I took the 3 test every two years (requirement at the IB I worked at). First time it took about a week of study. After the first time, a weekend was all that was needed to refresh in areas I hadn't used.
Just recently took the Series 7 a 2-3 weeks ago. Studied a total of 4 full days. Passed with 80%. Pretty easy. A lot of useless information to be learned. Just know your options and municipal securities, and your 50% done.
I would like to inquire about the Series 7. Is most of the test on Options and Municipals, as I've seen on some replies. I will adjust my studies accordingly. Like to hear from other traders. Thanks
Bones, Options is clearly the most easiest part of the section. You can learn a whole lot more about options from like CBOE.com, than from any of those studying materials. People have a hard time with options because they don't grasp the concept of contracts, put, calls, out of the money, in the money. Once you understand it, you'll easily score in the 90% for options. The rest of the test is memorization of rules and regulations and junk. Just take the practice tests, and see where you need to study more. Btw, I used the STC books, no cd's or videos. Just take a couple of days off from work, and study for it. Reading the book should take only a full day. After that, take all of the practice exams. After each exam, grade it and then read the answers for questions u got wrong. Not to mention, mark the ones you guessed on or had difficulty during the test too. After taking them all. Go back and test yourself again on the problems you got wrong the first time around. Dont waste your time doing the oens you already got right the first time. It'll save you a ton of time. If you were really paying attention while you were reading the answers, you should easily answer most of them right. If not, reread the answers again until you do get most of them right. Good luck. xbrxx
To the author of this post, the replies that you have gotten on here seem to sound like the tests are EASY. Don't be mistaken!! I would guess that a lot of the people on this bpard already have some knowledge of the markets before they took the test. Hence, it was easier for them. If this is something that is somewhat new to you, DON"T TAKE THESE TESTS LIGHTLY. I studies for about three months for the 7. Granted, it may have been a total of 10-12 hours per week becauae I was working full time too. But, ..................... The keys to the series 7: 1) Know the options 2) Know municipals 3) TAKE THE PRACTICE TESTS 3-4 times over and over 4) Sit for the test ASAP as soon as you take all the tests and feel that you are scoring in the 80s on them. If you do the above 4 things, you are almost gaurenteed to pass it on the first try. I did these four things and I passed it on the first try. I have heard several other people that followed these steps and passed it immediately as well. Also, people told me the 55 was real easy when I was asking questions like you, and the reality was that the series 55 was a bitch, it was a very very very very hard test for someone with no prior experince in the markets or knowing about market makers functions etc. Lets put it this way, I didn't pass the 55 on the first try!!!!!!!! Good luck!!
the 55 was much harder than than the 7, contrary to what everyone said to me beforehand. i scored a 91 on the 7, felt better about the 55 material going into the test and only scored an 84. i agree with the advice, read the material once, then take as many practice tests as possible, and study the answers. also, the Dearborn material was much better (more difficult) than the STC material. i was scoring in the 70's on the practice tests, then scored the above on the real thing.
I had to to take the Series 3 three times, and I barely passed. I studied a lot too. I got a 70% on the Market Knowledge section and a 97% on the Regs. giving me an average of 78%. All I have is a series 3. I do not have the other tests to compare to. I would probably have trouble with the series 7 and just forget the other ones. I am getting too old for this. Michael B.
Have recently heard of people that basically do this, i.e. guys that have a 27 who make some fairly good cash to check out and sign off on some stuff for the businesses that need someone there to be a principal where nobody else wants to take the test. so the question still remains, how hard is this test these days? The info says 40 hours study required. Someone benchmark this thing against the 7 or 55.
Series 7 was easy, studied for 4 weeks (day and nite), scored 93%. Series 4 is a tougher one, scored 84% (get ready to calculate things like the margin requirement on Japanese yen bear spreads, etc and know a ton of regulations).