I took the Series 63 yesterday and passed on my first attempt using only the Achievable material. I have now passed the SIE, Series 7 and Series 63, all on my first attempt using only the Achievable system for test preparation.
Although the Series 63 was the shortest in terms of the material length, this test was the trickiest out of all the FINRA exams I have taken. The questions and answer choices in the exam are worded differently than the quizzes and practice exams provided by Achievable. There were only a few questions (3-4) which were straightforward, but most of the questions required me to think on my feet. What I discovered by going through the exam is that during the exam, you will need to think like a regulator and not solely rely on remembering the practice test questions because the actual exam is very different. I noticed during the exam that I was trying to remember what I had studied and memorized but that was not helping. In fact, it was wasting time. I shifted my focus from what looked familiar versus what the question was asking. This is what made the difference for me, and I was able to eliminate the wrong answer choices. I approached the question like a regulator, recalled the facts from the material, filtered out the unnecessary information in the question prompts, eliminated the wrong answers out of the choices and then selected the BEST answer.
Test taking strategy:
I tried to get through the entire exam quickly and marked a lot of questions for review. After answering all the questions, I had about 7 minutes left so I quickly reviewed a majority of the questions which I had marked for review and made some changes. Some of the questions were extremely long so I chose a random answer and marked it for review to save time then came back to it. This is part of the test taking strategy that you develop over the course of taking different FINRA exams.
Difference between the exams:
Out of all the exams, the SIE is the most straightforward because it tests your knowledge, but the Series 7 and Series 63 were not straightforward because you are tested FOR THE ROLE.
If you go into the exam thinking that you have studied for X number of hours, have taken X number of practice tests and the model predicts a certain probability, then you are missing a key component. It helps to study a lot and score well on practice exams, but you need to think beyond the material. You need to think in terms of the role required. The Series 7 has a lot to do with making suitable recommendations to clients using product knowledge whereas the Series 63 is primarily based on what you can do ethically as an agent based on state laws. On my exam majority of the questions were related to ethics but the questions also tied in concepts from other parts of the material. For example, I noticed questions which combined ethics, registration, and custody. This is what makes the exam tricky, and it requires you to recall the material and then tie it all together. Also, just because you think you are weak in a certain topic and spent a lot of time studying for it, does not mean that it’s going to show up on the test. This is why it’s important to be able to tie all the concepts together.
How to approach the exam:
You need to understand that there are 65 questions and although it looks like the test will be a breeze because it’s a lot shorter than the Series 7, it is not the case. In fact, it makes the Series 63 more challenging because you need a 72 to pass both the Series 7 and 63 but in the Series 63, your error rate must be smaller because you need to correctly answer 43 out of 60 scored questions. The Series 7 is longer and has more questions which means you can miss more questions since you need 90 correct answers out of 125 scored questions. I approached my study with this important fact in mind before I even began studying to keep my error rate as small as possible.
I took a total of 9 exams (7 Full Series 63 and Final Exam A & B) with 92% exam readiness, and the model predicted 79% - 83% passing score for me.
I studied for the SIE, Series 7 and Series 63 while working full-time and passed all 3 exams on my first attempt. I woke up early and studied for about an hour before work and then about an hour in the evenings during the work week. During the weekends, I dedicated roughly 10 – 12 hours to studying.
It is exhausting but it is rewarding because there is a sense of accomplishment that you attain by going through the process. There is no doubt that you need to dedicate time to learning the material. On top of that, you must also learn to tie the concepts together, understand the role you are testing for and cultivate effective test taking strategies that you will need to implement during the exam.
I hope this helps. Enjoy the process and good luck with your exams.
