The Series 86 textbook by STC has improved over the years, yet still leaves much to be desired.
In today’s post, we will discuss how to go about using it, and some of the best methods for studying for the Series 86 exam.
A Once Over of the Series 86 Textbook is All You Need
We advise our students at Professional Exam Tutoring to get through the text in a week or 10 days if they can. If you have about 6 weeks to study for the exam, you are going to want most of that time dedicated to practice questions.
Although we don’t recommend ignoring the text completely, a quick read is something we certainly recommend. If anything this will give you a general understanding of the topics. Also, you can always go back later to “back-fill.”
Importantly, even if you don’t understand everything you read, make sure to move on to questions relatively quickly.
Practice (Questions) Make Perfect
The most common complaint that we hear from most students is that the textbook barely prepares you for the practice questions. Worse still, a similar sentiment is expressed with regards to the textbook relative to the actual exam.
To this point, we highly recommend that you pursue most of your studying using the practice questions provided by STC. Their textbook is not enough on its own, but combined with their practice questions, their “greenlight” practice exams, and even their instructional videos, you should have enough to help you pass.
Why Do So Many People Fail Then?
The Series 86 exam is much harder than most other FINRA exams. Many people fail this exam because of an underestimation of the differential between what practice scores will translate into a passing score on the real exam. The gap here tends to be quite wide. We don’t keep exact figures, but anecdotally speaking we can tell you that there is typically on average about a 15 point difference that we see between what most students score on their practice exams and what they get on the actual exam.
Be careful to keep this in mind before you go into the exam.
For anyone taking the Series 86 exam for the second or third time, we encourage you to widen your expectations of the differential even further. Unfortunately we have seen some students go into their second and third exam attempt scoring around the low 90% range, and still fail. Since STC is the only game in town, we recommend you be very realistic with whether you are memorizing the answers, or truly understand what’s behind them. Aim for 95%-plus for a second or third attempt and know the content inside and out.
With a lot of practice, and a thorough understanding, you can pass this exam. If you need any help, we are always here. Good luck!