Customer Reviews

Passtrak Series 7: General Securities Representative : License Exam Manual

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have little financial background and needed to pass the test in about a month. Here is what I did with this book, the only book I have ever used.

1) read the book one time. Do all the chapter tests. Understand them as best you can. Read all of the material once.
I suggest 30-50 pages a night depending on what subject. Unfortunately the first few sections are a grind (Munis and Options are included) and take longer - make sure to read these to understanding.

Pay attentin to all "test topic" alerts in the book.

2) Buy the CD and take tests. Lots of tests. Lots and lots of tests. Take full section tests ( I took them in increments of 50 and 100) until you are getting 80% of them correct.

At the end of each section of the book - take multiple tests on that section on the CD immediately afterwards. AS you read more and more sections - combine more and more subjects into the tests you take along with taking some that are subject specific.

Take tests that include all of the subjects too - then find what sections and sub-sections you are scoring poorly on and take tests upon test of just those subjects until you know them.

The CD is a must. You HAVE to have it. I probably took 150 tests ranging from full 125 all subject practice tests (that are JUST like the real thing as far as form and questions) to 50 question tests focusing on subjects I was scoring poorly on.

1) study the book and do the tests in the book
2) get the CD and go to town like a madman. Take tests until you cant take any more tests. You cannot take too many.


I got 87 first try and finished the first 3 hour session in 50 minutes and the second 3 hour section in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Took under 2 hours total. About 30% of the questions were EXACT - the others similiar.

My only complaint is that the section on Order Entry/Confirmation/and Settlement sections. I was in the 60% range on the test for that section and was LOST during the test on q's regarding those subjects.

You can pass the test with a month, this book and the dearborn CD.

good luck

Honestly, all the books out there (including this one) for the Series 7 exam are thick and filled with too much information. If you actually try to read the book from front to back, you are doing yourself a disservice. It is way too much information to retain. By the time you complete reading the book, you would have forgotten everything in the beginning.

My advice: Skip reading the book and jump straight into doing the practice exams. Read the questions and compare it to the answer. Only use the book as a reference. Do the practice exams over and over until you have a passing score of 80%+.

The book is actually pretty good if you insist on reading it. They explain the difficult concepts pretty well with the use of visual aids and Hotsheet summary.

Good luck! Get plenty of rest the night before. The test is long and draining!

This is an excellent book. I recommend completing the book in 25 days ~30 pages per day. Get the CD and do multiple 100+ questions test. Also, the audio CDs are excellent.
Score: 92%

As one other reader mentioned, there are some mistakes which are a bit fustrating. My advice if you are going to get this book is to leave yourself plenty of time to take some online tests as well. I don't think it's manageable to go through this book as well as another one, but be advised that there are some items on the test that I didn't see in the book (i.e. money laundering). Study time (4 weeks + online tests). Score: 84.

That should be 5 stars... Having zero financial background, I researched all the book reviews and decided to go with the book and CDrom available directly from Kaplan (purchased Dearborn). They sell their newest, second edition direct from their website as a bundle with the CDrom. I also used a book and audio CD set from "Pass The 7" (Robert Walker). I read each section from both books, then used the practice exams on Kaplan's CDrom to identify areas of weakness, and went back to re-read those topics. I listened to the audio CD's in the car constantly. I did full-length, 250 question practice exams each day for 10 days and went back to re-read areas of weakness. I studied part-time (about 2 hours a day on average) for 3 months (I have a busy life and a family) and ended up getting an 86% on the real thing in a little under 4 hours. I felt well-prepared doing it the way I did. 66% of test-takers passed in 2006 with an average score of 73%. I didn't do too badly :)