The NEW Series 66 Exam
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Has anybody taken the new Series 66 yet? It now covers more topics and a 75 is required to pass it. I will be taking it soon, so I’m looking for some input. Thanks.
Just took it this morning. Got an 83%. The topics used to be 80% law 20% recommendations and ethics. It is 50/50 now.
Thanks. Now the easy stuff is over. Time to do some real work.congrats
what materials did you use to study for the Series 66? And how long did it take? Is the new 66 test this year harder than last?
Hey HAcoreRD — What did you get on the Series 7?? I’m just looking for the relationship between the 7 & 66 scores and wondering if the 10 point spread NOVA mentioned was true in your case. Thanks.
Given that I was prop trading statistical risk arbitrage I already had a fairly deep understanding of the topics covered in the series 7. We were effectively shut down on August 28th saying would could not continue trading until we had passed the Series 7. I guess it was a new rule with the Chicago stock exchange. I passed the 7 on Sept 14th with an 86%. It was a piece of cake.
The 66 .... I had to take it when I got on with AGE and was shaking in my boots when I hit that last button that gives you the score. Every question was a paragraph of lawyer babble. If they made it harder I hate it for the new guys.The problem with the 65/66 is not that the material is that hard. It really is a lot of confusing language. “All of the following aren’t exempt except…”
I got an 83% on the 66 and a 92% on the 7. So pretty close, lol.
I studied with Training consultants. I passed, but it wasn't like my experience with the 7. When I took the 7 every question looked familiar and if I didn't know it, I felt like I had atleast heard something about it. With the 66 there were a few questions that might as well have been in a different language because I had never seen any material even closely related. I believe the key to passing the 66 is REALLY knowing what the question is asking for. I know that sounds simple but there are a lot of questions that if you don't take your time and read them correctly you think they are asking something else. As Gaddock stated, the questions are written by lawyers. [quote=iceco1d]Not saying you can't do it in 2 weeks, you probably can; just taking a guess as to why a lot of people score lower on the 66.
[/quote] Some places only give you two weeks. I had exactly two weeks from the time I received my 66 book till my test date.
I took the 66 at the tail end of Dec. I think HAcore said it best when he said
"I know that sounds simple but there are a lot of questions that if you don't take your time and read them correctly you think they are asking something else" A coworker took it in the begining of Dec, failed with a 70 (!!!!!!!!) and then took it again last week and passed... He said the questions were formatted the same, but were actually written with greater clarity. He said he really thought the new version of the test was easier then the previous. It bears repeating... just make sure you read the questions all the way through, and understand exactly what is being asked, and dont let your choice be driven by the answers. Chances are, if you read the question wrong, the answer to the misread will be there as well.Having passed both the 7 and 66 last month, here is my observation: The biggest difference is the way the 66 asks the question. Each question is a small paragraph of babble. You need to navigate through that to reach the actual question. And in some cases the question itself is obtuse. When I took the 7, I was very confident in the expected results. I felt prepared and the questions were easy compared to the ones on the Pass Perfect practice tests I had been taking. Not quite the same with the 66, in the end I had almost 20 questions that was still scratching my head over. On many of those I must have guessed right because I scored an 84%.
Best results come from devoting the same energy that you did with the 7 and take as many practice tests as you can.
You said in an earlier posting that if you chart the question you had better results. What exactly do you mean by this?
Nice. Did you get the new material to study or used last years and just went for it?
Not sure if this question was directed at me… but…
I was planning on taking the S66 Test in early January. Figured with holiday travel and whatnot I wouldn’t have the time and energy to get it done earlier. But when my Managing Principal dropped the memo that reported the test changes, I changed my plans.
I first called Keir (Pass Perfect) and asked about new study materials. The response was if you were taking the S66 Program on-line then everything would change effective January 1. All practice tests & quizzes would be zero’d out. Aaargh. Not sure how they intended on dealing with those with hard copy texts and practice materials. I suspect if you called they would send you an updated book of practice tests.
Anyway, since my progress was pretty far along I decided to press on and get it done prior to the changes. Eliminate any uncertainty. As luck would have it the testing center was open New Year’s Eve so I scheduled the test for then. That gave me three days to cram after returning from visiting my son out of state for Christmas.
That worked for me.
As I understand it, the study materials are the same but instead of a 80-20% split of test questions (legal/ethical versus analysis), the current test if an even 50-50 split.
My thought is that you can continue to pursue through the original study materials but try to take the practice tests using the new and updated question bank. As I previously reported I thought many of the S66 questions were unduly complicated and obtuse and it would serve you well to see how they present the extra 30% of analysis questions.
For what it is worth I scored several points higher on Analysis than on Legal/Ethical.
Thx Capatain. I lost my practice test questions. Do you happen to know where I can get more and not spend more money?
Whew!! That was close!! I took the NEW Series 66 exam today. A few observations…
- I used the old STC material and an addendum for the new stuff... Except for about 10 questions, I might as well have been doing something else for the last month, instead of studying for the 66 - There were virtually NO questions about the myriad of filing types and exemptions of securities and IA's and IAR's, etc (a few, but not many). - I scored 11 points below what I got on the 7 and, when I hit submit, I had no idea if I had passed or failed. - If you have either better study materials or just a really good logic-based common sense approach to the questions, you should be ok... I hope. Don't take it lightly!!