Wouldn’t it be great to know the Series 7 Exam question break down before exam day?
Yes…yes, it would.
To some extent, the questions that you get on the Series 7 Top-Off exam are left totally up to “lady luck.” The exam has been administered for years, and there are all sorts of combinations of exam topics that can be thrown at you each and every time you take it. That said, there are a few core topics, and ways to tackle them, which we believe are quite important. This is what we’ll cover in today’s post.
Series 7 Exam Question Break Down…By Topic
In terms of what we believe will show up on your exam, there are a few topics that matter. In order of what seems to be most important to the text providers (based on the attention they give specific topics in class settings, practice questions, etc.), here is our list, in order of priority:
- Options
- Suitability
- Municipal Securities
- Rules and Regulations
- Margin
- Fundamental Analysis
Where to Focus?
The first two – Options and Suitability – are arguably equally important. Both can cause some confusion, and both can show up a lot. That’s why we highly recommend that you start your studying with these topics.
Options is the more confusing of the two, and most students that we tutor can’t afford to delay this topic until later. It’s not easy to grasp, and can take time to really unpack.
However, if you chip away at it, you’ll find it much more digestible over a period of periodic and systematic review. It will eventually sink in.
Suitability on the other hand is seemingly less complex. That said, it still has its challenges.
You will need to learn what portfolio allocations are appropriate for different kinds of investors (e.g., old, young, wealthy, low-income, etc.), and how to deal with aggressive vs conservative investors, and what investment products are most suitable for them.
Some of these questions have obvious answers, but many can be tricky. Try to go through at least 50-100 different Suitability questions over your study period to get a complete sense of the best choices.
Overall, we recommend that you take this list of priorities seriously. Spend plenty of time reviewing this section, and the others, in order.
Best Resource to Study These Topics
In the past, we’ve recommended the best Series 7 study material to use as Kaplan’s QBank. An important reason for this is that Kaplan’s QBank, with over 3,000 questions, weights the number of questions they have by topic according to what appears most likely to show up on the exam.
For instance, you’ll notice that a lot of Options and Munis questions. This is not an accident. Kaplan does a great job at adding practice questions where students are most likely to see questions on the exam.
Although we recommend Kaplan as the best resource from which to get practice questions, the company does not have a specific section in their QBank covering Suitability. There are some Suitability questions thrown around in a few different sections, but nothing obviously labelled stands out with ONLY suitability questions therein.
Tip: To solve this, try STC if you have access. STC has a great resource they call the “Suitability Workbook”. This workbook is sometimes included in the Series 7 text for STC, and is about 20 pages long. It includes key words and products to watch out for in Suitability questions.
All in all, after many years of Series 7 tutoring, we know of no better way to study for this exam. This Series 7 Exam question break down should help you prioritize where to study, and what to focus on. For more tips and tricks, feel free to contact us!