The SIE is what we would call the “A Little of Everything Exam.” It is a little different than many other FINRA Exams, which are more specialized in nature. In today’s post, we will discuss how to approach this high-level exam, and how to juggle the many disparate sections it covers.
A Little of Everything Exam: The SIE
The SIE Exam difficulty level is up there for students with next to no background in finance. It is a wide-ranging introduction to financial jargon, financial products, rules, and regulations. It even includes a few technical aspects of the industry.
With everything from bonds, to stocks, to federal law, this exam covers an array of topics. At Professional Exam Tutoring, we recommend you approach you’re studying in pieces.
Steps 1-2-3
Starting out, we highly recommend that for Step 1, you start with the basics, and read the textbook.
Many students are given advice by peers or colleagues to not do this. In many cases, this is to the detriment of the student that received the advice. Given that this is a multiple-choice exam, even merely recognizing keywords can help you eliminate answer choices. Hence, you don’t have to memorize things cold, but you do have to at least be familiar with them. A once-over read will help you get that familiarity.
On that note, there is no need to be extremely thorough in your reading. In fact, we recommend that you only read the textbook once, and then there’s no need to reread the textbook even if you fail the exam your first time. We also advise against taking notes as you’re reading. You should approach reading the textbook like a novel as opposed to taking notes as you go. Notes will slow you down, and you may not know your weak spots quite yet.
Step 2 is to take at least two full comprehensive practice exams. If you are using STC, then try taking their first two practice final exams. There should be eight in total, and the first two will give you a sense of where your score is starting out.
From these practice exams, you can pinpoint areas where you already need help. This is the time to start taking notes. Take notes, or write flashcards, on definitions, formulas, and rules that you were getting wrong. Use the answers provided on the exam for your notes. We do not recommend going back to the textbook and taking notes on that topic from the textbook for the same reason as above. The textbook is much more verbose than the answers given to you at the end of questions on the practice exams. Ultimately, you want quick bullet points, and not long paragraphs on your flashcards.
And Finally
Since there is so much to cover, you want to make sure you’re studying, right. To do this make sure you have the right curriculum. Although Kaplan is an excellent resource, STC tends to produce the best results in our experience.
If your employer provide you with Kaplan, don’t fret. You can still pass the exam with Kaplan, however, you want to target scores in the high 80% range in order to be confident you’ll pass. Also, with Kaplan, start out by creating your own custom exam of about 75 questions. Do this twice over (similar to our recommendation to do two practice final exams on STC), and see where your scores check out. This will give you a similar idea of your starting point, and show you where your flash cards need to focus.
Overall, this exam is very broad based. Anyone can take this right out of high school. That said, it is not a simple exam.
Take the time to learn definitions, needed. Spend some time, memorizing, and take as many practice questions as possible after you’ve read the textbook. With enough repetition, your scores will tell you when you’re ready to go. If you need any help, request an SIE Exam tutor here. Good luck!