The Series 79 60/40 split is a rough approximation of the proportionality of questions posed. In today’s post, we highlight the breakdown of the exam to make sure you know what you’re getting into.
Series 79 60/40 Split: Non-Analytical and Analytical
The Series 79 exam mostly consists of a non-analytical section. This section comprises about 60% of the exam. The rest involves analytical questions where you might only actually get about 12 math questions.
Within the large non-analytical chunk of the exam, you’ll need to know some important concepts. These include the M&A process, SEC forms, exemptions from the SEC Act of 1933, the bankruptcy process for Chapter 7, and Chapter 11, and much more.
Generally speaking, the non-analytical section is not the area that causes students to fail. However, our recommendation is that you get your practice scores for this piece upwards of 90% if possible.
Since the analytical portion is much more challenging, it tends to drag down people’s overall score, and is often the reason many fail. Of course, there are only two ways to solve this. Bring up your analytical score, or bring up your non-analytical score.
Most people tend to score closer to the ceiling with the non-analytical section. So, that section is harder to squeeze out extra points. By contrast, the analytical section is significantly more challenging for most people so scores tend to get stuck.
What to Do
Aside from getting a trusted Series 79 Tutor – ahem (throat clear) – focus on the low hanging fruit. There are definitely areas in the valuation section as well as the income statement and balance sheet sections for example, where you can bring up your scores. Sometimes it’s as simple as memorizing ratios, or simply better. knowing the order of the income statement or balance sheet.
Getting your practice scores from 40% or 50%, to the low 60% range can make a significant difference on the overall exam. It may not add 10 extra points. However, you could easily add an extra three or four points with a moderately higher analytical section which could make all the difference.
If you’re looking for an easy way to get through this exam, try to bring up the non-analytical piece as high as you can. The mergers and acquisition section is the largest section on this exam, so ideally you want that to be as close to perfect as it can be.
There’s a lot of memorization work involved, but with enough time, you’ll be able to get all this knowledge in. Feel free to reach out if you need any help, and good luck!