[quote=iar_newb]

Hey guys,

I've been reading this forum for a long time, getting an idea of what's going on in the registered rep business.  I worked at UBS as a CSA for about a year, and quit to join an independent fee-only firm nearby.  I'm now studying for my Series 65 to register as an Investment Advisor Agent for the firm I work for, and am studying using the Dearborn/Kaplan book and online coursework.  Are there any tips that you guys have for me in regards to studying for/taking this test?

Thanks in advance!

[/quote]

Yes, realize that there are people who will lie about how long they studied and/or what they got.  Suppose somebody says they studied for about two days and got an 80.

Well that would be a lie.

You better plan on spending about 40 hours doing sample tests.  The Dearborn course materials is about as good as there is for the Series 65 and Series 66--but even they don't have the thrust of the exam down as well as they should.

Newbie your a moron, the test is quite easy.  I spent 3 months studying for my 7 (overkill), 1 week on insurance license and 2 days on 65.  If you had it, you'd realize how easy it is.

I am sure others can testify to that

Even if there are those who can "testify" to that, doesn't make it necessarily true.

A friend of mine passed her series 7 on her first go but has failed her 66 twice. Is she a moron? Who knows; but the point is people DO have a hard time with it.

Man! What nastiness. For what purpose? IAR: Been awhile since I took my 65, but remember that I spent about 2 wks (eves) studying for 65 and passed with something in mid-uper 80’s. At my age, comprehesion isn’t what it once was. Study the stuff, take the sample tests, devote the time, follow the instrux. Should do just fine.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Wish me luck!

What's harder the S65 or S66? I can sit for either one?

I think the concensus is that the 66 is easier.  I took the 65...it wasn't too difficult either.

At the risk of repeating myself.

Series 66 is essentially nothing but rules and regulations type questions.  Things from the old Series 63 plus a more recent layer of things about the laws that govern the activities of Investment Advisors--stuff like they must be registered with the SEC if they manage (I seem to recall, but don't guarantee) $30 million or more, but state authorities may not require them to be registered because they are an "SEC advisor."

At the lower end they cannot be an SEC advisor if they do not manage at least $25 million so they must register with the states.  But not all states, just those where they have a minimum number of clients, and then maybe not if those clients don't have a minimum number of dollars in their acconts.  I think if you maintain an office in a state you must register in the state regardless of how many clients you have or how much money you manage.

Anyway, Series 66 is a test that covers that stuff.  It's actually not that complicated if you approach it from a thinking point of view instead of simply trying to memorize questions and answers.  Think about why the rule is what it is and you haven't just memorized them.

There is a bit about analysis.  Real basic stuff about fundamentalists and technicians.  You need to know about Alpha, Beta, Delta and things like the dividend payout ratio.

Really pretty basic stuff that is not challenging to people who think.

The reason so many people fail it is because so many younger people don't think.  I know I sound like an old fart, but it's true.  If you're under forty you went to dumbed down schools and just don't know how to think.  Accept it--but be scared to death when you're old and your doctors are your age, because they don't know how to think either.  They will have been admitted to medical school based on things like "Diversity quotas" and leveling the playing field.  Anything and everything except their ability to think.

You see it on this message board--young people whining that they want to be finanical advisors because you can make a lot of money but don't have to work very hard after you get yourself established.  That sounds just like what a lazy person would want to do.

But I digress, let's get back to exams.

Series 65 has the potential for asking EVERYTHING the Series 66 asks plus a whole bunch more.  The reality is that the laws and stuff that Series 66 deals with are not so massive that a lot of questions can be built around it--so what Series 66 does is ask more than one question about the same topic in order to arrive at the required number of questions.

Series 65 does not do that.  It does not repeat the same question in a different form--but you've still got to know the material because they're going to ask you one of the Series 66 versions instead of both.

So that drops the rules and regulation part of Series 65 down to about 50 questions--again, they are the same fifty core questions used in Series 66.  So you're taking an abreviated Series 66.

PLUS--again PLUS--you're going to get about 75 questions right out of Series 7 material.  For example, Series 65 covers options.  Not to the degree that Series 7 does, but they're there--and not just definitions.

Ditto for muni bonds.  You're going to encounter questions dealing with taxable equivalent yield along with things like the ratios used to analyze GO bonds--remembrer "Debt per Capita," "Overlapping Debt," and those things?  They're in Series 65.

Essentially what Series 65 is is NASSAA (North American State Securities Administrators Association) asking questions about the various products that can be sold with a Series 7 license.

It was developed because people with only a Series 6 were taking Series 66 and somebody finally woke up and realized that there were folks out there representing Investment Advisors who had no clue to what an option was--oh they may have  heard of them, but they didn't know what they were really, how they worked or anything about them.

So, Series 65 was added to the mix as a test designed to somewhat normalize Series 6 and Series 7.

At the firm I came from we did not allow people with Series 7s to take Series 65--it was a waste of their time to have to brush up again on things that they had already seen in Series 7.  In fact, I didn't even know that Series 65 could be taken by somebody who had a Series 7 until some of the readers of this board pointed that out to me.  It's possible to learn something even after thirty five years.

So if you have a Series 7 you can take either 65 or 66.  From where I sit it doesn't make sense to take Series 65 when it is so much longer and includes so much more testable material.  I understand that you have a Series 7 and therefore all that Series 7 stuff should be easy, but the rules and regs part of any test is rarely easy.

That makes sense in a vacuum, but the reality is that even if you took Series 7 very recently you are foolhardy to expose yourself to being tested on that stuff again.

You still have to have the rules and regs down cold because they're going to ask you about them--just not twice on the same rule like Series 66 seems to do.

The whining about how hard the rules and regs side of the exam is, and how boring it is, is just a byproduct of the fact that you have never been asked to think much deeper than the script of "Dumb and Dumber."

If that's you--you're Dumb from Dumb and Dumber--then go to the Series 65 and hope that you can skate by with a 70 because you get lucky on some of the Series 7 stuff.

However, if you are the rare younger person who does not pride themselves on what a jackoff you are then take the Series 66.  You'll be able to understand the rationale behind the rules and reg and won't be tempting the odds by inviting some bureaucrats to toss Series 7 quesitons at you that have been rewritten and look nothing like they would look in a Series 7 test.

You're really bored huh?

[quote=ezmoney]

You're really bored huh?

[/quote]

Envision a full sized adult with his hand on the forehead of a Minime named Ezmoney.

How long does it take for the NASAA to respond and approve the scheduling of a test after the U4 has been submitted?

Just wondering what type of study schedule to create.  The advisor I work with put in the form about 2 weeks ago…

[quote=NASD Newbie][quote=ezmoney]

You're really bored huh?

[/quote]

Envision a full sized adult with his hand on the forehead of a Minime named Ezmoney.

[/quote]

YOU NAMED YOUR WICKY WACKY  EZMONEY???!!!

THAT CREEPY DUDE!!!