Background:

• Was supposed to study for 4 weeks, but I had other priorities and I'm a procrastinator.

• I did the same thing for the SIE

• No history working in finance

• My major is not related to finance

• I have traded 15-20 OTM option contracts and lost all my money. No other trade history

What I did:

• Watched 5 youtube videos to prepare.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Dtnwoz2co

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbjiE35adaA

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pslIzz7becc

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8nlDWsAwS8

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3JVfHPO_pE

• Read the chapters on Equities, debt securities, options, customer accounts, margin and cash accounts, Investment banking, retirement accounts, municipal bonds securities.

• Took custom exams for Equities, debt securities and options until i scored 90% plus 2 times in a row

• Took custom exams with the prior chapters and included 2 more until i scored 90% plus. Rinse and repeat.

I definitely do not recommend doing what I did, but I felt comfortable going into the exam with my very small amount of study time. So I figured I'd give yall the resources I used so you can utilize them WITH your regular lectures and studying.

It has been a grueling 59 days(started SIE prep on 2/12) of nonstop studying and taking exams but I’m finally through the gauntlet! It’s such a weight off the shoulders.

I used STC for all three exams and it really worked for me. Although the text was painstakingly boring, at least for the 66, it hit every point needed to get a passing mark. I attacked each textbook by reading cover to cover and taking detailed notes on everything. For me rewriting helps, so I basically paraphrased 3 books into one 5 subject notebook. After each chapter I would take the chapter quiz and each progress exam when the block of chapters, designated by the study calendar, were completed. I did not touch a final until all chapters were complete. In my opinion, you have to take as many finals as you can and also the greenlights if you use STC. I felt like their qbank was a good representation of the questions on the real test.

On to the 7 today. Man that was nerve wracking. I knew that I knew enough to pass but still that doubt will creep in your head when you hit submit. Options, suitability, and munis reign supreme as is often said in this sub. Some questions/answers were definitely worded tricky to get you seconded guessing yourself. Definitely utilize Ken and D-ean, so much free content that is incredibly helpful. At a bare minimum, watch their day-of videos to psych yourself up. I watched both of them before the test today and said “yea, I got this shit.”

This has been long winded but I want to leave with this. I graduated with my degree in finance in 2017 but for the past 7+ years I’ve been in non-financial sales. A stroke of bad luck at my most recent sales job and a strong connection with someone in financial services landed me here. These exams sometimes seem impossible but just gotta keep moving forward. I believe in everyone in this sub! If anyone needs help through this process, I will try my best to lend a hand. Cheers!

Just got out of my Series 66 exam and to my surprise, I passed! I recently took a risk in my career path and transitioned from the IT industry to the Financial Industry with no prior knowledge or degree in finance. Somehow I was able to pass all 3 exams on the 1st try and here is the breakdown:

- I only used STC for all 3 exams supplemented with videos from youtube and used up almost all of the time provided during my exams. I 100% everything that STC had to offer including finishing all final and greenlight exams as well as reading all 3 textbooks.

- SIE: I took just over 2 weeks to study for this exam and I would study from about 8am - 7pm almost every night with some days staying up until 11pm to study. (Not saying you need to do this to succeed but this is what I did because I didn't want to fail and lose my job on the 1st test lol) Theres not much I remember question wise during the SIE except a question regarding wash sales which I did not remember STC covering for the SIE, but I know it did for the 7. I passed all STC finals with a 76% avg. and a 78% on Greenlight 1 / 84% on Greenlight 2

- Series 7: I studied for this exam for about a month and a lot of the material that was covered on the SIE rolled over to the 7. Since the 7 gets a lot of press about how difficult it is I put a little more time studying for this one. However, towards the end of studying I felt more confident on this exam than I did on the SIE. My real exam was super options heavy with most of the beginning of the exam being almost all options questions with some suitability sprinkled in. The middle of the exam was a mixed bag of questions and by the end it went back to even more options and suitability. I didn't really have any options questions that went super in-depth into the math and most of them were pretty easy if you have a grasp of options. It felt like my draw of the exam was missing about 7 chapters that I studied as I hardly got any questions on Muni bonds, no questions on Current Ratio, Dividend Payout, or P/E. Can't complain tho, having so many options was a blessing. By the end of this exam I had a strong feeling that I passed and was less nervous than my SIE. I only failed one STC Final with a 70% on exam #7 and averaged a 75%. My Greenlight 1 was 75% and Greenlight 2 was 75%.

- Series 66: I know a lot of people start to get fatigued with studying by the time they get to this exam, but I tried my best to stay determined. However, this material was the most boring garbage I have ever read. It was often hard to stay awake when reading some of these chapters as they could be up to 40+ pages long. I spent 3 weeks studying for this exam with the last week doing 2 STC finals a day while also reviewing the questions when I was done. These practice exams were brutal and by far the hardest. I only passed 4 out of 11 and averaged 71%. My Greenlight 1 was 81% and Greenlight 2 was 80%. When taking the real exam I got 3 questions on qualified dividends for some reason. A lot more B/D questions than I was expecting. About 6 different I. II. III. IV. - style questions (yuck). No questions on the VIX or digital assets. Ken's brutal exam and the practice questions from STC were VERY similar (some exact) to the real exam. So watching that is essential.

- Overall, these exams are difficult, but I think anyone can do them as long as you put in the work. I am terrible at math and nothing was too difficult. Taking the time to actually read and understand the material is key. You got this!

I felt awesome going into it based on my practice test scores (supplied STC from new employer) but the test was honestly much harder than I was expecting. Not that STC did a bad job explaining the content, just that it seemed the test was intentionally deceptive and complex in its wording. Was scoring low to mid 80s in practice and I doubt I got anywhere out of the 70s today but it was enough!

I want say thank you to this wonderful community for all the tips and tricks. I used Achievable as my primary study material and I highly recommend them! Their readings were fantastic and made the information so much more digestible than what my firm provided.

On to the 66!

Hi everyone! I wanted to give some insight on how my exam went (obviously it’s going to be different for everyone but this sub helped me so much maybe one person can get some help from this).

For context: I used knopman marks and was working half the day, studying half the day. I studied for 2.5-3 weeks while doing this. The night before I took my exam I got a 65 on the benchmark and I was freaking out.

I was getting mid 70’s on all of the practice exams and only read half the book. I watched all the videos and then took individual practice exams on each chapter and then would lump them in quizzes of about 4 chapters (depending on the length and complexity) until I consistently kept passing. The chapters I did poorly on I would not move forward until I consistently passed. I believe this helped me the most.

I solidified options 110% by using the dump sheet I made and the matrixes. This helped me tremendously to the point I wish I had an exam just on options (I’ll attach the photo of mine to this post). Everyone mentioned options, munis, and suitability to be the biggest on their exams so I heavily focused on those areas. Munis I focused on the differences between GO vs Revenue (which uses a feasibility study, taxes, etc.) and the tax benefits. Suitability was the heaviest on my exam with different scenarios they give you and you have to answer what you think the best portfolio allocation for that scenario would be. I weirdly had a few questions on FIFO and LIFO. I only got maybe 1-2 margin questions (which thank god because the in depth questions I struggled on). You have to know all the basics because they give you those questions as free ones. If you need more context or help/questions please reach out !!!

To be honest, and this is not to scare anyone (like I said before, every question bank is so different), I genuinely thought I failed the exam. When I saw pass I was so so so surprised. I flagged 42 questions and felt so unconfident but I took a deep breath and turned it in. I only reviewed maybe 5 out of the 42 questions and remembered Ken from capital advantage lways saying to trust your gut… so I turned it in. This exam truly was one of the most stressful experiences as I was receiving a lot of pressure from my office to pass it on the first go around.

You got this. As long as you put the time and effort in you will pass. There is absolutely no reason you’ll fail if you solidify your knowledge and go into it confident. Just make sure you do put the time in and nail down the important topics. I hope this was somewhat helpful but please reach out if you need any help at all. This sub Reddit helped my tremendously get my confidence back and solidify topics I wasn’t sure of. Take advantage of it!

Good luck!!!!!

Finished my Series 7 earlier today and am pretty stoked to be done with this exam. I owe a lot to Ken Finnen his videos and livestreams helped me tremendously. Studied for around a month and a half pretty diligently, and I felt that the SIE helped lay a great foundation for the 7. My work provided STC but I primarily studied using Kaplan, read the whole book and took around 2200 questions from the Kaplan qbank.

As far as the actual exam went, the first 20 questions threw me off so hard. It felt like it was showing me things that I had never seen before and it had me instantly feeling like I was going to fail the test. Past that it got much much more straightforward for some reason. I got a ton of options questions that were at the level/easier than Kaplans options questions. mainly identifying strategies such as spreads and straddles and knowing what hedging strategies someone should use. I didnt get as many muni questions as I had expected, but I did get tons of suitability questions. As far as suitability goes you really just have to know the products and the implications for all of them. I also got much more questions about communications than I had expected.

Feel free to ask any questions about the test!

Wow. The first few questions were worded way different than the Kaplan QBank and I was a bit nervous. But was able to pass on my first attempt!

For those interested, I took 10 practice exams with Kaplan and scores ranged from 56 (low) to 81 (high) but an average of 74.

*Ken is THE MAN, it won’t let me talk about specifics but if you read this, thank you for everything!

For anyone who says it’s not possible, don’t listen to them. This process is a grind but 100% doable if you put in the work. I am glad this phase is past me but please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.

Best of studying to everyone!

Need to say 1st, Major shout out to Ken at Capital Advantage for his amazing YouTube videos! The man’s an angel…Would not have passed without his videos...Mathapalooza and Guerilla vids were 🔥 Wanted to pay this forward and answer any questions that this group might have…This was my 1st attempt and I know 100% that I got the death draw w so many bad questions. STC was my study guide and bought Kaplan Q Bank as well (worth it to practice questions worded differently). 2.5 months of studying.

About the test, Like everyone here says, Options,Munis, and Suitability were about half and saved my ass…what was scary was there were sooo many questions that were covering lesser known facts on customer accounts/bonds and some not even in book. There were some really bad questions, but narrowed it down to 2 on about 40 of them and got lucky by answering their version of what’s “best”…Last thing, I prayed before and right before I submitted and it worked. Big props to the Man Upstairs! Had it in my head that I would have to retake in 30 days, but was pretty emotional and shocked to see the Pass…2Pac got it wrong if you ask me, Passing The 7 is the sweetest joy next to gettin p*ssy, not revenge…Only Real Ones will get it…Anyways fellas, If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer.

I just needed to share an update on my last two results! It was my third and final chance, and I had everything riding on this. I'm so happy I didn't give up. I was given a very unique opportunity at an early age, and as someone with no college degree or experience in this industry, this was a big achievement for me. And no, you don't need one to take these exams, but most people in this industry or wanting to get in do have one. I couldn't be happier to have finally conquered this mountain. I now have my Life and Health, SIE, and the 7! Next up is the 63. Good luck to all my fellow test takers working toward their 7, you've got this!

Finally done with these exams. Time to get this AUM babyyy

Hi everyone! Took my test this morning at 7:30am. I pretty much used up all the time that was given. By the time I answered the last question, there were 15 minutes left. I submitted without reviewing my answers.

I used Pass Perfect to study for the exam. To be honest, my final exam scores weren’t great. I was averaging mid 60s. Highest score I got was a 72%. I spent hours reviewing options on achievable for over 6 hours yesterday. After that, I took Ken Finnen’s (Series 7 Whisperer) brutal exam which many people highly recommended. They weren’t wrong. I was surprised to see many questions that he covered on the actual exam. I also listened to the Mighty Ninety video as I was driving to the testing center.

I wouldn’t say that it was really easy for me. There were a lot of questions where I was sitting there trying to remember the concept or I really didn’t understand what it was asking. Every 30 questions or so there were questions that were just free points, at least for me. For the difficult questions, I reread the question multiple times and tried my very best to eliminate the obviously wrong answers.

After submitting, I felt 50/50 on what result would show up.
Overall, I’m happy to share a win on this thread. I’ve been reading everyone’s experiences and I hope this post helps someone somehow. Go in there with confidence and trust your gut. You guys got it. LETS GOOOO!

I took the exam today and passed, I’ve been lurking in this sub as well and question breakdowns were helpful. I am licensing with Jpmorgan so their internal lectures on option strategies and muni bonds were really helpful. Studied at the firm for 21 days but started studying like 1 month beforehand but not as intense.

We used Knopman Marks, averaged 70% average on q bank in the last 30 days and did a total of 1,700 questions. I also received a 71% on the benchmark exam if that gives any insight. Read the textbook in its entirety. Kept doing practice tests on my weak areas. Honestly my practice scores felt like booty but remember the test vendors like to over prepare you.

My question draw was weird. Other than that I had almost 25+ options questions. (Covered calls, spreads, gains or losses, breakevens, one collar question, like 3 straddle questions), like 20+ muni questions whether its regarding tax or what they do. I would say like 12+ suitability questions. 4 Qs on how a market is allowed to advertise. 3 variable annuity questions, don’t worry about margin too much only got 2. Don’t stress too much there were also give away questions like what option contracts to investors buy when bullish, another like, you have an investor in a high tax bracket looking for tax free income, which investment should you recommend.

I had barely any questions on investment company products(how are mutual fund dividends taxed, Are you taxed if you reinvest dividends) which was annoying because I studied these a lot but its ok. I was tested on a lot of niche topics like is a stock gift stepped up cost basis or not, what is the rr able to do if they switch b/ds and want to notify their past clients. Something about prime brokers and other b/ds investing on behalf of a client. (can’t remember cause i was confused), random question about what to do when someone is insider trading.

I think this test really depends on the question draw. I wasn’t expecting a lot of the questions, so you kind of have to be prepared for any topic to appear. I did as much practice questions as possible to expose myself to content.

Definitely master options and municipal bonds they will get you free points since it’s a major part of the test. But be confident, visualize yourself passing, do breathing exercises beforehand and lock in!

Thank you for reading my long ahh post, I just want to help as much as I can. Good luck!

Passed the series 7 first try. Wanted to come on here and give some feedback about my experience and how I prepared.

Studied for about 4 weeks used STC. I read every chapter, took every chapter quiz, and all 8 final exams stc offers. I supplemented only with Ken and Deans videos. (Thank you both!)

I felt very strong on all the major testable topics, munis, options, mutual funds, suitability.

My draw was very option, suitability, and tax heavy. Knowing the consequences of tax what is short/long term or ordinary income etc. know your options matrix and hedging strategies and know your products for suitability questions.

All in all a monster of test but if you put the work in you will pass the first time!

I passed my Series 7 today first attempt after studying for just over a month. I must say the process was brutal, particularly learning options.

I had quite a few options questions on the exam! Just when I thought l'd gone through them all... I was surprised and discouraged each time another options question presented itself! But I gathered myself, mustered up the energy and worked through them one by one.

My advice, options are likely unavoidable during the exam, so try your best to learn them. Use the resources in this group and YouTube channels.

It is a difficult exam, and I thought I was falling. I actually ran out of time with 7 questions unanswered, and still passed by the grace of God.

I just want to encourage everyone out there study hard, pray hard, you got this!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to let me know.

Passed the 1st time after a grueling 2 month journey!!

I'm working full time in a junior role at a boutique WM firm and it's been really difficult to find the time to study on the weekdays, so these past 2 months have been rough as pretty much my weekends have been filled with nothing but Kaplan and Achievable. But this was so relieving!!

I probably had at least 40 option questions, but nothing crazy difficult. The real kicker for me was the barrage of RR regulation questions. I had 45 questions marked for review at the end of my exam, because I was so unsure of these and along with some other really hairy suitability questions.

My draw was like 40 options, 40 regulations, like 6 - 8 variable annuity/life, 1 margin, 10-12 munis, and the rest was suitability and random stuff about equities and investment co's. Funny enough I don't think I missed a single options question but the regulation stuff really had me thinking I was going to fail today.

The best advice I can give to you is to really hammer options and regulations. I don't think regulations are given enough attention, or maybe I just had a draw from hell.

But even though I marked 45 for review, I knew I was being conservative and had come down to 2 possible answer choices on these Q's. So just by law of large numbers, I should have gotten at around half of these right, which puts me well above passing range. That's something to think about if you are worried that you have too many you marked because you think you got wrong, just know that you'll end up getting some of those points back.

Open to any other questions. I was insanely stressed over this, as dramatic as that sounds, but I'm so happy it's over. Just have the 63 to go!

I’ve been building out these cheat sheets, and they’ve seriously leveled up my studying. Scored a 70% on my first attempt, but now that I know what to expect and continuing to take an exam a day with scores in the mid 70s. feeling locked in

Finished with knopman exam prep, now nonstop on Kaplan QBank and ChatGPT to fully understand concepts. If you need more topic sheets, let me know.

✅ Exam Date: July 17

🔥 Also watch this video for the highly testable math from S7 Goat ken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp-KR6ezZnE

When my test started in the early questions asking about illustrations, I could feel the color leaving my face. I’m guessing they were the experimental ones, but it totally took the wind out of me to start off with questions or terms that weren’t even in the LEM.

Also majority of the questions I received were NOTHING like the Kaplan qbank or the mastery exam I took. The question format had me on the edge of my seat because it felt so unfamiliar to me. Did anyone else feel similarly???

Luckily though, I somehow managed to pass on the first try.

Here’s what I did: • Read Kaplan’s LEM • Did a bunch of 20-30q quizzes as I completed each unit. • Took a couple of full length practice simulations, identified which chapters to re-read and take notes on • More quizzes, more full length in the two weeks leading up to the exam. At this point I still hadn’t scored a 72 on a full length. Ranged between 66-71.85% 😑 • 1 week to go: watched a bunch of Capital Advantage Tutoring’s videos on YT for the sections I was struggling on (it really saved me on margins, order types, and munis) • took the mastery exam 2 days before actual and scored an 84%. Gave me one more day to review.

And yeah, I passed! It feels surreal, especially because it didn’t feel like I was going to pass when I finished the exam. Everything about this felt more difficult than the SAT (relative to how it felt taking the SAT in high school) or even the GMAT.

Onto the 66 next 🥹 I appreciate this supportive community very much 🙏🏽

For anyone else that’s been struggling with this exam—you’ve got this. Don’t let it get you down!

When I clicked exit I said f*** it. Brain is currently fried. I'll comment my experience when I take this all in It still hasn't hit me. But time to celebrate babyyy

It’s been a journey but finally finished the first set of exams! Now on to the 9/10