One of the best tools we use as tutors is the Series 7 performance tracker in Kaplan‘s QBank. In today’s post, we discuss why it’s so effective.
Kaplan’s Series 7 Performance Tracker: A Postmortem Tool
Kaplan’s Series 7 study material is the best out there, in our view. Their textbook is thorough, their questions are about right, and (most) answer-explanations are understandable.
However, the most valuable resource that Kaplan offers in our opinion is their “Performance Tracker.” If you buy a Series 7 study package, or just the Kaplan “QBank” alone, you get access to Kaplan‘s performance tracker.
The performance tracker allows you to view your performance on a simulated exam or a custom quiz, broken down by subsection. In other words, you not only get a sense of how you did an options. But, you gain perspective on subsections such as Basic Options Strategies, Options Taxation, and rules.
The major advantage here may be obvious, but we’ll elaborate.
Drilling Down
Typically, when we see a student scoring over 70%, what’s left is important. Usually filling in the remaining gaps is required. Assuming the large sections like municipal bonds, investment companies, new issues, and options are taken care of sufficiently, sections such as risks, suitability, and even equities may be low hanging fruit left to pick.
To best understand which gaps you need to fill in, use the performance tracker. After you take an exam, click on the performance tracker (the link to it is usually up in the top right corner of the screen). Look at what subsections cause you problems. From there a 15 or 20 question custom quiz on ONLY this section will help ramp your knowledge. Do the same section a few days in a row (but not back-to-back the same day) until you feel you can consistently score well over 75%.
Rinse and repeat for other subsections.
Overall, the granularity of the performance tracker is really the advantage. When studying for the Series 7 Top-Off exam, this feature comes in handy. We continue to recommend Kaplan’s QBank for this reason – among others. If you feel you need help on this, please feel free to reach out. Good luck!