FINRA Series 24

Passed the FINRA Series 24 this morning.  A few thoughts on the test.

It was harder than I thought it was going to be.  I actually had to take it twice.  The first time around I got a 69% (the nightmare score for a test where the passing score is 70%!).  This morning I was able to bump up to 81% - and 90% in the investment banking section (the section most relevant to what I do) - so overall I was pretty happy.  I knew the material a lot better the second time around.

I'd say I've been casually studying for the exam for 6 months (bringing the materials with me on flights, flipping through them when I could), and seriously studying for 3 months (highlighting, taking notes, and grinding through practice tests).

Originally I bought two sets of materials: flash cards from FlashCardSecrets.com, and a book and practice test software from The Securities Institute of America (Securities CE).  I actually didn't end up using the flash cards all that much.  I think I would have used them more if they'd been in "sample question" form similar to the test - but instead they were in an information nugget form that I found a bit tough to follow.  My guess is they work for some folks, but they just didn't work for me. 

I did use the book and software from Securities CE pretty extensively.  I tore the book up into individual chapters and stuffed one or two in my pocket whenever I left the house.  The written material is pretty long-form and gave a lot of detail.  The software is a bit clunky, and their customer support isn't all that great, but overall they were useful tools.

After a month or so of grinding through the Securities CE test questions I began to find I was too familiar with the questions and decided to buy a different batch.  So I bought another book and set of questions from Kaplan Financial.  The Kaplan materials were much more polished than the Securities CE stuff.  The software was cooler, the book was cleaner and more refined, and the customer support was excellent.

However, and this is hard to explain, in many ways the "funkyness" of the Securities CE information and questions were a closer match to the way the questions on the test were actually written.  I had to take the test twice - so I saw 310 questions and they should be written like the Kaplan questions - but they *are* written more like the Securities CE questions.

That said, I think I'd recommend using both sets of materials and question databases to study.  Neither set is a perfect match for the questions on the exam, so I think you're better off (safer) using questions from a couple sources, and these were both good for me.

Expect questions on the test that weren't covered in any of the materials. Also, both sets of materials had a few mistakes - so you'll have to be on the look out for those as well.

Lastly, the really tough part of this is that the US financial regulatory system is rather byzantine.  You expect things to generally work a certain way, that things of a certain type require basically the same type of notification, or this or that.  This is not the case. 

You get the sense as you study that the rules were created without anyone reading any of the other rules (and making some effort of consistency)!  So you just have to memorize a ton of stuff.  I came to realize that FINRA doesn't really expect you to remember this stuff in the long run, but instead wants to be sure that you pounded it into your head at least once so the key points are baked in.

If you're reading this about to start the process, good luck and take a lot of practice tests.  But with a few months of effort there's no reason you can't pass.  Much of the material will likely start out being a bit foreign - but it will become increasingly familiar as you re-re-re-re-re-read it.

Comments

[bean]

Congrats Ezra!!

[Marci Wickham]

So glad I found your blog. I just took the 24 Exam this week, and also received a 69%. My study material was from Kaplan, and I thought I was prepared. But like you said, the test questions were much different in format. Having felt like a failure, I've been online looking for other study materials and blogs. I will now order the material from Sec. Institute of America and study some more. Thanks and Congrats!

[Ezra Roizen]

Hey Marci - yes - I think the Kaplan stuff is great - but it's not a perfect match - so you should be good to go if you take a pass thru both sets. Good luck, don't that that 1% bum you out - just think of it as a dress rehearsal.