Passed with STC only, how helpful it was
Comfortably passed the SIE and sharing my own STC practice results so someone can benchmark against it for their own preparation.
I come from an Econ/Finance background from another country so a lot of concepts were familiar to me but the regulations were not. I used only the FINRA practice exam and STC readings followed by chapter quizzes, progress quizzes, then final exams.
First FINRA practice exam with 0 prep was ~60%, then did all the chapters and chapter quizzes ranging from 60-100% (first avg 83%) Progress Exams were 65-90% (avg 83%). Once done, went over again quickly, focusing on the weaker ones and retook most quizzes. Retook FINRA practice and got ~75%. Then grinded through all the practice exams the day before whose scores ranged 76-91% (avg 84%)
I felt like the STC alone did a pretty good job. 2-3 concepts that STC didn’t quiz at all that showed up on the real exam but no big deal. The questions were overall very familiar and if you’re scoring similar to me on STC you’ll have no problem on the real thing and probably don’t need additional material.
Good luck!