Taking your third Series 79 exam attempt is often fraught with stress. Failing this attempt can mean that you’re out of a job. Best case scenario, failing the third time could mean that you may keep your job, but still have to wait six months to retake the exam.
Neither of these options are great.
In today’s post, we explain how you know when you’re ready the third time around.
Taking Your Third Series 79 Exam Attempt: Overdoing it is Not a Thing
One of the most common unforced errors that we see students make is taking the exam too early. If your superior is not putting pressure on you, we recommend you wait until you’re ready.
Some students, of course, need the deadline pressure to motivate them to study. However, if you are not this student, then we have some advice. We highly recommend that you get your comprehensive practice exam scores well over 80% on a consistent basis.
One argument we hear from students for wanting to take their exam before they seem ready is that they may forget content if they study too long. Generally speaking from our experience at Professional Exam Tutoring, we don’t see that. Rarely does more studying lead to knowing less. Effective studying leads to better scores, not worse. If scores start going down, the longer someone’s been studying, it generally means there is not a whole lot of studying being done.
Make sure you can concentrate on your practice questions or readings without significant interruptions for at least an hour at a time. It can be quite difficult to get into the groove only studying 20 to 30 minutes at a time.
There is usually a lot riding on the third attempt for the Series 79 exam. We highly recommend that you raise your score as high as possible before going in.
When You’re Ready
On average, we see students scoring in the low 80% range on two or three practice exams typically ready to pass on their first attempt. When it comes to the second and third attempt, however, a practice exam score in the mid 80% range tends to be most successful.
Accounting for the potential for memorizing answers is important. For this reason we recommend you raise your score as high as possible for multiple attempts at the exam. Furthermore, the odds are much higher when you’re practice exam scores exceed the passing hurdle by a wide margin.
We tend to hear students feeling optimistic with simply passing grade on practice exams, but we highly recommend that you have an extra cushion before the real thing.
Overall, if your job or a six month study gap depends on passing, we recommend studying until you’re ready. Confidence comes with knowledge, so keep studying if you have the time. If you have any questions about the above, feel free to reach out. Good luck!