What would you recommend for the practice exam score to get a green light to go ahead and take the exam and pass.
2 Likes
Hi @Qaisghulam781!
While scoring a 72 or higher on a Series 7 Achievable practice final is a sign you’re likely to pass the exam, I recommend aiming for consistency in the mid-high 70s (or higher). Test day is likely to come with some anxiety, difference in setting, and a randomized set of test questions. Building a bit of a buffer will help mitigate those issues.
I hope this helps! Please respond with any additional questions.
1 Like
Thanks! sorry for the bother again… would you say that the practice exam difficulty is somewhat harder than the actual exam similar or a little bit easier?
2 Likes
The tricky thing about FINRA exams is each individual exam’s difficulty is randomized. If asked 100 recent test takers, you’d hear a wide range or responses, all the way from “the test was easy” to “that was the most difficult exam I’ve ever taken.” Seems unfair, but FINRA compensates for the difficulty variations by scaling the score. In FINRA’s own language, their exams are:
placed on a common scale with all other candidate test scores for that exam and statistical adjustments are made to the score to account for slight variations in the difficulty that may exist among different sets of exam questions. This method allows for a fair comparison of scores and ensures that every candidate is held to the same passing standard regardless of which set of exam items they received.
Bottom line, no one will know the level of difficulty they’ll face when they sit for the exam. We aim to make our exams as close to the “average” Series 7 exam as possible. Some of our former students have said our program is more difficult, some have said it’s easier, and some have said it’s similar in difficulty. Hopefully you can make some sense of the wide variety of experiences given FINRA’s testing methods.
Regardless of the difficulty of the exam, the score scaling performed by FINRA aims to make it fair for everyone. If you get a very difficult exam, you can likely miss more questions and still pass (and vice versa).
Bottom line - if you’re passing your Achievable finals consistently, your chances of passing the actual exam are high. Build a bit of a buffer and aim for the mid-high 70s (or higher), and your chances of passing increase.
1 Like