Series 65 Exam
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So I've been reading these forums for awhile and finally got around to registering. I just passed my series 65 examination and wanted to share my thoughts on the exam and what others should expect.
My biggest concern heading into the exam was that my study material was inadequate and that I wouldn't be properly prepared for the exam. This being my first securities exam I was very unsure of what to expect and after reading here about how it has taken most people a few attempts I wasn't all that confident heading in.
The material my firm gave me was a 2012 Securities Training Corporation Series 65 book even though I was taking the exam in 2014. The book has 16 chapters and comes with 10 Q&A tests as well as 10 closed book tests. They don't really give you 20 exams its just 10 with the questions rearranged. I personally found the Q&A ones to be quite inferior and ultimately useless in my study prep. The Q&A format just lets you know why the answer is wrong immediately instead of when you go back to review like with the closed book exams. Anyway after I progressed to the closed book exams I did see questions that I recognized and wasn't really sure how well these exams would prepare me. On the 10 closed book exams I failed 2 (66 and 68) but my avg for the 10 was a 76. At this point I decided to just take the exam and see where I was at.
Well today I took the exam and passed with a 75 on my first go round. I do think the STC material did do a very good job in preparing me for the actual test. I didn't see any exact questions like some people here have claimed they saw after using the TC material but I did some several that were very close to the STC tests. So my advice to anyone who thinks they aren't likely to pass its most likely you and not your study material.
Now about how the actual exam differed from the STC material I noticed that the real exam didn't have anywhere near as many I, II, III and IV style questions as STC led me to believe. I personally found this to be a great relief as those questions frustrated me to no end. I also found that there was some material on the actual exam which was never mentioned in any of the reading or exams of STC. In particular I remember a few questions one about disinheritance of a family fortune for pass through reasons and few about economic analysis where I truly had no idea as I had never heard of the material. Overall though I thought the exam was a little deliberately tricky but it's the same as the STC exams I was using.
TL;DR: The Series 65 was hyped up to be more than it is. Study hard and focus on what you don't know and you'll probably be fine.
Did you use STC for both 63 & 65? Please suggest me best provider for 63 & 65 other than STC.i didnt pass 66 3 times using them…scored 72.please advice soon.
I’ve only taken the 65 and passed my first time. I really don’t think the study material is the problem for most people but rather how they go about studying it. From everything I’ve read most people seem to have a higher success rate with TC (Training Consultants). Although that might be misleading since people usually seem to use TC as their second study material and therefore its relearning the same material just in a different format.
With that said I used STC and I passed. Make sure you’re actually reading chapters you do poorly on and that you also make flash cards for all your wrong answers and difficult questions. I think most people just do the practice exams until they start to memorize some of the answers without actually understanding why the answer is what it is.
In other words study hard the right way and don’t expect some special study material to make up for the work you’re not doing. You need a 75 I believe for the 66. You’re so close to that I feel like with some more studying on your weak areas you should be fine. Plus you’d save money using the material you already have.
Good luck!