4th times a charm... the full write up
Proud to finally have the opportunity to share this post!
Throughout this long arduous process I've used the following test prep providers: Kaplan, STC, and Achievable, but not at the same time, in different stages. I initially started with Kaplan, and to be honest I'm glad I switched as I felt super prepared with Achievable more than I did with Kaplan or STC.
Before my Kaplan subscription ran out I was scoring in the low to mid-80's on their practice exams. Then when I switched to Achievable, my scores sank down into the low 50's. Different question style, and much more difficult, yet I felt Achievable got to the core of the question and why an answer was right when there are two right answers, which one was the more correct option. That took me a bit to wrap my head around.
Okay... so what did I do different this time besides switching up test prep providers? Let me unpack that, but also provide some context.
I don't come from the finance industry. I come from 15 years of consumer insights in corporate. I have an MBA, undergrad in econ, and I had not too recently passed the SIE (with STC).
I haven't been a good test taker in the past, so I knew I had to put in double the work. But one thing I told myself was regardless of today's outcome to not over focus on the results and place my ability, self worth, or intelligence on whatever the screen says today. Yet, I had been here before with three consecutive fails, so why should this time be any different?
Well, if I didn't pass today, sure I'd be bummed, but I told myself I'd take a break from the 65 and aim for the 63 or 66. I also didn't want to have to wait 6 months. But I also knew I've been putting in the work, so if anything I should be proud of myself rather than rely upon external screen for validation. As simple as that sounds, it was a subtle game changer to my mental state today.
In preparation, I took my old scores and doubled down on Economic Factors & Business Information and Investment Vehicle Characteristics (sections 1 & 2) as those areas historically have haunted me. I re-read those sections in the Kaplan learning manual and hammered down a ton of section quizzes in Achievable within the same sections. My comprehension slowly improved.
My readiness score on Achievable was 89%.
I took 10 full practice exams and with my last practice exam scoring 87%. I felt these helped me the most in two ways: 1) pacing and building endurance, and 2) repetitions of missing the same question types over and over. This allowed me to stop banging my head against the wall in frustration, because now I could see that I was misunderstanding what was being asked either through the double negative question type, or not fully reading the question and answer choices in critical detail. So many times I would rush as I treated it like a chore. Big mistake, which is what cost me so much time.
I studied everyday from 3-5 hours in the evening and used Saturday's as full practice exam days and Sunday's were for review.
For the past month I've been meditating everyday for roughly 20 mins. Nothing too crazy or hippy, just trying to focusing on my breathing and get out of my head and calm my nerves from life in general.
I was also in the gym 3-4 days a week. While at the gym I listened to Dean's Mighty 90 on repeat for the past two weeks.
I also made flash cards with Claude to drill in concepts I was struggling with. And would sometimes run questions through Claude to explain a question or answer set in various ways for me to better understand it, while also being on the lookout for question traps. That process helped me grasp keywords and common word traps that I was previously blind to.
Happy to help answer question or provide additional context to my preparation. For those on your second, third, or forth attempt... please keep going! You're closer than you realize. I hope you continue press on so you can feel the redemption that I feel today.
Okay, I'm off to take a long nap! 😴