The Series 86 has fewer questions after the May 15, 2023 exam change, but reports back from students over the last several months have been fairly conclusive. The exam is still no less tricky than before.
Series 86 Has Fewer Questions…Not Easier Ones
The Series 86 Exam is a notoriously difficult exam. So difficult that it is quite rare that we at Professional Exam Tutoring come across many students that pass on the first time.
The exam composition changed on May 15, 2023, decreasing the number of testable questions from 110 to 85. On one hand, the fewer questions has certainly been helpful. Very few students report running out of time after the change, which is in sharp contrast to a significant proportion reporting a lack of time prior to the change.
Not so different, however, is the difficulty level of the Series 86 Exam. Students still report back the high difficulty level of questions. This has therefore changed little around how we approach tutoring for this exam.
Fine Tooth Comb
A general theme from FINRA in recent years is a pivot towards conceptual exam questions (as opposed to quantitative). That is to say, many of their exams, not just the Series 86, have begun to focus on ensuring students have a deeper understanding of important concepts and explanations, and less so on being able to calculate specific formulas.
We believe that this is the case for the Series 86 Exam as well. Although there are no shortage of formulas that you should know for this exam, be sure to understand how the changing inputs for each formula affect the output.
For instance, if you increase the discount rate for any present value calculation, you should know that that will decrease the overall present value. As a corollary, you should therefore also know which formulas include present value calculations on the exam (DDM, GGM, DCF, pension liabilities, etc).
Overall, there is no published data on the Series 86 pass rate, but the questions definitely do not seem to be much easier. The big relief however is that there are fewer of them. With enough studying, you can get through this exam. If you’re looking for a little extra help, check out our Series 86 Exam course, or request a Series 86 tutor. Good luck!