The Securities Institute of America Series 65 Exam Prep Review
In April 2023, I decided to take the Series 65 exam and, after a little bit of research, chose to purchase exam prep materials from the Securities Institute of America (hereafter referred to as “SIA”).
Overall, I do feel like their material prepared me well for the exam, but I wouldn’t say that it’s flawless.
What follows is a more detailed description of why I chose SIA, an explanation of the materials I used, and a summary of how applicable the material was to the actual exam.
Why I Chose SIA
Honestly, I didn’t spend a lot of time looking into exam prep materials.
There are many websites that offer glowing reviews of the most common exam prep options which I find rather worthless since they all probably also receive a commission for any sales that are generated from their “articles”.
My expectation for an unbiased and highly critical review from any of these sites is rather low, though you can learn a bit about the strengths of each program.
Rest assured; I am not receiving any compensation for this review.
Ultimately, I chose SIA for three reasons:
- They offer a guarantee that you’ll pass;
- They offer different plans with flexible pricing that fit my needs;
- Based on what I could glean from others who had taken the test, SIA was as good an option as any of the most popular exam prep guides available.
About That Guarantee…
The guarantee is basically an offer to refund your money if you pass their “GreenLight” exam within 5 days of your scheduled exam, but fail to pass the actual exam.
My first thought was that the GreenLight exam was going to be insanely tough.
Since you take it within 5 days of your actual exam and you’ll already have it scheduled, it’s not like you can push the real test back after you take the GreenLight exam.
You’ve got to do both regardless of how well the Greenlight exam goes.
Hence, if I was offering such a guarantee, I’d make sure it was much more challenging than the real test so I wouldn’t have to issue any refunds.
But I’ll get to the GreenLight exam later in this review.
In any event, even if the GreenLight is more challenging than the actual test, I’d rather be overprepared than have to do it all again, so the guarantee was an important feature for me.
Plan Options
There are primarily three study plans one can purchase from SIA.
- The Textbook & Exam Prep Software option;
- The Complete Video Package option;
- The Complete Self Study Solution.
The Textbook & Exam Prep Software Option
The Textbook & Exam Prep Software Option is the option I ultimately chose because I wanted a hard copy textbook and the exam prep software but had no desire whatsoever to watch 13 hours of videos in order to prepare.
I offer no review of the videos whatsoever because I never watched even a minute of one. It wouldn’t be fair for me to comment on that.
I’ll review the book and software below, but this option cost me $140 before I scored a $20 coupon from one of the reviews I was bashing earlier.
I’m not sure if that’s always an option, but you might as well check it out if you want to save a few bucks.
The Complete Video Package Option
The Complete Video Package Option also includes the exam prep software but does not come with a textbook.
Instead, you’ll receive access to 13+ hours of video content. If you are more of a visual learner than a reader, maybe this option is for you.
Like I said earlier, I didn’t purchase the video option so I offer no opinion here.
This option was available for $125 when I signed up for SIA.
The Complete Self-Study Solution
If you guessed that the Complete Self-Study Solution is a combination of the previous two options, you’re right!
The price for these combined options is $209.
Additionally, you can pay for the videos alone ($99), the book or E-book alone ($90), or the exam prep software alone ($60).
Obviously, it pays to buy things as a combo, so do your best to pick the option that will work well for you.
The Exam Prep Textbook
The textbook was delivered to me 3 days after I ordered it (I live in Alabama).
It has fifteen chapters, an extensive glossary, and 466 pages for your reading pleasure.
The chapters are as follows:
- Equity Securities
- Corporate and Municipal Debt Securities
- Government and Government Agency Issues
- Investment Companies
- Variable Annuities and Retirement Plans
- Fundamental and Technical Analysis
- Economic Fundamentals
- Recommendations, Professional Conduct, and Taxation
- Securities Industry Rules and Regulations
- Trading Securities
- Options
- Definition of Terms
- Registration of Broker-Dealers, Investment Advisers, and Agents
- Securities Registration, Exempt Securities, and Exempt Transactions
- State Securities Administrator: The Uniform Securities Act
I’ll get the ugly stuff out of the way first.
SIA could do a better job proofreading their material. There are many typographical errors in the book, but most of them can be overlooked.
What I found relatively annoying was the lack of attention that was apparently given to updating IRS limitations like maximum IRA contributions, the annual gift tax exclusion, and errors in the end-of-chapter quizzes.
None of these issues are likely to lead to an exam failure, but it was annoying at times and could cause significant confusion.
There were also issues with end-of-chapter quizzes where the answers did not match the answer key in the back of the book.
In one case, the same correct answer was listed twice in the list of multiple-choice options.
Finally, there were several end-of-chapter quiz questions that referred to a topic that hadn’t yet been covered in the book. The good news is those questions were easier the second time through.
With that out of the way, overall, I do think it’s a solid textbook.
In fairness, you have to remember that there probably isn’t an enormous market for Series 65 exam textbooks.
SIA prints dozens of exam guides and they’re probably all written by people who do not do this as their primary job.
One feature of the book is its tendency to use a variety of terms to describe the same thing if more than one term is customary and may appear on the exam. An example is Market Risk and Systematic Risk.
There are dozens more and they can be confusing. SIA does a decent job of trying to make these synonyms clear.
I also appreciated the extensive glossary in the back of the book. It made quick reference relatively painless if I couldn’t remember a term.
Finally, the book is reasonably concise given the volume of material it must cover. It won’t win a Pulitzer, but the information is communicated succinctly without a ton of fluff to waste your time.
That was a huge plus for me.
There were several things that popped up in the online exam prep that I was unable to locate in the book, but not many.
The Online Test Bank (A.K.A “Exam Prep Software”)
To begin, the exam prep software is actually a password-protected website. You don’t have to download any software to your personal computer.
This is much more convenient because you won’t have to worry about compatibility issues. Just log in and go to work.
When you first log into the online test bank, you’ll see a screen that looks like the one below.
There is a pdf titled “How to Use This Test Bank” which I found nearly useless.
It doesn’t describe the practice exams, simulated finals, suitability checkpoints, or the GreenLight Exam in any useful level of detail.
There is some contact info in that pdf for technical support though, so that would be nice to have if you needed it.
I’ll now try to explain where the pdf fails to do so.
Series 65 Practice Exams
The practice exam section is where I spent the bulk of my time online.
When you first log in, you’ll see a screen that looks something like this:
The great thing is you have some control over what questions you see, including the ability to revisit questions you have answered incorrectly or marked for review in a previous practice quiz.
All of the options listed are exhaustive with one exception. This means when you click on “Show Questions I Have Not Viewed Yet”, the software will pull up all of them.
There are 1900 questions in total, so that could take a while. The bad news is if you stop before completing them all, the program will mark all the questions you didn’t respond to as incorrect and those will all now show up under “Show Questions I Answered Wrong…”.
I would recommend using “Show Questions by Category” which will lead to another screen that allows you to choose how many questions you want on your quiz and which categories you want those questions to come from. (See below.)
The four categories are Economics and Analysis, Ethics and Legal Guidelines, Investment Recommendations and Strategies, and Investment Vehicles.
So, if you want to limit a quiz to 20 questions or only want to focus on Economics and Analysis, this screen lets you tailor your quiz accordingly.
Unfortunately, after you’ve done a few quizzes, you’ll begin to see repeat questions.
I never found a way to set up quizzes with only new questions. The only option I found for that was to use the “Show Questions I Have Not Viewed Yet” option on the practice exam page.
That opens all the questions you’ve never seen, so you’ll have to keep track of your correct responses if you want to grade your progress.
Series 65 Simulated Final Exams
There are two simulated final exams that are 130 questions long. Strangely enough, test 1 gave me 180 minutes while test 2 was limited to 150 minutes.
The questions come from the test bank so if you have been using the practice quiz module you will probably see some repeats.
I found both of these practice exams to be very helpful.
For one, they provide a clearer picture of what the actual test will be like including your pace so you’ll know if you can expect to have enough time or need to speed things up in the real test.
They were also useful for highlighting the areas I needed to study further.
I was able to do this because after each exam you are given a summary of your score, how well you did in each of the four categories, and a complete listing of all the questions with your responses, the correct response, and an explanation.
Each time I took the test I spent another hour or more reviewing the exam summary.
You can retake the simulated exams, but they have the same questions. You will not receive a new bank of questions for the simulated exams.
Personally, I think it would be nice if they would add a feature to create new practice exams, but you can just as well set up your own 130-question practice exam and watch the timer if you wish.
Suitability Checkpoints
I couldn’t find any information explaining what the suitability checkpoints were, so eventually I just decided to jump in and do one.
The suitability checkpoints basically test your ability to choose the most suitable recommendation to give to a client.
Think of them as little case studies.
I found these to be quite challenging and, as you can see from the screenshots, I failed the first one I tried (17/25 or 68%).
Bummer.
I do think these are useful because they really exercise one’s ability to apply the knowledge gained from reading the texts and taking the practice exams.
Like the practice final exams, you’ll be able to review your results along with the correct answers and an explanation of each one.
The suitability checkpoints were also the most similar questions I saw to the GreenLight exam, so you might want to do them both before you pop the cork on the GreenLight.
The GreenLight Exam
I briefly mentioned earlier that I expected the GreenLight exam to be tough.
Well, I was more right than I could have ever expected.
In fairness to SIA, most of the companies that offer exam prep materials with a guarantee have a final test that is known for being much harder than the study material.
The SIA GreenLight exam is certainly no exception.
I decided to take my GreenLight exam two days before my real test so the material would be somewhat fresh, but I’d have some time to review concepts for which I tested poorly.
The exam functioned similarly to the practice final exams except the timer was set for 180 minutes instead of the 150 I got on final exam 2.
It didn’t take me long to realize these questions were much, much tougher and I hadn’t seen any of them previously from the standard question bank.
As a point of comparison, I made 81 and 84 on the two practice final exams and finished each in around 90 minutes.
I made a 57 on the GreenLight exam and had about 12 minutes left on the clock when I completed it.
So, what made the GreenLight exam so much tougher? Several things really.
First, all of the questions were more complex.
Where many of the practice quiz or exam questions would address one’s knowledge in a singular topic, on the GreenLight exam you may need to thoroughly understand 4 or more concepts to correctly answer a question.
For example, a question may give you a snippet of information about a bond. Based on that information you may need to be able to discern what type of bond it is, and then understand how to calculate various bond ratios like yield to maturity, current yield, and nominal yield just to eliminate one of the multiple-choice options.
Another possible answer might require you to know the tax treatment of the bond. Another answer option may test you on calculating the value of any warrants attached to the bond.
And this is all on just one multiple-choice question.
This is a complex example, but the whole test was like this. It’s as if SIA managed to squeeze a 500-question test into 130 questions.
Another headache was the presence of reams of useless, superfluous information within many of the questions. It was clear there was a conscious attempt by the test writer to lose you in the truckload of useless details you were forced to read through.
I’ll say it. It was a very poorly written test that was overly complicated for no other reason than to make it more difficult to successfully complete, whether you truly understood the material or not.
There were also several terms and concepts on the GreenLight exam that were not covered in the textbook.
On no fewer than 5 occasions I was presented with a question that referred to a term or security or investment type that I had never seen or heard of before.
I did manage to guess correctly on one of those.
Finally, there were several questions that were just plain tricky.
You must read all the words very, very carefully as if you’re being tested on grammar and vocabulary in addition to being quizzed on your financial wisdom.
If you can pass the GreenLight exam, you shouldn’t have any trouble passing the real test.
In fact, if you can pass the GreenLight exam, you might as well just apply for a job as a professor and teach this stuff to the future brains of finance.
I’d liken it to being forced to run a marathon in order to prove you can handle a 5k.
The sad part is the GreenLight exam isn’t very helpful for gauging your actual likelihood of success on the real test unless you pass it.
All it did for me was force me to spend three hours trying to convince myself that I should still go a take the real exam; that I still had a chance.
I didn’t feel great about myself after the GreenLight, but looking back I’m actually kind of pleased I did as well as I did.
It’s just that hard.
You might as well try to pass the GreenLight exam, but you should set your expectations low.
Make sure you have plenty of time (you may need all 3 hours) and read through the answers after the test to see what you need to spend your remaining time studying.
Oh, and don’t beat yourself up when you fail. I doubt many people actually pass the GreenLight.
How did I use the study materials?
I began studying for the Series 65 in April and took the exam in July.
For the first 3 or 4 weeks all I did was read the book (highlighter in hand) and take the end-of-chapter exams.
After one trip through the book, I began taking practice exams from time to time to see how I was progressing.
The practice exams quickly highlighted my weakness in the Ethics and Legal Guidelines category as well as a few other topics I needed to polish up on.
This informed my time reading the book a second time where I highlighted even more material.
I also read through the glossary after my second trip through the book, highlighting terms I felt were either especially relevant or were a potential weakness for me.
After reading the book a second time through, I took the first simulated final. I made an 81/100.
I was also scoring around 80% on my practice exams.
This gave me the courage to go ahead and schedule the real exam which I took on July 7th.
Leading up to the test I took the second simulated final 5 days before the test (scored an 84) and the GreenLight Exam two days before the real exam (failed miserably).
I also took several practice exams during the week of the test. I was pretty sick of Series 65 when exam day came, but I also felt like I was ready.
By the time test day rolled around I was scoring in the mid-80s on the practice quizzes using questions I had never seen before.
All told, over the course of 6+ weeks, I answered around 1200 of the 1900 available questions in the online test bank.
A few other thoughts about using SIA’s exam prep materials:
- Get the book in some format. I don’t think the software alone is enough to get you through this test. This is mostly because of the ethics/legal questions.
- Eventually, you’ll grow tired of seeing some of the same questions popping up over and over again on the practice exams. I quit using them and only selected “Show Questions I Have Not Viewed Yet”. I’d then mark (you have this option while taking practice quizzes and exams) any questions I got wrong or wanted to review further.
- When I first logged in each time, I’d go visit the questions I had marked for review and work through them, removing any I felt had mastered.
- I recommend focusing heavily on chapters 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, & 15 from the book. Personally, I thought this test would be more about securities knowledge, but the focus is clearly on testing one’s knowledge of the law and what it takes to remain compliant.
Conclusion
Overall, I would say that SIA’s exam prep materials did a good job preparing me for my exam (which I passed on the first shot, btw).
The primary concepts I felt unprepared for during the actual test were tenancy and estate planning.
I was surprised at the level of detail a few of those questions went into and can only recall hitting them at a very high level in my exam prep.
Aside from those exceptions, I felt like I had at least seen the material I was tested on, and if I couldn’t remember the answer exactly, I couldn’t blame that on anyone but myself.
I would not discourage anyone from using SIA for their Series 65 exam prep.
Revising the running metaphor, I would say the SIA material is like using 11-mile runs to train for a 10-mile race*.
SIA’s questions are more difficult overall than the test which pushed me to study harder; but, in the end, the test felt easier by comparison.
I’d say that’s pretty good coaching.
(*Except for the GreenLight Exam. That thing was stupid hard.)
Other Frequently Asked Questions
How well did the material prepare me for the exam?
I’d say pretty well since I did pass on my first attempt.
The questions on the actual exam were similar in nature to the questions I saw in SIA’s practice test bank. I never had an “Oh no!” moment where I felt like the test was bound to end in abysmal failure.
It’s clear the people at SIA who put together their materials are very familiar with the test.
Even the way you can mark questions for review in the practice exams mimics the actual test really well.
If anything, I would say SIA’s test questions and quizzes were a bit more difficult than the real test. If you’re batting in the mid-80s or better on the practice materials you’re probably good to go.
If you fail the GreenLight exam, don’t sweat it. The real test is nowhere near that level of difficulty.
If you pass the GreenLight exam I don’t think there’s any way you’ll fail the test unless you do so intentionally or have some sort of breakdown in the middle of the exam.
Would I recommend SIA for Series 65 Exam prep?
Eh. Maybe?
I wouldn’t discourage anyone from using them, but I also don’t know a lot about the other companies that offer exam materials.
If I were planning to sit for another FINRA or NASAA test, I’d probably at least try another option for a point of comparison.
Again, my only gripes with SIA are the near uselessness of the GreenLight guarantee and the errors in the book and test material.
Overall, SIA had me ready for the test.
