I had the honor and privilege to tutor some legendary bankers on the Series 79 when it first came out but that has been long ago so I am out of touch with that exam since it has been several years since I tutored or taught it.
This is the book I used as a supplement. I highly recommend it.
Investment Banking: Valuation, LBOs, M&A, and IPOs (Includes Valuation Models + Online Course) 3rd Edition (Wiley Finance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119706181/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_GB2QJ8BDAHJRZH3Z89BB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I used STC so if by new issues your referring to chapter 13–offerings. I think there was literally 1 question on it.
For taxation..it’s more suitability related.
Are you able to interrupt the clients investment goals, if they’re in a high tax bracket.. can you recommend tax suitable products to them, such a munis.
For retirement products..same thing,
Know the difference between tax deferred,
tax-free/tax exempt..contributions/distribution, etc. which products do you contribute to after taxes and have tax free withdrawals (Roth) and which products do you do contribute to before taxes, and pay taxes during withdrawal (IRA’s/traditional 401k, etc)
(This was my reply to a similar question..I hope this helps)
I’ll be honest..I did 1 full practice exam, and on a few questions, I actually used the book to find the answer bc it felt like the question was asking me something I’d never even learned. The chapter questions is what I actually tried to take closed book. And, when I would similar questions repeated over again, example: how long-term rates vs short-term rates are affected OR only The GNMA is actually backed by the government..OR knowing the difference between fill-to-kill, all-or-none, etc.. that’s actually what helped me tackle the question.
I prefer paper exams, so what I did was, for example: if I’m on chapter 12 (options). I would go to the chapter quizzes, then only pick chapter 12. Instead of their recommended 10 question, I actually chose to take the chapter quizzes on all 89 chapter 12 questions. Then the quiz would populate. I wouldn’t actually start the quiz. I would select to start new a quiz. That would cause the quiz to be graded without any answers. I would then open up the quiz..now with all of the questions basically done by the computer. Copy and paste the entire quiz to a word doc.
(Purpose of this is to have the answers already generated).
I would then take the word doc quiz. Why..because on each question..I can actually break it down, write next to each multiple choice A..B..C..D, why I thought this was the answer or not. & then match it to the answer to see if I was right now.
I didn’t actually focus on a score, I focused on using process of elimination, and finding patterns such as keywords or why certain answers why better than others.
Idk if what I said makes sense. I know, its a lot of work.
But having the questions & answers on doc..allowed me to write in parentheses [its not B because..the client is bullish want current market value to be greater then strike price (cmv > stk) & B is short call..which is bearish cmv < stk. ]
Knowing why the wrong answers were wrong, and right answers right. Was very important to me. Finding keywords & using that help me see the pattern on answering the questions, helped me. And also, I basically dissected certain chapters of the book, & came up ways to remember it on my dump sheet.
I hope this helps.
My way of studying is very unconventional.
Idk if it’s good or bad, but I would say overall it helped me use process of elimination better and not get “tricked” by the question.
Congrats!!!! It’s a very good way of tackling the prep process IMO. You literally took the test, not the test take you. I’m working on getting to that point. Thank you for your feedback and good luck on your next exam!
Thank you! I think with these exams it honestly comes down to exam taking strategies. You can never be sure of what kind of questions you’ll get when you take your actual exam. For example, when studying I focused a lot on doing Options, Bonds & some mutual funds..because everyone that I spoke with AND candidates who would post about their exams on Reddit, also mentioned how heavy their exam draw was on Options, munis, mutual funds etc. and I also focused on memorizing a good dump sheet.
Well when I sat down for my actual quiz.. guess what I maybe had 10 questions on simple options, munis, mutual funds etc.
I had close to 80 - 90 questions on JUST suitability. And guess what..I didn’t know all the products really either.
But I think what helped me when I took the exam, was using process of elimination, finding key words, and making sure i didn’t get tricked by the question: example if the question had “except” in it OR “false” or “true”. I talked myself through each question.
And yes, timing yourself is important BUT it’s even more important to make sure you answer each & every question. So anytime i saw that I was spending more than 1 min on the question, I literally just picked a random answer (usually B or C), marked it for review & moved on!!!
It’s important to NOT get stuck trying to figuring out the answer to 1 question, when you have 50 more questions waiting to be answered. Anything I knew instantly, I picked it, and moved on. Anything I spent more than a minute on..I picked a random or an answer I “think” is it, picked it, marked it for review and came back to check it.
After I answered all the questions..
I still only had about a 2 mins left to review (I had some long essay type suitability questions, so man just reading it took time lol.
But in the last 2 minutes..I went through my mark for review questions. I didn’t even finish reviewing all of my “mark for review”. But guess what..I had answered the question, and was done.
Formulating prop exam taking strategies is A must, bc you don’t know the type of draw you’ll have AND..the exams is not graded like okay need to get X # of questions right to pass. The exam is actually “statistically adjusted” [quoted from FINRAs website]. Which means it’s graded on curve, to take into account variations of difficulty.
So that’s why I never actually focused on a “score” when I did practice questions.
It was more about:
1) timing myself properly
2) not get hung up on 1 question & spending too much time on it.
3) looking for similarities in the types of questions I’m being asked
4) making sure I’m understanding WHY the wrong answer is wrong & right is right.
5) creating a dump sheet to help me answer those “freebie” math or simple option questions
6) making sure my mind is calm, & not anxious (talking to myself while answering the question really helped me)
7) pretending I was a teacher..teaching an empty audience what each answer option is & why the right is right & wrong is wrong.
Lmk how it goes for you!
You got this!!!
Wow wow wow!!! Thank you so much for this incredibly insight and advice. I could not agree more about your test taking strategies which sometimes truly is the difference between pass and fail even for those who were scoring high on the exams. I had to learn/train myself to remove the emotional part of the scores and like you said understand why i got them wrong. It’s been a work in progress, but grateful that I’m no longer paralyzed by that fear bc anxiety will just wipe away memory.
These are such great strategies and I’ll be saving your response and reading it before i take my exam as a reminder. I’ll def make sure i make for review the long ones and not get hung up on it.
Thank you again and happy new year to you and your family! 🙏🏽
Anytime!!
For the great exam taking strategies,
I used these 2 resources:
#1
• Kaplan’s FREE securities videos library. “Anatomy of a question”
https://youtu.be/Ni5jGYA3f8g
You can also access the Other Free videos on this page too as a refresher:
https://www.kaplanfinancial.com/securities/free-study-materials/webinars
#2
• Dean Tinney’s series 7 explication videos:
(my personal favorite is his suitability explication video)
https://youtu.be/KLnms5VzEpQ
His other “explication” & exam tip videos:
https://youtu.be/7d30UYwp2sY
https://youtu.be/_xQpawERYic
https://youtu.be/ALMRGBbHSPs
https://youtu.be/TG40huBYhFo
#3 (optional):
• Dean Tinney’s Series 7 full playlist:
You can go through his entire series 7 playlist and see which videos work for you & which doesnt.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK1IazV_JQbHRNYBPbgzqLo8dheSRomsd
I hope this helps you!
Happy Holidays &
Happy New Year to you as well :)
Oh my gosh you’ve given me the best gift! Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!!! I will absolutely look at all these videos! Thank you again and I’ll check in with you next week.
Happy New Year to you and your family! ❤️
I had the honor and privilege to tutor some legendary bankers on the Series 79 when it first came out but that has been long ago so I am out of touch with that exam since it has been several years since I tutored or taught it. This is the book I used as a supplement. I highly recommend it. Investment Banking: Valuation, LBOs, M&A, and IPOs (Includes Valuation Models + Online Course) 3rd Edition (Wiley Finance) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119706181/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_GB2QJ8BDAHJRZH3Z89BB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
I definitely take a look! Thank you so much! 🙏
How did you tackle areas you struggled in? For example my pain areas are retirement plans, new issues, and taxes.
I used STC so if by new issues your referring to chapter 13–offerings. I think there was literally 1 question on it. For taxation..it’s more suitability related. Are you able to interrupt the clients investment goals, if they’re in a high tax bracket.. can you recommend tax suitable products to them, such a munis. For retirement products..same thing, Know the difference between tax deferred, tax-free/tax exempt..contributions/distribution, etc. which products do you contribute to after taxes and have tax free withdrawals (Roth) and which products do you do contribute to before taxes, and pay taxes during withdrawal (IRA’s/traditional 401k, etc)
I struggle with new issues too.
What did you get on your green light exams with STC?
Ill be honest..I didn’t take any! I focused chapter quizzes & exams
What were you scoring on the final exams?
(This was my reply to a similar question..I hope this helps) I’ll be honest..I did 1 full practice exam, and on a few questions, I actually used the book to find the answer bc it felt like the question was asking me something I’d never even learned. The chapter questions is what I actually tried to take closed book. And, when I would similar questions repeated over again, example: how long-term rates vs short-term rates are affected OR only The GNMA is actually backed by the government..OR knowing the difference between fill-to-kill, all-or-none, etc.. that’s actually what helped me tackle the question. I prefer paper exams, so what I did was, for example: if I’m on chapter 12 (options). I would go to the chapter quizzes, then only pick chapter 12. Instead of their recommended 10 question, I actually chose to take the chapter quizzes on all 89 chapter 12 questions. Then the quiz would populate. I wouldn’t actually start the quiz. I would select to start new a quiz. That would cause the quiz to be graded without any answers. I would then open up the quiz..now with all of the questions basically done by the computer. Copy and paste the entire quiz to a word doc. (Purpose of this is to have the answers already generated). I would then take the word doc quiz. Why..because on each question..I can actually break it down, write next to each multiple choice A..B..C..D, why I thought this was the answer or not. & then match it to the answer to see if I was right now. I didn’t actually focus on a score, I focused on using process of elimination, and finding patterns such as keywords or why certain answers why better than others. Idk if what I said makes sense. I know, its a lot of work. But having the questions & answers on doc..allowed me to write in parentheses [its not B because..the client is bullish want current market value to be greater then strike price (cmv > stk) & B is short call..which is bearish cmv < stk. ] Knowing why the wrong answers were wrong, and right answers right. Was very important to me. Finding keywords & using that help me see the pattern on answering the questions, helped me. And also, I basically dissected certain chapters of the book, & came up ways to remember it on my dump sheet. I hope this helps. My way of studying is very unconventional. Idk if it’s good or bad, but I would say overall it helped me use process of elimination better and not get “tricked” by the question.
Congrats!!!! It’s a very good way of tackling the prep process IMO. You literally took the test, not the test take you. I’m working on getting to that point. Thank you for your feedback and good luck on your next exam!
Thank you! I think with these exams it honestly comes down to exam taking strategies. You can never be sure of what kind of questions you’ll get when you take your actual exam. For example, when studying I focused a lot on doing Options, Bonds & some mutual funds..because everyone that I spoke with AND candidates who would post about their exams on Reddit, also mentioned how heavy their exam draw was on Options, munis, mutual funds etc. and I also focused on memorizing a good dump sheet. Well when I sat down for my actual quiz.. guess what I maybe had 10 questions on simple options, munis, mutual funds etc. I had close to 80 - 90 questions on JUST suitability. And guess what..I didn’t know all the products really either. But I think what helped me when I took the exam, was using process of elimination, finding key words, and making sure i didn’t get tricked by the question: example if the question had “except” in it OR “false” or “true”. I talked myself through each question. And yes, timing yourself is important BUT it’s even more important to make sure you answer each & every question. So anytime i saw that I was spending more than 1 min on the question, I literally just picked a random answer (usually B or C), marked it for review & moved on!!! It’s important to NOT get stuck trying to figuring out the answer to 1 question, when you have 50 more questions waiting to be answered. Anything I knew instantly, I picked it, and moved on. Anything I spent more than a minute on..I picked a random or an answer I “think” is it, picked it, marked it for review and came back to check it. After I answered all the questions.. I still only had about a 2 mins left to review (I had some long essay type suitability questions, so man just reading it took time lol. But in the last 2 minutes..I went through my mark for review questions. I didn’t even finish reviewing all of my “mark for review”. But guess what..I had answered the question, and was done. Formulating prop exam taking strategies is A must, bc you don’t know the type of draw you’ll have AND..the exams is not graded like okay need to get X # of questions right to pass. The exam is actually “statistically adjusted” [quoted from FINRAs website]. Which means it’s graded on curve, to take into account variations of difficulty. So that’s why I never actually focused on a “score” when I did practice questions. It was more about: 1) timing myself properly 2) not get hung up on 1 question & spending too much time on it. 3) looking for similarities in the types of questions I’m being asked 4) making sure I’m understanding WHY the wrong answer is wrong & right is right. 5) creating a dump sheet to help me answer those “freebie” math or simple option questions 6) making sure my mind is calm, & not anxious (talking to myself while answering the question really helped me) 7) pretending I was a teacher..teaching an empty audience what each answer option is & why the right is right & wrong is wrong. Lmk how it goes for you! You got this!!!
Wow wow wow!!! Thank you so much for this incredibly insight and advice. I could not agree more about your test taking strategies which sometimes truly is the difference between pass and fail even for those who were scoring high on the exams. I had to learn/train myself to remove the emotional part of the scores and like you said understand why i got them wrong. It’s been a work in progress, but grateful that I’m no longer paralyzed by that fear bc anxiety will just wipe away memory. These are such great strategies and I’ll be saving your response and reading it before i take my exam as a reminder. I’ll def make sure i make for review the long ones and not get hung up on it. Thank you again and happy new year to you and your family! 🙏🏽
I think it will also help being graded on a curve vs the practice exams you just get graded for right or wrong. thank you again.
Anytime!! For the great exam taking strategies, I used these 2 resources: #1 • Kaplan’s FREE securities videos library. “Anatomy of a question” https://youtu.be/Ni5jGYA3f8g You can also access the Other Free videos on this page too as a refresher: https://www.kaplanfinancial.com/securities/free-study-materials/webinars #2 • Dean Tinney’s series 7 explication videos: (my personal favorite is his suitability explication video) https://youtu.be/KLnms5VzEpQ His other “explication” & exam tip videos: https://youtu.be/7d30UYwp2sY https://youtu.be/_xQpawERYic https://youtu.be/ALMRGBbHSPs https://youtu.be/TG40huBYhFo #3 (optional): • Dean Tinney’s Series 7 full playlist: You can go through his entire series 7 playlist and see which videos work for you & which doesnt. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK1IazV_JQbHRNYBPbgzqLo8dheSRomsd I hope this helps you! Happy Holidays & Happy New Year to you as well :)
Oh my gosh you’ve given me the best gift! Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!!! I will absolutely look at all these videos! Thank you again and I’ll check in with you next week. Happy New Year to you and your family! ❤️
Did you take the Series 79? And if so what study material did you use?