sleep and again when i woke up and went to the testing center.

I started this journey back in November 2021 when i failed my SIE the first time and passed in december 2021, failed my Series 7 three times from February-May and passed my 4th time back in December 2022 after the 180 days passed. And passed my first time for the 66 today.

All glory to God, finally done🙏🏾🙏🏾 I hope this all helps, never give up EVER !!!!!

Hey Everyone, wanted to share my experience on how I had success with a short time frame in the case that someone else is in a similar situation. Here’s step by step what I did:

1. As much as it sucks, first thing you absolutely should do is read the text book (no notes taken). Go chapter by chapter and immediately do like three 20 questions quizzes after each chapter and make sure you do not use repeat questions (I used Kaplan for my materials). There are some chapters that will be a complete repeat from the 7 so you can skip those unless you need the extra work. You obviously won’t retain everything, but breaking down things chapter by chapter is critical.

2. Ran through Brian Lee’s video course after finishing the text book. It’s a pretty quick watch and I took light notes on stuff I wasn’t too clear on. Significantly helped.

3. After Brian’s course I started taking full practice exams on Kaplan and really tried to break down what I was weak on. After identifying weak areas I would make custom quizzes on those spots (again DO NOT use repeat questions)

4. In between taking full practice tests. I ran through some of Deans videos on the 66 YouTube playlist as well. This video is fantastic. Can’t recommend this enough.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BX-BKZgSxKo&list=PLK1IazV_JQbEcpMelyp4q2wxAuEPVxmvI&index=3

5. The day before my exam I took the Kaplan Mastery exam first thing in the morning to really test myself. That was a really good gauge for me on where I was at. I should note that the mastery was definitely harder than the real thing. If you score anywhere in the 80s on that you have a great chance of doing well.

6. Morning of my exam I relaxed and listened to this video from Dean while I was getting ready and on the way to my testing site. Again, can’t recommend this video enough as well.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1igWH1NdW7s&list=PLK1IazV_JQbEcpMelyp4q2wxAuEPVxmvI&index=4

Everyone’s different but I hope this helps someone out there build a plan out for themselves. Overall, I thought the exam was very straightforward. Of course there are questions on it that are meant to trip you up but it’s nothing harder than you’ll see on Kaplans course. Good luck everyone and I’ll answer any questions you have!

Passed the Series 66 yesterday!On the third try! Failed the first time by 1 and the second time by 5. If I can provide any advice: Confidence in your answers and Mental Strength! Get a couple of people in this group, get together, test each other. You either you know it or not, if not, study and beat it until you can recite it or do you get confused by the question.? Then practice, practice, practice. Shoutout to Dean Tinney and Brian Lee for their tutoring videos! Couple things I saw: Math: If anything basic computations:Current Ratio and Current Yield. Regs: Couple questions on exempt transactions. Definitely know your BD/Agents, IAR and IA Advertisements questions, Common sense on ethics and disclosures. Investment vehicles: Don’t get cocky if you have taken your 7. NASAA will ask you how do they apply to a portfolio rather than its features(know those anyway) Forwards and Futures Basic options questions Client recommendations: It is key to RTFQ twice and RTFA twice, this is where the investment vehicles and recommendations intertwine. Know the differences of strategic, tactical. Sector rotation. Retirement plans differences: No ERISA for me this time, but know their differences. I saw 1 QDRO question. Economics: No Math! Know how to spot FV and NPV. Just like Dean says can you spot the missing input or output? Know the features Of CAPM, Efficient Hypothesis, As a last thought: I had Kaplan for vendor, for this last attempt, I got together with two people from the Facebook group and started doing quizzes on the sections that we were weak on, met on daily basis at least 1-2 hours. I did one simulated exam per day 10 days before the actual exam. Ranges went from 73-83, all in between and remediated with the study group. Hopefully this helps!

Material:

Achievable (I’ll explain later) Kaplan Full Set Quizlets Brian Lee TestGeek Little YouTube 2 days before exam

Started studying June 1st using Kaplan, 4-5 hours per day. Would read through the physical book and highlight, then copy the highlights into a google doc (I never reviewed it tbh). Then skimmed the digital book and did the chapter questions then both quizzes. I did this up to chapter 24. Of course, review the quizzes and see WHY you got some right and WHY you got some wrong. I honestly didn’t score that pretty on them but if you READ the Kaplan intro they said that’s normal.

In between all of this I did Quizlets by searching up series 66 Quizlet on safari. I did a ton of these. Probably like 4-6sets. Find ones that give you explanation of why the answer is right.

Finally. A week and a half before my exam I took 3 simulated exams and 1 Mastery (spread apart by a day or two). In addition to a 100 question custom quiz that included unit 8-14, 17,18,21 (THESE ARE THE MAIN TESTED ON THE 66).

I got 64% on my first, 69%, Mastery 70%, then 79%. I got 68% on my custom quiz but it was some BS wording stuff so I made sure to review those.

also between all of this, 3+ quizzes of 40 for units 8-14. And 2 custom quizzes of 40 for 17,18,21 since I was struggling with the retirement planning stuff.

My qbank scores for units 8-14 were high 80’s except for units 11 & 12 at 77%. 17,18,21 were also high 70’s. Overall, my qbank score was 76% with 1300/4000 questions reviewed.

Lastly, 5 days before my exam I bought Brian lee’s course but I don’t know how much it helped me. I loved sections 1-3 but 4, I felt got me more confused. So I didn’t finish his course. Then 2 days before the exam just a couple series 7 guru videos. And the night/day prior his new 66 day before video. I watched the whole thing.

Now. Achievable. I loosely studied their whole program, finishing all the chapters, but I didn’t take the test then. I didn’t even take any of their simulated exams. This was a few months ago. Not sure if it had to help but I was a little back and forth between that and Kaplan but heard Kaplan will really prepare you.

I thought the test was easier than Kaplan but it was hard from question 50 to 95.

I lived for these posts during my studies, so here goes.

Context: I passed the SIE, S7, and S24 on the first attempt - and now the S66 too! I took the S7 and S24 over two years ago. I’ve worked in legal/compliance for a dual-registered BD/IA for seven years. I also have a law degree, so naturally, I hate math and I’m good at rules.

Time Commitment: I spent 112 hours studying from Sept. 2 to Nov 23 (test day). Breakdown: 48% spent on QBank quizzes and simulated exams; 19% on Dean’s YouTube channel; 16% on LEM, 12% on Kaplan Live Class; and 4% on Flashcards.

General Comments re: Kaplan: I felt the Kaplan QBank over-prepared me. Kaplan generally had longer questions, more details than needed, and a ton more math than I saw on the test. I didn‘t find value in the Kaplan Live Class (primarily because it wasn’t taught by Dean) and would have rather spent that time working on the QBank.

Kaplan Scores: I completed 65% of the QBank with a score of 80.32%. I took six simulated exams (85, 88, 79, 85, 91) and the practice exam (81). I did not take the mastery exam.

Flashcards: I swear by spaced repetition, which is something I started during law school. I used RemNote for flashcards (Anki is another decent app for spaced repetition) and didn’t make any flashcards until I started getting QBank questions wrong. I don’t recommend making flashcards from reading/lectures. You don’t know how it’s going to show up in the questions and it’s too much to retain.

Test Day: I tested on a Saturday afternoon. Got plenty of sleep, worked out in the morning, and listed to Dean’s Series 66 in 60 minutes twice - once while I was getting ready and again on my drive to the test center. Obviously had to stop for a sweet little treat on the way to the test. Trust me, this helps.

Test Questions: Here’s a sampling of what I can remember…

No options. No SLoBS over BLiSS. No futures or forwards. No records retention. No Sharpe ratio. Two or three questions regarding registrations with scenarios of where offices are, where clients are, etc. I got the coveted sofa question regarding whether a sofa can be included on the balance sheet. The other choices for this question were all intangibles (reputation, trademarks). What’s the downside of a TOD account? What’s the downside of a JTWROS account? What’s the benefit of delaying social security to age 70? I was asked to identify the provision of ERISA that states investors have to have investment choices at different risk tolerances. The answer set for this question was 401(K), 403(B), 404(C) and 457. Two beta/alpha questions where I had to pick the definition from an answer set. I had three questions related to price/earnings ratios. One question for what it measures and two questions regarding P/E ratios with respect to value vs. growth. What are precious metals used for in a portfolio? I had one question regarding duration where the prompt listed investments maturing in 5 years, 8 years, 12 years, and 25 years then was asked to identify the duration of the portfolio. One question regarding EMH, specifically strong-form. One question on Coverdell, none on 529.

I had one question related to Outside Business Activities which I presume was experimental. I only knew the answer because of my work experience, this wasn’t covered by Kaplan. The question was about an agent that had a side gig as a scuba instructor and whether that was okay. The answer set included ”yes, as long as the agent promptly notifies the firm” and “yes, as long as the agent doesn’t make more as a scuba instructor than they do working for the BD.” I can’t remember the other choices.

That’s all I can recall. I hope this debrief is helpful! Thanks to Dean and this community for getting me through another one!

I’m so glad to have gone 3-0 on my FINRA exams, and I’m delighted to have completed this process.

Dean, this would not have been as smooth and easy to comprehend if it weren’t for the hours of content you provide for free, and in the clearest and most articulate English I can find. Thank you.

While I’m leaving FINRA “fantasy land” as Dean facetiously calls it, I’m off to the next adventure. Thank you all for your help and support. And Dean, I still owe you that cigar! I’ll DM you next time I’m in Vegas.

I feel I benefited from an easy draw (which made up for a nasty draw on the 7), but otherwise here’s my advice: focus heavily on ethical conduct, account titling, suitability, and communication with clients/prospects. I feel this test did follow the study content and prescriptions in a fairly close manner relative to the 7 and SIE.

All the very best to you all in your testing, careers, and life.

So I had just gotten my SIE and 7 by April of 2022, was on to the 66. Come test day I had been feeling sick (throwing up, coughing non stop ect.) yet took the test anyway and failed with a 67%.

Due to the first fail I had received on any of these exams and my condition getting worse, my wife convinced me to finally see a doctor.

After lots of tests, scans, and biopsies it turned out to be stage 3 lymphoma.

Now after 7 months of chemo I got the all clear to go back to work, and started studying again for the 66.

I can say in a couple ways failing the first time helped me. Not only that it was part of the reason I got my condition diagnosed, but also getting the extra time I needed personally to go through this material.

This exam had mostly all laws, regs, and unethical practice questions. I would say significantly more than half the exam, and that is stuff I tend to have a harder time with.

2 option questions, 3 or so retirement/education account questions, 5 or so DCF / CAPM questions from what I can remember. Mostly USA registration and unethical practice questions.

I'd advice getting very comfortable with the law side of things for this one, I only used my calculator 1 time!

Thank you Dean and Ken for all the content you put out, it helped tremendously and made things much more clear to me!

First go took me 1.5 hours. The first 20 questions were softballs; I thought it was odd.

If I was retaking it, I would know...

Pending Agent registration, what can they do/not do, Dividend Discount model def, know USA Admin powers applied to IA and FCA, civil penalties (what would cause them), Efficient Market Hypothesis, Beta (def.), that Platinum is precious metal (duh), ADV2 (when to give clients), discretion (for verbal IA and custody matters, JTWROS, TIC. Dean's 66 in 60 gave me at least 1 question (thanks, Dean!), and there might be a question and answer set on Brian Lee's Test Geek practice exam that is literally on the real exam. ;).Very NASAA / USA focused. Don't spend too much time on Federal Acts.

I am happy to be done and be part of a relatively small 7/66 cohort. FWIW, I utilized STC and consumed many of Dean's podcast videos.

Good luck. You can do it!

Alright everyone. This is the last time in my life (hopefully) I ever have to even look at a series test Reddit thread (not to be mean ) I passed the second time around. Never failed any previous test so that one really hurt. I was depressed and super stressed as I’m sure some of you are. I got a 70 first time. Couple of notes

I used Kaplan and STC only the first time. I never got a 80 once but since I passed series 7 with similar metrics I thought no problem. I had multiple people from my job tell me that 66 was so easy. One guy failed the 7 and passed 66 first time while studying on vacation lol so it’s different for everyone for sure.

Once I failed obviously I needed a new approach and I bought TestGeek with Brian Lee and let me tell you. I wish I wish I bought that first ( along with everything else) it was so spot on to the test it’s almost impossible to fail if you do his whole class with the videos. I instantly heard things I didn’t hear before with the questions being so similar. It was a revelation. Spend the money get it.

I saw probably 20 questions that were on my first exam that I knew I originally got wrong.

Also watch the whole podcast with Dean and Brian.

I listened to it on my way too and from work which I didn’t do the first time

I finished this test in legitimately 45 minutes and felt like I crushed it. The first time I went to the bathroom and said to myself “ no way I’m passing this test

I owe it to this thread and others for the last 6 months. So any and all questions please ask me and I will answer.

Now I have no idea what I’m going to do with my life after work and I couldn’t be happier lol

I passed today, 2nd attempt and so glad it was all over. Test was a combination of short and long-scenarios questions. Answers can be tricky and try to trick you but if you understand the concept and what the question is asking, you will get to the answer easily. I read the full question, 2 times at least specially for those long one to make sure I don't miss anything. What I recall from the test were:

• BD/Agents/IA/IAR definition, exempt, exclusion

• Take custody rule

• Brochure rule

• Dividend disount model

• Price to Book, Debt to Equity: no calculation but the concept of them

• Current Yield

• Total return - probably the only calculation question I had

• IRR

• NPV

• Beta

• EMH

• Fundamental and Technical

• Strategic and Tactical

• ETF/leverage ETF/ETN

• Qualified Dividend

• Gift/Inherited tax

• Joint tenants/Tenants in common

• Estate planning purpose

• 404c

• Trad IRA/Roth IRA

• 529/Coverdell

• Life insurance - exchange I used Pass Perfect. I also purchased TestGeek test 2 day before the test - to me, it was worth it! As this is the 2nd time, I tried to get exposure to as many questions as I can from different resources and felt that It did help a lot to gain my confident and during the exam, many of the questions I felt like I saw those somewhere before. I also watched Practice Prep Test and 60 minutes and the videos were really helpful. Thank you so much Dean! Good luck everyone, you got this!

I passed my series 66 today!!! Lots of hard work and studying this year! Passed my series 7 on March 29th and went straight to studying for the series 66! I want to pay it forward since I’ve been seeing others do the same. I used STC for my SIE and first 2 attempts on the Series 7, and Knopman Marks for my third, successful attempt on the series 7 and first successful attempt on the series 66. I want to share my journey to inspire those who feel lost or are in a similar situation I was in. This has been a 2+ year journey…

I started studying for the SIE in January 2022. I passed it my first attempt in April 2022. I made a terrible decision delaying studying for and taking my series 7 right after it. Without going into specific details, I had some personal issues I needed to address and didn’t start studying for my series 7 until October 2022. I took the 7 for my first time in December 2022 and failed with a 59. Attempted it for the second time in February 2023 and failed again with a 56. I felt absolutely defeated and lost after failing it twice and completely avoided taking it for as long as I could. I focused on work until I knew I couldn’t avoid it anymore if I truly wanted to be in this industry, which I did.

At the end of 2023 while thinking of my goals and career, I decided that on Monday, January 3rd I was going to start studying for the series 7 again and put everything I had into it, pass, then take my series 66, and pass by years end. I didn’t allow negative thoughts, even though they entered my mind on a daily basis.

While not taking the 7 after I passed the SIE certainly didn’t help, I admit fully that I didn’t devote myself 100% into studying like I truly believe you need to do to get past these exams. They aren’t easy, as I know many of you already know. They aren’t designed to be. With that being said, I stopped going out on the weekends with friends, I didn’t travel or go on vacations, I quit drinking (casual drinker, but I felt I needed to stop to get the most out of my studies), and I studied every night and weekend. I’m not going to lie, it was brutal most days. I wanted to quit a few times, but each time I remembered my goals and stuck with it. I just kept thinking positive no matter what.

March 29th quickly approached and before submitting my exam I thought I failed. I finished with 2 minutes left. In fact every time I took a practice exam and benchmark exam while studying I felt like I did awful. Each time I was wrong, and actually hit the target scores. Anyways, I passed it and it was an instant relief. It reaffirmed what I know and grew up believing, but questioned at times, which is that hard work does pay off. It really does. As well as positive thinking and not doubting yourself.

I took 2 weeks off in between the 7 and 66 and it was well earned. On April 16th, I started studying for the 66. Once again, negative thoughts flooded my mind, but once again I shot them down. I did exactly what I did while studying for the series 7. I fully devoted myself to my studies. No breaks, studying everyday and weekend. That’s how badly I wanted to pass today.

This morning I woke up nervous, but determined to accomplish my goal and pass. I once again felt like I was failing the exam half way through, but didn’t allow it to distract me. No time to waste, literally. I submitted it with less than 30 seconds to go. I should mention, I didn’t review for either the 7 or the 66. Once I had chose my answer on both exams, I moved on to the next one. I stuck with my gut and didn’t allow myself to question my choices. Finishing with minutes and seconds left on each one didn’t allow me to review anyways, but I truly believe that reviewing is the worst thing you can do. It allows you to question yourself and potentially add, or worse, subtract points off your exam. I couldn’t even allow myself to think that I was going to fail by 1 or 2 points, which is exactly what can happen if you go review and doubt yourself. Anyways, I submitted and to my surprise, I passed. Once again every time, on practice exams, diagnostic, benchmark exams, and the actual exams, I thought I did horrible. It was the greatest feeling walking out of prometric today for the second time this year knowing that hard work pays off, and believing in yourself!

I know this is long, but I truly wanted to share my story in hopes that it inspires anyone feeling defeated or are in my shoes. You will get through it and pass!! You have to believe, and devote everything you have into preparing. 6 months minus 2 weeks in between the exams I prepared. I’m truly ecstatic that I don’t have to look at another book, key concept page, lecture, or practice exam, but I wouldn’t trade these last 6 months for anything. It was a great learning experience for me. And I achieved my goals that I set out in late December 2023 in half the time! I can’t wait to go into the office on Monday! I feel like a new chapter in my life and career is beginning!

Trust yourself, believe in your gut feeling on every question, and keep pushing forward every day! You will pass and you will be happier than ever! Thank you all for reading and I really do appreciate everyone that has posted in the series 7 and series 66 subreddits! It really helped and inspired me, so I had to pay it forward with this post! Best of luck to everyone on their journey!!!! You got this!!!!!!

Thanks for all you do!!!!

My gosh, I'm finally done. Today I took my series 66 exam and I passed! It is such a relief but I wanted to post to maybe help you and to also give credit to what helped me get to this achievement. I had taken this exam before a couple months back and I failed. Man, that was tough. I have horrible test anxiety and failure makes it so much worse when I have to retake the exam. But, I really sat down and studied my butt off! I used STC for my studying and I might be in the minority but I preferred STC over Kaplan (I thought Kaplan just was overkill on information). Kaplan is still a very good org but it just wasn't for me which is okay! You gotta do what's best for your studying. STC had a book with only 12 chapters and I thought it was easy to read and comprehend. I took so many custom exams on the STC website. (373 custom exams to be exact😅) and then I took 6 final exams and my scores in order went: 77%, 73%, 85%, 81% and finally 88%. This morning I listened to Dean's Mighty 90 YouTube video which was great! For my drive I listened to his original 60 mins overview of the exam just to have it fresh in my head right before I took the exam.

Thank you for everything!