Big Changes Ahead for the Series 7 Exam

At the FINRA annual conference in May in Baltimore, FINRA announced that it is in what sounds like the final stages of a substantial revision to the Series 7 Continue reading

At the FINRA annual conference in May in Baltimore, FINRA announced that it is in what sounds like the final stages of a substantial revision to the Series 7 General Securities Representative Exam. The new Series 7 exam will test five major job functions, down from the current seven. Within the five major job functions, the revised Series 7 exam will test 29 tasks associated with the major job functions of a registered representative. According to the FINRA, the new Series 7 exam will contain “200+ knowledge statements” associated with the five functions and the 29 tasks.

The five job functions of the new Series 7 General Securities Representative Exam will be:

“Seeks business for the broker-dealer through customers and potential customers”

“Evaluates customers’ financial status, financial needs and risk tolerance, and helps them identify their investment objectives”

“Opens accounts, transfers assets and maintains appropriate account records”

“Provides customers with information on investments and makes suitable recommendations”

“Obtains and verifies customer’s purchase and sales instructions, enters orders and follows up”

These five functions are the same or substantially similar to ones on the current Series 7 exam. A notable change from the existing Series 7 exam is the addition of evaluating customer “risk tolerance.”

Removed or merged into other categories are:

“Explains the organization, participants, and functions of various securities markets and the principal factors that affect them”

“Monitors the customer’s portfolio and makes recommendations consistent with changes in economic and financial conditions as well as the customer’s needs and objectives”

The revised Series 7 will still be 250 questions long with an additional ten non-scored “pre-test” questions that will be randomly distributed on the exam. The revised Series 7 exam will remain six hours in length, broken into two three-hour segments.

Although no specific timeline was provided, the FINRA announcement said that the new Series 7 content outline would be submitted to the SEC first and then once the SEC approves the proposed changes, the new content outline would be posted on the FINRA web site and then some time after that the test would be launched at the testing centers.

Meet us in Baltimore at the FINRA Annual Conference

Solomon Exam Prep will be an exhibitor at the FINRA Annual Conference May 26-28 in Baltimore at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. Continue reading

Solomon Exam Prep will be an exhibitor at the FINRA Annual Conference May 26-28 in Baltimore at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

For more information, please go to finra.org

May 3 Opt-In deadline Approaches for Investment Bankers

According to the SEC and FINRA, anyone who is Series 7 registered and performing the role of an investment banker, may opt in and register for Continue reading

According to the SEC and FINRA, anyone who is Series 7 registered and performing the role of an investment banker, may opt in and register for the new Series 79 Limited Representative Investment Banking category by May 3. To do so, individuals must have their firms file an amended U4 on their behalf. After May 3, anyone engaging in the activities of an investment banker, as defined below by the SEC and FINRA, will be required to pass the new Series 79 exam. For more information see amended NASD rules 1022 and 1032 as well as FINRA Regulatory Notice 09-41.

According to the SEC and FINRA, investment banking activities are defined as:
• “advising on or facilitating debt or equity securities offerings through a private placement or a public offering, including but not limited to origination, underwriting, marketing, structuring, syndication, and pricing of such securities and managing the allocation and stabilization activities of such offerings, or
• advising on or facilitating mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, financial restructurings, asset sales, divestitures or other corporate reorganizations or business combination transactions, including but not limited to rendering a fairness, solvency or similar opinion.”

Solomon Exam Prep Publishes First Series 7 Training App for the Blackberry

Do you need to take the FINRA Series 7 exam? Do you have limited time to study? Do you own a Blackberry? If you answered yes to these questions, Continue reading

Do you need to take the FINRA Series 7 exam? Do you have limited time to study? Do you own a Blackberry? If you answered yes to these questions, then you’ve come to the right place!

Officially known as the Qualification Examination for General Securities Registered Representatives, the Series 7 exam qualifies a candidate to sell all types of securities. The examination tests candidates’ knowledge of the critical functions of the General Securities Registered Representative. The Series 7 exam was developed and is administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority FINRA.

The Solomon Exam Prep Series 7 BlackBerry® app offers 350 practice questions from the same topic categories the seven critical functions of a registered representative and in the same proportion as the actual Series 7 exam.

Each practice exam on the Solomon Exam Prep Series 7 BlackBerry app is 50 questions long. Each question is followed by an immediate answer and explanation, as well as an opportunity to review the question. Users may pause at any time and resume at the same point later on. At the end of each 50 question practice test, users receive a score and a pass/fail grade.

To order, please go to Blackberry App World here:

Solomon Exam Prep Publishes first Series 79 Exam Simulator

According to FINRA and the SEC, after May 3, anyone performing the duties of an investment banker will need to pass the new Investment Banking Representative Qualification Examination, aka the Series 79. Continue reading

According to FINRA and the SEC, after May 3, anyone performing the duties of an investment banker will need to pass the new Investment Banking Representative Qualification Examination, aka the Series 79.

This is not an easy exam, as many have discovered, and so Solomon Exam Prep has created a high quality online exam simulator with over 750 questions and detailed rationales.

If you have to sit for the Series 79 and bone up on private placements, transaction structures, bidding procedures, Chinese Wall policies and procedures and fairness opinions, there is no better way than to use Solomon Exam Prep’s online Exam Simulator.

Solomon Exam Prep Publishes Series 62 Exam Simulator

Continuing its strong tradition of experience-based learning products, Solomon Exam Prep has published an innovative exam simulator for the Series 62. Continue reading

Continuing its strong tradition of experience-based learning products, Solomon Exam Prep has published an innovative exam simulator for the FINRA Corporate Securities Limited Representative Exam.  With 900+ questions and detailed explanatory rationales, the Solomon Exam Prep Series 62 exam simulator provides full practice exams, with feedback, as well as topical quizzes.

If you trade corporate securities only, including corporate stocks and bonds, rights, warrants, REITs, collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and exchange traded funds (ETFs) and you have to take the the FINRA Series 62 exam, “there is no better way to pass the Series 62 exam than by taking practice exams on an exam simulator” according to Jeremy Solomon, President.

Solomon Exam Prep Publishes Series 24 Practice Exam

If you’re uncertain about the meaning of a “qualified block positioner,” the hypothecation of customers’ securities or the effect of haircuts Continue reading

If you’re uncertain about the meaning of a “qualified block positioner,” the hypothecation of customers’ securities or the effect of haircuts on capital of proprietary positions, and you have to take the FINRA Series 24 General Securities Principal Exam, then you’ll be glad to know that Solomon Exam Prep has published a complete 150 question Series 24 Practice Exam. Like all of the Solomon Exam Prep practice question products, each Series 24 practice question is followed by a detailed explanatory rationale.

Self-study Tip of the Week

Flashcards are a great, affordable way to study for your licensing exam. Keep them in your bag or pocket and use them while Continue reading

Flashcards are a great, affordable way to study for your licensing exam. Keep them in your bag or pocket and use them while you are waiting in line in the grocery store, on the subway or train, and even during your lunch hour at work.

As you read through a chapter in your book, make a flashcard for any term you don’t understand or don’t think you’ll remember. The glossary in the back of each book provides you with easy to understand definitions. If the term is not in the glossary look it up in a dictionary.

Once you’ve made flashcards for a chapter, be sure to look through the entire stack at least twice a day; research shows it takes 10-20 repetitions to make a word part of your vocabulary. As you go through the stack, set aside the ones you know and continue to review the ones you don’t.

Did flashcards help you study for your exam? Email info@solomonexamprep.com and let us know!

Napping Increases Learning

A new study at the University of California, Berkeley found that a nap increased the brain’s ability to learn and remember names and faces. Continue reading

A new study at the University of California, Berkeley found that a nap increased the brain’s ability to learn and remember names and faces. The study tested volunteers on name and face recognition twice, once at noon and once at 6 pm. The subjects who napped between sessions raised their scores by 10% on average, the subjects who didn’t nap actually scored 10% lower, on average, on the second test. Sleep helps the brain “like a dry sponge, to absorb new information” according to Professor Mathew P. Walker, the lead investigator, quoted in the New York Times. “You need to sleep before learning, to prepare your brain.”

Take this to heart and if you can, take a break from your study routine and nap between learning sessions.

Solomon Exam Prep Publishes New 2010 Audio Guides for the Series 6, Series 63 and Series 65 Exams

According to a 2009 Northwestern University study published in the journal SCIENCE, listening to audio can deepen and strengthen memory and Continue reading

According to a 2009 Northwestern University study published in the journal SCIENCE, listening to audio can deepen and strengthen memory and learning – even when one is sleeping.  

Solomon Exam Prep is excited to announce publication of new and fully updated 2010 editions of our bestselling PASS THE 6, PASS THE 63 and PASS THE 65 audio training guides for the FINRA Series 6 exam and the NASAA Series 63 and 65 exams.

A happy customer wrote: “Thanks to Linda’s lively voice, I learned the material quickly and passed the Series 65 with flying colors. The humor is great. It was fun to listen while driving, and it was easy to absorb the information—just like being taught by an entertaining young professor!”

Linda Franklin is the voice of Solomon Exam Prep and reads all of our audio books. Listen to an excerpt of the Series 65 audio book here:

Does her voice sound familiar to you? If you’ve ever called our office, you’ve probably spoken with Linda since she also answers the phone around here!

Has an audio book helped you pass an exam? Tell us about it! Email info@solomonexamprep.com