Introduction

First, welcome to the world of the Series 6! We are happy you chose Achievable for your study program and promise to take great care of you. This program includes everything you need - reading materials, hundreds of practice questions, and unlimited final exams. Before you jump into the material, let’s cover these topics:

• What does this exam cover?
• What’s the exam structure?
• How can I pass on the first try?

What does this exam cover?

The Series 6 exam is also known as the Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative Qualification Examination. Wow - that’s a mouthful! Passing this exam is typically required for roles involving transactions in the following:

• Mutual funds
• Variable annuities
• Variable life insurance
• Unit investment trusts (UITs)
• Municipal fund securities

Additionally, you may be taking on a role involving a fiduciary standard to make suitable recommendations to clients. In a nutshell, this means putting the needs of your client before your own while analyzing their finances to determine the right investments to recommend.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) writes the test questions and administers this exam. In order to sit for the Series 6 exam, you must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm, which is a financial organization registered and regulated by FINRA. Outside of licensing exams, FINRA regulates the securities markets and its participants alongside the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You’ll learn about the roles and responsibilities of both regulators in this material.

FINRA provides a Series 6 outline that details the testable topics and concepts you must know for the exam. The outline divides the exam into four units:

• Seeks business for the broker-dealer
• Opens accounts after obtaining and evaluating financial profiles and investment objectives
• Provides information about investments, makes recommendations, transfers assets, and maintains appropriate records
• Obtains and verifies purchase and sale instructions

Seeks business for the broker-dealer (24% - 12/50 questions)
Tests knowledge of broker-dealer operations, rules relating to public communications, disclosures to investors, and offering newly-issued securities to investors.

Opens accounts after obtaining and evaluating financial profiles and investment objectives (16% - 8/50 questions)
Tests types of brokerage accounts, required customer disclosures, and building financial profiles.

Provides information about investments, makes recommendations, transfers assets, and maintains appropriate records (50% - 25/50 questions)
Tests ability to make suitable recommendations based on various client scenarios, knowledge of brokerage products, and comprehension of market dynamics.

Obtains and verifies purchase and sale instructions (10% - 5/50 questions)
Tests knowledge of order requests from customers, trade execution, complaint resolution, and general rules for registered representatives.

If some of the topics listed above seem vague or confusing, don’t worry! We’ll go into great detail and provide a number of real-world examples to help you build context and understanding around these concepts.

What’s the exam structure?

The Series 6 is a timed multiple-choice exam. You’ll be provided a 55-question exam with 5 “experimental” test questions, resulting in 50 graded questions. The 5 experimental questions are not identified or graded. You must score a 70% in 90 minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes) or less in order to pass. We will discuss more about the actual exam at the end of this program.

How can I be successful on the first try?

Do the work. Make sure you read through the material, click ‘Complete’ at the end of a chapter, and consistently do your assigned reviews (click here to learn more on how to use our program properly). Achievable is built to be “on the go” and easy to use on your phone. Check out this page to learn how to easily turn this program into an app. The more accessible the program is, the more likely it is you’ll do the work.

Humans are creatures of habit. Think about it - how difficult is it to start a new diet or routine? The key to success is taking small, “bite-sized” steps. If you can allocate 20-30 minutes every day to studying, it will soon be a built habit. As you get closer to your exam, allocate more time to your studies.

We recommend you attempt to finish the reading portion of this program with roughly 2 weeks to spare prior to your test. At that point, you should be primarily taking final exams (you’ll find the link in the Achievable tab menu), extensively reviewing those final exams, and keeping up with your assigned reviews. That way, you’ll gain exposure to practice exams built to feel like the real exam, while allowing the Achievable algorithm to identify and remind you of your weak areas in your assigned reviews.