When it comes to any of the FINRA and NASAA Exams (including the SIE exam, Series 7 Exam, Series 63 Exam, Series 66 Exam, etc.), there is often the question of how much time per day should be dedicated to studying.
In today’s blog post, we try to answer that question.
We do so from the viewpoint of the average student. Since most students are somewhere around average, we expect this should be helpful.
Let’s dive in.
FINRA and NASAA Exams: Different Species But Similar Creatures
Whether you were starting out studying for the SIE Exam, or finishing off with the Series 63 Exam, the same daily dosage of study time seems to work for most students.
Specifically, somewhere between two hours and three hours seems to be the sweet spot.
Some people that try to study four hours or more. The reality here is that most trying this approach typically see a big drop off in productivity after the third or fourth hour.
Furthermore, anything less than an hour tends to lessen the likelihood for success. It often takes students at least 10 to 15 minutes to settle in, put down their phones, and get into a groove. That doesn’t leave much time for focused study time.
This is true for reading the text too.
Well, I’m Finished Reading, So How Many Questions Should I Do Each Day?
In terms of practice questions, we always argue for quality over quantity. If you stick to two to three hours of studying per day, then you should be able to squeeze in something close to about 100 practice questions per day.
With a week or two left of studying, we recommend this as an absolute minimum.
On top of doing 100 questions per day, you should regularly be reviewing flashcards or definitions (exclusively for areas that give you the most trouble). Create a detailed list of tricky definitions to review daily for about 20 to 40 minutes.
The purpose of doing at least 100 questions per day, is to make sure that you are fine-tuning any difficult areas.
Find out the heaviest weighted areas of the exam, and target practice questions from those areas in which you are scoring the lowest. Work on that for a couple days in a row, and then on the third day try a comprehensive exam. Repeat this strategy for a couple weeks and you should see a significant improvement in your scores.
Overall, most people benefit from repetition, review, and practice.
Make sure that you do enough every day to feel like you’re making progress.
**Important note: Even if you are scoring in the 40 to 60% range, as long as you are learning from your mistakes, then you are making progress!
In a whole week you should be able to cover enough material so that by the next week you are repeating sections to help reinforce concepts.
For more tips on how and what to study for specific FINRA and NASAA exams check out our blog.
Good luck!