Taking exam next Tuesday. I scored a 79% on the Kaplan practice test three weeks. I also scored 82% on achievable around the same time.
I grinded some more and scored a 88.5 and then a 90% on Kaplan practice test yesterday and today. I’m liking the positive momentum. Any last words of encouragement or tips?
Rounded off my hat trick by passing the 65 this morning! (6/63/65 done in 12 weeks!) 8:30am exam and the closest testing center before the 4th was 2 hours away! Made for an early morning but an extremely rewarding afternoon!
2000 questions done on QBANK. 10 simulated exams on top of the 9 in the Kaplan course. 2 walkthrough exams with Dean (Series 7 Guru). Watched mighty ninety 3 times. (Series 7 Guru).
Memorized the entire 65 cheat sheet that Kaplan provided and wrote it down as soon as I started the exam. It helped me zero times 😂😂 YRMV
Must have gotten a lucky draw. No ISO/NQSO, CE credits, AMT, QDRO. Lots of BD/IAR differentiation and when to register. 1 chart question on avg high/low returns, lots of ethics, couple of total return, 1 rule of 72, 3 on NPV.
Process of elimination left me with only 15 questions or so where I had to really scratch the brain cells to work so I felt confident when clicking submit.
Good luck!
~1800 QBank questions with a 69% average (low to mid 70s on the exams)
Started studying the second week of April, had a week hiatus May that made me have to brush up a bit but really took these last 3 weeks more consistently and seriously with questions. I was pretty stressed these last few days because of my Kaplan scores, but its exams along with Dean’s explications definitely prepared me for precisely worded questions that intend to throw you off and second guess. I understood the concepts pretty well at a ground level but specific details were harder to differentiate.
IA/IAR and BD/agent definition questions
Investment suitability for clients (investment strategies as well as types of securities, investment companies, a few mentions of limited/general partnerships)
Forwards, futures, options
Form ADV as expected (mostly Part 2)
Qualified retirement plans (mentions of solo 401k which I didn’t even know was a term lol)
One question about IAR CE
Marginal tax, tax-equivalent yield (know municipal vs after tax regular bond relationship) might’ve been the only times I picked up the calculator
Mentions of banks, accredited investors, lending to/from clients, so know how those exclusions and exemptions work
ISO and NQSO
If I think of any other key or prevalent topics I’ll add them. In general, I feel like the peak of the bell-shape in difficulty was definitely trying to break confidence with specific wording that threw me off and would have me second guessing.
Been meaning to pick up a Series 65 book but can't decide between these two.
If you've taken the exam, which one would you buy?
Not trying to buy multiple books. Just want the one that prepared you the best. Which one did you use, and would you buy it again?
This morning, after only 3 hours of sleep I was able to pass the S65 exam! I didn’t choose to only sleep three hours, but unfortunately my body had different plans…
I’m glad to have this under my belt, and the exam came pretty straightforward for me since I already did the SIE & 63. There was definitely a lot more trick questions, in this exam, and some topics which I don’t remember even going in my studies, but al last I passed.
Big shoutout to Ken Finnen & PassPerfect as usual, both of them were great sources to study.
For practice exams I was scoring between 85%-91%.
Exam took me a hour and a half.
I will say. There were things on the actual exam I didn’t see in the Kaplan study material. That also being said, the Kaplan test seemed to aim on confusing the student.
I took several practice exams using the “simulate exam”. I averaged about 75% on those. On the actual one time use practice exams I scored a 66%. On the mastery exam I scored a 72%. Some of these Kaplan tests pissed me off because in the descriptions after getting something wrong they would say things like “an argument can be made for (insert answer I selected), but that’s not what we’re looking for here”
If I had to guess on the real test? I will say probably around 75%-80%. I only say that because the first 30-40 questions I ended up blowing through knowing I got those correct. The middle 40-50 were a tad more difficult. The remaining questions fluctuated in difficulty with my last 3-5 questions being simple things like the cyclical name, derivatives, alternate investments, and a question on CAPM.
Anyways, I think if you all study you got it. I think I barely gave myself a month of inconsistent studying and I as able to get it. A big help was going through and watching the live tests with Dean answering and explaining.
Hi passed this morning and wanted to share my insights. For reference, graduated with degree in Economics 2016, military, 2022 full time MBA @ t20, worked in marketing at JPMC.
I studied with Kaplan for the last 50 days. Averaging 2 hours a day. Waited until last week to attempt the practice exams. Through 5 tests I was completing them in 80 minutes. 83% average.
The exam today seemed much easier than Kaplan. Far less words and more straight forward. I saw an earlier post that mentioned a bell curve of questions. The first 50-60 questions seemed super easy. The next 40 seemed much more difficult.
Sharpe ratio. Yield to call calculation. Credits for continuing education. Trust questions. Life insurance questions. Social security question.
The final 40 were more straightforward.
Of the 30+ questions marked for review, 25 I was able to bring to a 50/50. The rest were guesses.
Good luck to those studying.
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! 😴
My situation is a little different than most on this subreddit. I'm a college professor redesigning a course to help students at my university prepare for the Series 65. I took it to experience it and get a feel for the questions being asked. I was surprised by how little math was on the exam (I only used two equations) and how detailed some of the questions on estate planning and trusts were. I studied using a book I found on Kindle Unlimited, and ChatGPT and Claude. I would not recommend this approach. A lot of the questions I knew the answers to because of my 20+ career in finance and also being a trustee for a few trusts and volunteering in a fiduciary role.
Hi all! I am studying for the 65 currently and need to get my exam scheduled. I am through chapter 9/15 with STC and am hitting a wall of not feeling like I am studying well and trying not to freak out. STC has plenty of resources and I feel like I am grasping everything so far but maybe just feeling burnt out? I also am concerned about retaining this amount of material.
I work 40 hours a week for an IA so I see a lot of this stuff day to day which helps, and I have a finance degree. So I feel like this should be relatively easy for me? My concern is the volume of the material and making sure I am studying well. I only study outside of work which currently looks like about 14 hours a week. Is this enough? I have been studying for 4 weeks now and think I will take the test in about 4-6 weeks. My current approach is watch the lecture & take notes, read (skim) textbook and take notes on anything not mentioned in the lecture, use flash cards, take practice quiz, use chat gpt to help me understand flash cards & quiz questions I got wrong, and then move on if I score above 70% on a chapter quiz. I typically score 80%+ on first attempt of my chapter quizzes. Is this a good approach? I also have a virtual live class with STC coming up in 2 weeks to review everything. Thanks in advance for any insight!!
I have been studying achievable book for the last 30 days I recently switched over to Kaplan because my achievable scores were getting in the high 80s I have been making high 70s to low 80s on Kaplan and watching Kinfinen for additional material are my scores good enough what else should I do?
The exam generally was easier than the exams on achievable. I only had maybe 4 questions where I needed to know the formula. Way less math than I expected.
For the people that are IAR and have passed their exams. Is the CFP worth it ? Will it benefit you or is it better to just dedicate that time to building your book of business
My recommendations:
I used Kaplan.
All the best to those still studying!!
Did not pass 4th attempt. Really frustrating. Job is still secured as a CSA but feeling frustration after studying hard. Def want to take 65 again but this bump on the road is disappointing.
I read the entire Achievable textbook, and used Kaplan QBank for simulated exams. The day before watched a Dean Tinney mighty 90 video. The exam felt easy, not what the internet hyped it up to be.
My past scores have been 63% then 68% (88/130) failing my 3rd would obviously set my career path back as I just graduated college and my sponsoring firm is expecting me to pass and get in the office. To those who failed, especially twice, what did you do different going into your 3rd attempt? How did you keep a strong mindset and make that leap to get that passing score. I have the achievable textbook and access to my company’s Kaplan Q bank and I’m utilizing ChatGPT and Claude to study. I’m starting to get anxious and doubt myself bc of the stress that I already signed my lease in the city where my firm is and if I don’t pass I might have to pivot to something else. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
My Background: I got a Finance and Accounting degree about 15 years ago, but have never really used them in a professional capacity.
Study Materials: Kaplan QBank & the Guru’s Mighty 90
Overall I felt that the average question from the QBank was harder than the exam. There were certainly questions I saw today that I had no idea about. Had a couple questions on CE requirements, a few on registration. Honestly only at most 2 questions on exempt securities.
The test just pulls from such a breadth of material; you have to accept that there’s a few questions that will pop up where you don’t have any clue. Read each and every question super carefully. Usually you can eliminate one if not two of the answer options immediately. If in doubt, choose the answer that is the most ethical.
Studied for about a month, but really only hit the MCQ’s hard the last two weeks. If you miss a question, read the question again, then read and digest the explanation that Kaplan provides. Went through a 50 question set everyday. As soon as I finished the quiz, I would immediately copy the quiz and take it again. Really helped to commit the concepts to memory.
Took 5 full length practice exams this week leading up to it. Scored anywhere from 68-85%. If I had to guess my score, I imagine a scored about an 80% today.
Stay the course, you’ll pass this eventually everybody!
I’m currently one week away from my series 65 I’ve taken the test twice failing by 4 questions both times only section that really was bad was section 3 so I’ve been reading the textbook and doing end of chapter quizzes will this be enough to bring up my score on that section first test was 18/39 and next was 22/39 after reading the textbook and all chapter quizzes I was going to watch test geeks video library to refresh on all other sections then try to get 2/3 practice tests in on stc before the test should this be enough and what concepts should I solidify to help me on section 3