When it comes to SIE Options studying, there is no magic. Likely to make up at least several points on the exam, this is an important section. Especially, if you plan on taking the Series 7 Exam next – which has the potential to be much more concentrated on Options questions.
We often get asked if students should follow the order of the textbook or jump around. The Options section tends to fall around the middle of the text for two of the most popular providers. We answer this question, and how to prepare, more below.
SIE Options Studying
Diving into SIE Options studying, there is no need to wait. In fact, it may benefit you to begin as soon as possible.
At Professional Exam Tutoring, we get asked to help tutor Options content frequently. Some students are also curious whether they should keep studying other portions of the text, while also jumping ahead and learning Options through a tutor.
Our recommendation is that you should absolutely get the help of a tutor on the Options section as early as possible.
The reason being that it is one of the hardest sections on the exam, so the more, and earlier, you see this section, the more time you have to gain proficiency. From the several hundred students we see every year, we anecdotally see that those that start out with Options studying early have the most success (on both the SIE Exam and Series 7 Exam).
The Art of Juggling
What might also be quite evident while studying, is the sheer volume and diversity of content. SIE Options studying has to be balanced with all other sections.
The best way to do this is to ensure that you are seeing all other sections at least once or twice a week while you study. This may sound like an extremely time consuming exercise but it doesn’t have to be. One way to go about this is by doing at least one or two full-fledged practice exams each week. This will ensure that you are seeing little bits of every section on a regular basis. Don’t worry about your score while doing this. It is merely for review, and will start increasing with time.
In between those practice exams, we recommend that you focus on filling in any gaps that you have in very specific areas with “drill down” practice questions. In other words, do 15 to 20 questions from specific sections or sub-sections in order to bulk up any remaining weak areas (often Options is included here). Both, STC and Kaplan have good practice question resources to “drill down” on specific areas.
Overall, if the Options section gives you a hard time try to do at least 10 practice questions twice per week. Space them out (Mon/Thurs or Tues/Fri) so they refresh regularly. That should help you eventually conquer this tricky section. You may not get it at first, but with repeated practice the concepts will sink in.
If you need any help, you know where to find us. Good luck!