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To become a licensed broker, you must pass the General Securities Representative Exam, also known as the Series 7. This test is administered by FINRA, and it is very important if you want to take an investment position or be involved in trade securities here in the United States.
But considering the difficult nature of this test, passing the Series 7 may not be that easy. In fact, those who have failed once may take the test again the second or third time around.
So how many times are you allowed to take the Series 7 licensure exam? Is there are a limit to taking this type of test if you are not able to pass it before? Get to know more the details on this topic and more to keep you informed whether you’re a first-time taker or a repeater.
Key Takeaways
The truth is, you can take the Series 7 exam as many times as you want until you pass. In fact, FINRA has not set any limitations on how many attempts you can take to pass, nor there are no specific educational requirements needed either.
All you need to remember are the following:
- The Series 7 is a prerequisite that a stockbroker must pass to secure a license in various security trades.
- FINRA is the organization that administers the Series 7 and every candidate who will take the test must be backed by a FINRA-member firm.
- A candidate must also meet other eligibility requirements
- Aside from the Series 7, candidates must also pass the SIE or the Securities Industry Essential exam, which is to test the examinee about the basic facts about the Securities industry – which is also directed by FINRA.
- Any candidate who has taken and failed the Series 7 exam is allowed to make another attempt as many times as they want. However, the candidate must wait for 30 days before trying again for the next exam. This is applicable for the first 3 attempts. And should the candidate fail again after 3 attempts, they must wait for another 6 months before taking the next scheduled exam.
The Things To Know About The Update On The Series 7 Exam
As of 2018, FINRA restructured the Series 7 exam. So if you’re about to take this test, then it’s a must that you also know the recent updates before doing your study preparations:
1. There Are Now 2 Exams You Need To Pass
Candidates who want to become licensed brokers or registered investment representatives must pass both the Series 7 and the SIE exam. And the reason for the restructuring is not to force the candidates to take the same materials while trying to pass multiple FINRA-administered exams.
Prior to this change, around 30 percent of the materials included in the main qualification exams cover basic knowledge about the securities industry. So FINRA pulled out those materials from the Series 7 exam along with other qualification exams and put them all together to make the SIE exam.
As a result, examinees can now concentrate on proving their understanding of the basic knowledge at the SIE exam and express their technical know-how as they answer the Series 7 exam.
2. Allow Test-Takers To “Dip Their Toes In The Water”
The recent update made enable test-takers to try out if they have what it takes to be in the securities industry. While the Series 7 requires an examinee to be sponsored by any FINRA-member firm, the SIE doesn’t have the same condition, only that the candidate should be at least 18 years old before taking the test.
Even now, some companies are already working with students who are interested in taking the SIE exams so they’ll be fully prepared to take this eligibility test before they graduate. After all, they can always choose to retake or not, should they fail in the SIE exam the first time around.
3. It Makes A Candidate’s Resume More Attractive
It’s true that most broker-dealer clients prefer candidates who have Series 7 certification before being considered for employment. But being able to pass the SIE exam will definitely give a boost to their resume profile since it gives employers an idea of their proficiency in both the basic and technical stuff about trade and securities.
Hence, your chance of being hired is now greater if you passed both the Series 7 and SIE exams.
4. The Updated Series 7 Exam May Be Harder (Kind Of)
One of the major pullouts from pulling out all general questions about the securities industry and put it into the SIE exam is that it made the Series 7 more difficult. That’s because most of the easy questions belonged to the general knowledge part. Even so, the passing grade still remains at 72 percent.
This could be one of the reasons why a lot of people signed up for this exam before the update in October 2018. The scores will now be scaled to maintain a consistent passing rate, but still it doesn’t make the examination easier while actually taking it, just likely you are able to get fewer wrong answers and still pass – though this is not proven yet.
5. The Test Now Have Fewer Questions
The good thing however, is that there’ll be fewer questions as the Series 7 qualification exams are now divided into 2 tests. To be specific, the new Series 7 and the SIE exams will now be comprised of 200 questions in total as compared to the previous format of having 250 questions.
6. It Still Costs The Same
The registration fee is still $305 for both exams, which is still the same as the cost of the former Series 7 exam – that is $245 for the new Series 7 and $60 for the SIE exam.
7. Both Test Can Be Taken In 1 day
Lastly, you can take both tests in 1 day if the schedule allows it. And the duration of the exam for the Series 7 is 225 minutes, while the SIE exam is 105, which is only 5 hours and 30 minutes in total, leaving you half an hour to spare from the 6-hour duration of the former exam format.
To boost your chances of passing, you can check out this Series 7 video course from ProfessionalExamTutoring.com to learn more.
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