r/FINRA_Series79

Anybody here take the 79 using Kaplan as their course provider? I’m curious how well prepared you felt using Kaplan once you took the exam

Wanted to post a comment since this thread was so helpful. The exam was on par with the benchmark. Their was about a total of 6 math questions with them being mostly multiples and a dividend payout questions. Most of the questions were about fairness opinion, IPO rules, exempt transaction and one stalking horse bid.

I would say as long as you scoring within the mean on Knopman range, you should be in a good place. For reference I got an 74% on Diagnostic 2 and an 79% on the benchmark.

Wanted to post a comment since this thread was so helpful. I had been studying for a while but couldn’t pass the diagnostic or benchmark. The exam had some adjusted EBITDA multiple questions and a lot of questions from the key concepts email. Not a lot of math but there was one tricky premium or discount question. Couple valuation ones as well. I would echo what everyone is saying and study key concepts and the email a lot. Good luck!

Passed 79 today, below are my stats: Diag 1: 66, diag 2: 71, benchmark: 73

Diag 1 took 6 days before exam, Diag 2 took 3 days before exam, Benchmark took 2 days before exam

Didn’t think the actual was easier than benchmark tbh, but pretty on par

Hope this helps! And yes key concepts r v useful

I took the S79 today and passed. Honestly, I was a nervous wreck the entire way there.

I procrastinated hard and only started casually studying Monday, with my exam on Friday. I didn’t actually lock in until Tuesday night, after taking a diagnostic and scoring 50%.

Wednesday morning I’d only done about 120 practice questions total. Took my first practice exam that afternoon and got 55%. Grinded through everything I got wrong, took a second practice exam and got 61%.

Thursday I finally watched the video lectures I’d been putting off, focused on my weak topics. I kept flip-flopping under pressure between the textbook, the videos, and more practice questions bc I wasn’t sure where my time was best spent. I prioritized videos over custom quizzes. But I always reviewed my exams question by question.

Thursday evening I took benchmark exam, and got a 55% again. I was mortified and reviewed everything via custom quizzes until 1am, woke up early, and got in one more hour with the key concepts sheet before the exam.

I was not confident walking in. I flagged at least 25 questions and only had 15 minutes left to review them. I also changed 2-3 answers. Then I sat on the legal attestation screen for 10 mins before hitting submit, because I knew my peers were waiting outside to compare notes and I didn’t want to have to tell them I failed. So figured I’d wait 10 mins for them to leave so I wouldn’t have to face them.

I passed but don’t really have advice. Am I that good? Was the exam easy? Both? Neither? Idk but it was a genuinely brutal, anxiety-soaked experience on almost no sleep. During the exam I had to re-read questions multiple times because they just weren’t landing, which I think was as much my mental/physical state as the material.

Mostly I’m posting this for whoever’s scoring well under the passing threshold in KM practice and spiraling about it. It’s still possible to turn it around.

Took my exam earlier this morning and thought the exam was much easier than the materials and exams that Knopman provides. I was extremely anxious going into the test because of mixed feedback on the subreddit. But I can assure everyone that if you stick to Knopmans action plan, master the key concepts, and do as many questions as possible that you’ll be more than ready. At least that was my experience.

For context I scored a 74% on Diagnostic 1, 68% on diagnostic 2, and 73% on the benchmark. Good luck everyone you got this!

I have my exam tomorrow and was wondering if anyone has any advice on what was helpful to review the day before. I've finished all my diagnostic and benchmark exams and plan on just reviewing the key concepts document today.

Wanted to come on here and share my experience studying for Series 79 and taking the exam.

My prep before "the blend":

- watched videos on 1.5x speed & took notes

- did 20 question quizzes on all chapters

Honestly didn't retain much and went into the week before testing feeling like i knew nothing...

During "the blend":

- The first two days I was a bit too lax and just did 50 questions and went to the reveiew sessions

- Day 3 is when I hunkered down and would do 30-80 question quizzes throughout the day and thoroughly review my work.

- Took diagnostic 1 4 days before the exam and scored a 63% and diagnostic 2 2 days before and scored a 65%. This definitely stressed me out so the last three days I would study for 15 hours nonstop. This involved:

- key concept flashcards

- 20 question quizzes on lowest scoring sections

- creating my own flashcards on topics I missed

- writing down my notes (found that I rememberd material when I physically wrote rather than typing)

- talk through the concepts out loud

- 2, 50 question quizzes a day on all topics

- watched all the review sessions on knopman and their youtube channel

This helped to the point where by the time I took the benchmark 1 day before I had scored a 78%.

My last day prep involved:

- reading / taking notes on Key Concept Update Email

- key concepts flashcards

- thoroughly reviewing missed concepts from benchmarks - highly rec using Copilot and Claude as a tool to understand concepts and come up with ways to memorize

- taking notes on my notes

- last review video I hadn't watched yet

- watched vizualizing success video (underrated, I went to sleep feeling confident and went into the exam imagining passing)

Regarding the exam, some questions were easier thank Knopman and more definition based but I knew I had underpreppared on the math. Had some IIR / Accretion Dilution / Treasury Stock questions I didn't prepare enough for. Overall I would consider the exam to be nearly as difficult as the Knopman exams. Had to close my eyes as I clicked submit and nearly shed a tear when I saw "Pass."

Wishing you all luck with the exam. Learn from my mistakes and take the entire week before the exam seriously. Do the 1000+ practice questions, drill the key concepts, cover some more math questions, trust yourself and you'll be good to go! Happy to answer any questions.

Thought the exam was way easier than the diagnostic and the benchmark exams. Was very nervous going into the exam but Knopman marks definitely over prepares you in a good way.

For reference I wasn’t scoring very well on the practice exams: diagnostic 1 (61%) diagnostic 2 (64%) and benchmark (66%).

I was especially nervous after completing the benchmark the day before my exam and not getting in the high 60s. But after reviewing it I realized a lot of my 50/50 questions I missed.

Completed around 930 practice questions with only a 62% accuracy. Studied really hard for one week putting in ~60 hours. I watched the videos for chapters 1-6 a couple weeks before the exam and watched the rest the week before.

Key concepts is a must to review, the flashcards were very helpful. You must read the email Knopman sends you about key concepts. NYSE was a gimme question on the exam.

My takeaway is that if you’re not scoring well on the exams don’t let it discourage you. If you put in the hours you will pass the exam.

Quizlet/flashcards helped me studying. Only like 5 total math questions on the entire exam.

Most of the questions were pretty straight up and were easy to answer if you watched all the videos and went over the key concepts. I went over the textbook for chapters 2-6 which I think helped me understand the concepts more. Focus more on the concepts/rules rather than the math.

Overall was very stressed going into the exam but while I was taking it was very confident and was very confident when I submitted it.

I got a 69% on the benchmark and i’m freaking out. I feel like i wasn’t confident enough and i don’t have much time to refine before monday so please help with any tips.

Phew I’m so relieved that’s over!!!! Just wanted to pass along my experience, seeing as I’ve received so much help from this sub.

Real exam was slightly harder than KM, which was surprising as I thought the SIE real exam was much easier. Definitely a lot of questions on exempt txn, ‘33/‘34 key dates and forms, tender offers, and m&a. As others on this sub have mentioned, not too many math questions & they are fairly straightforward.

In terms of study prep, watched all the videos, reviewed key concepts & supps ~2-3x times, and did ~500 questions (+ didn’t even get to do diagnostic exam 2 due to timing), averaging around 75-85%. Fwiw, I started doing questions ~4 days before exam date (which I DO NOT RECOMMEND - START AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE IF YOU CAN).

I was def stressed going in as I’d done less than the 1,000+ questions recommended, but wanted to show that it’s def possible to pass for those who may be in the boat!

Good luck to you all!!!