For those of you taking the new Series 86 exam May 15, or thereafter, you may be curious to know what’s on it.
Although we are far from the definitive authority, there are a few hints we’ve seen, and heard, in recent weeks. Some may help partially satisfy this curiosity, and some may be less helpful. We will know for sure after May 15.
New Series 86 Exam May 15: Will it be Materially Different?
The most common question that we get around the new Series 86 exam is around how different it will be. To be sure, we don’t know, exactly, however, based off of the content breakdown on FINRA’s website, the answer seems to be: not much.
There’s a large amount of overlap when you compare the content outline for the exam before and after May 15. Some new items seem to be included. Topics such as the GDP deflator, activist investors, investment securities, among other things, are included.
Up to now, we believe that FINRA seems to have been laying the groundwork for the change. Student feedback has indicated that the exam has not changed much in the last few months, although it does seem to have changed significantly from last fall.
In and of itself, this does not tell us very much. Although it seems likely that the switch was to prepare for the new questions to be asked after May, but we don’t know for certain.
How Should You Prepare?
Fortunately, the expert on the topic has distributed an addendum to their current textbook. This addendum from STC includes an additional 100 practice questions.
If you haven’t already, check out the update from STC in your STC dashboard. The company has included an approximately 50 page document. The document is updated with new material, focus areas, and new questions.
The general takeaway is that much of what is currently included in some of STC practice questions (greenlight exams), is being formally included in their addendum. Whereas, not all of it has been specifically discussed in their text previously. We have also heard reports that students recognize some of STC’s new practice questions to be identical to recent exam attempts. We have no insight into whether these questions are, in fact, identical, or may continue to show up again after May 15.
Nonetheless, if this identification is accurate, we suspect the new STC questions may be worth extra study for anyone taking the exam beginning next week.
Overall, STC remains the sole provider of practice questions, and a textbook. If you are taking the exam shortly after May 15, we recommend that you reference the new addendum.
In other news, we at Professional Exam Tutoring will shortly have our own video course for the Series 86 exam, and will keep you posted as soon as it is launched. We anticipate sending it out before June 1. Good luck in the meantime, and let us know if you need any help!