Are you taking the Series 86 again? If so, you have plenty of company. There are no shortage of students that need to take this exam multiple times. In today’s post we talk about what you should do, especially considering the fact that there is very limited study material to fall back on.
Series 86 Again…
There is no doubt that the Series 86 Exam is one of the hardest FINRA exams out there. With no official published data, it’s hard to gauge exactly what the Series 86 Exam pass rate is for students’ first time. However, given the hundreds of students that we see every year, we would estimate that the passing rate for the 86 is somewhere around 60% (for the first time around). That leaves a lot of people who need to retake it two or more times.
So, what should you do in terms of studying your second time around?
Same Old STC
The only Series 86 curriculum out there of any significance is STC. Given this, you have no real alternative other than to keep studying the same material. The problem of course, is that you start memorizing answers. Considering this, we typically recommend that at a minimum you score 95% or higher on your practice exams before you go in a second or third time. Ideally not wholly due to the fact that you’ve memorized every answer.
To help ensure that you are still learning despite having repeatedly done the questions, try our trick. Rather than trying to answer which multiple choice answers are correct, try focusing on why certain answers are incorrect. Be able to explain why they are incorrect.
This will help you continue to think critically about questions where you may have memorized the answers.
So, is there anything else you can do?
More Questions?
For some of you, we recommend upgrading.
If you have not done so already, we highly recommend that you upgrade your STC Series 86 package to access their “greenlight exam.” This exam will have additional questions that you will not have seen in the practice final exams offered in the core package. And, the more questions, the better!
We have also heard very good feedback by dozens of students around STC’s Series 86 video tutorials. Explanations provided by STC are said (again, by our students) to have new content that may be very helpful for the exam.
All in all, if you have to go back into the Series 86 Exam for a second or third time, we highly recommend only going in once your practice scores are well north of 90%. Although not always the case, we have even seen students that still score in the low 90% range and still fail on their second and third attempt. This exam is difficult enough, so make sure you know it inside and out before you take it. If you need a Series 86 tutor help, we’re here! Good luck!