There is plenty of SIE Exam prep marketing gimmickry out there. Most of the time we recommend they simply be ignored like dieting gimmicks, or get-rich-quick schemes. The main reason being that their validity can be hard to measure, and flat out confusing. It is sometimes difficult to discern how to interpret these marketing messages, especially when they come from well-established companies. A deeper look into their numbers is often not available, and potentially for good reason.
In today’s post, we cover this topic, mostly because we get a lot of questions about it.
SIE Exam Prep Marketing: What to Believe
There are plenty of companies out there that promise the best study material. However, most of the time you will rely on your employers to provide you with their preferred material. One would assume that this material has been sourced with some sense of due diligence.
Nevertheless, at Professional Exam Tutoring, we have found that little due diligence is typically performed. Most employers tend to go with the brand names in the exam prep industry with which they are most familiar. Sometimes it’s also with those with which they have a prior relationship.
Generally speaking, most exam prep providers are in fact reliable companies with sufficient material to help a student pass. Their test prep material is quite good, and naturally, some are better than others when it comes to certain exams.
In short, most students should be able to pass with a very thorough study process and course material in-hand. However, we recommend you not confuse statistics pushed and presented by some companies. In their attempt to take market share from other companies, statistics can be confused with promises of a passing grade.
Promises, Promises
To this point, where things get dicey is when companies share vague statistics about student success rates after students have used their study material. Ambiguous statistics about pass rates for students confuse exam takers into thinking certain practice scores virtually guarantee a passing grade on the actual exam.
We get questions around this more times than we can count.
Students often call us for the first time, after having failed an exam they thought they were almost assured to pass – their expectation is usually based off of the confusing statistics on exam prep providers websites.
Interestingly, many of the same statistical claims can be found advertised on webpages highlighting exam prep material for different FINRA exams – something we find very interesting (given the different difficulty levels of the exams), and quite a coincidence.
In a nutshell, all of this is to say that you should be careful of how you interpret the statistics and promises on exam prep websites. When it comes to FINRA exams, aiming well north of 85% on most practice exams from most exam prep companies is where you want to be. When in doubt, feel free to reach out and we can share our view of where you are at in your studying. Good luck studying!