Exam Alert: New passing score for the Series 99 is 68%

First off, congratulations to all of our students who have passed the Series 99: FINRA Operations Professional Exam! We know many of you were anxious about this brand new exam Continue reading

First off, congratulations to all of our students who have passed the Series 99: FINRA Operations Professional Exam! We know many of you were anxious about this brand new exam (and brand new experience with standardized testing for many of you). But your hard work paid off, so well done!

As our students let us know they’ve passed, they’ve also told us that the current passing score for the Series 99 is 68%. Don’t let that low score fool you – this exam will still require hard work and diligent studying to pass. We continue to monitor this brand new exam and will keep you updated to any changes to the passing score or to the exam. Be sure to subscribe to our Blog and regularly check our Exam FAQs and Exam Updates pages to keep current with exam information!

Sign-up for our NEW live, online Series 62 class today

Solomon Exam Prep’s line of study materials for the Series 62 exam is growing. We are excited to announce our new live, interactive online classes for the FINRA Series 62 Corporate Securities Limited Representative Qualification Exam! Continue reading

Solomon Exam Prep’s line of study materials for the Series 62 exam is growing. We are excited to announce our new live, interactive online classes for the FINRA Series 62 Corporate Securities Limited Representative Qualification Exam!

Studying for the Series 62 can be a daunting task: the 50-page FINRA outline is long enough to intimidate even the best of test takers! Let Professor Karen Solomon, Ph.D. guide you through the intricacies of corporate securities including corporate bonds, rights, warrants, money-market funds and REITS. Professor Solomon will give you the best need-to-know information in four 2-hour sessions. This live, online class will feature practice questions mixed throughout the easy-to-understand lectures. And your questions are not just allowed, but encouraged! If you miss some or all of the sessions, not to worry: with your purchase, you will also enjoy 15 days access to your recorded class!

Our next class starts Monday, January 30, 2012. Visit our website or give us a call at (503) 601-0212 to sign-up today!

Practice makes perfect: Study for the Series 55 Equity Trader Exam with the new Solomon Series 55 Online Exam Simulator

Test your knowledge about piggybacking, pink sheets and MPIDs with our industry-leading online exam simulator for the FINRA Series 55 exam. Take short topic quizzes, full-length exams with immediate feedback or simulate Continue reading

Test your knowledge about piggybacking, pink sheets and MPIDs with our industry-leading online exam simulator for the FINRA Series 55 exam.  Take short topic quizzes, full-length exams with immediate feedback or simulate the real thing by taking full-length timed exams.  New questions are added regularly to the Solomon Exam Prep Series 55 question database so the product stays current in this fast-changing industry.

In a 2011 study, published in the journal Science, two Purdue University Psychologists showed that practicing memory retrieval via testing is the best strategy for learning.  For more information about the landmark study, click here.

The old saying is true:  Practice makes perfect … so start practicing for the Series 55 by clicking here!

Study Alert: New memory retention study finds reading hard copy is better than reading online

A University of Oregon study shows that readers of the printed New York Times “remember significantly more news stories than online news readers.” Continue reading

A University of Oregon study shows that readers of the printed New York Times “remember significantly more news stories than online news readers.”  Additionally, the study shows that print readers “remember significantly more topics than online newsreaders” and that print readers remembered “more main points of news stories.”

For anyone studying for an exam and thinking about what type of study material to use, this study from Arthur D. Santana, Randall Livingstone and Yoon Cho is something to be aware of.  Click on the following link below for the full article:

http://img.slate.com/media/66/MediumMatters.pdf.

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.

Can listening to audio books during sleep improve exam scores?

Research at Northwestern University, published in the journal Science, suggests that playing a reinforcing audio while sleeping might improve Continue reading

Research at Northwestern University, published in the journal Science, suggests that playing a reinforcing audio while sleeping might improve retention of information already learned.

Science Online

Northwestern University

Study and Test-taking Tips From Memory Research

Research shows that time spent studying is a very important factor in how much you learn. For example, it has been shown that simply reading material Continue reading

Research shows that time spent studying is a very important factor in how much you learn. For example, it has been shown that simply reading material twice, rather than once, greatly improves memory retention. However, time is not the only factor in learning and in preparing for an exam. The quality of time spent studying is also critically important. For example, rather than trying to learn something all at once, try to pace your learning over a longer period of time and take breaks. So called “spaced” or “distributed” learning is much more effective than “cramming” at the last minute. Testing yourself has also been shown to substantially increase long-term recall which means that the more quizzes and practice questions you do, the better prepared you will be for your exam. Finally, studies show that mnemonics help, especially those that create a mental image.

One last word of wisdom: avoid overconfidence at all costs! Studies show it is among the top reasons people do poorly on exams.