Congratulations, you’ve made it through the Series 9 Achievable material!
We won’t discuss any testable content in this last chapter, but we will review what to expect on the actual exam and some best practices as you approach your test date.
There’s no perfect answer to this question, but Achievable’s exam readiness score is your best gauge. At the top of your homepage, our system will assign you a 0-100% score reflecting the likelihood of passing. The closer your score is to 100%, the more likely you’ll succeed on test day.
Many factors are assessed to determine your score, including program completion (e.g., reading chapters) and practice quiz scores. If you’ve used the system as intended, you’ve probably taken hundreds or thousands of practice questions. Completing practice quizzes and assigned reviews is necessary to build the required knowledge to pass the exam.
One of the most significant factors contributing to your readiness score is practice exam performance, which includes scores and the number of attempts. Practice exams test your ability to “put the big picture together” by offering questions from all Achievable chapters in a similar format and structure to the actual test. The best way to improve your readiness score is to take more practice exams and attain higher scores.
Before taking a practice exam, put your notes aside. Using resources (e.g., the Achievable reading material, Google) will artificially inflate your score. We’ll discuss more about the experience of the actual exam later in this section (see below), but you will not have access to any resources on the exam other than a notepad and a calculator.
After every practice exam, be sure to perform a thorough review of each question and answer. Confirm you understand why you’re getting questions right or wrong. Also, think beyond the question. One of the biggest and most common pitfalls to avoid is studying questions instead of content. While our questions are written to emulate the actual exam questions, no one knows what questions they’ll encounter on the exam. FINRA closely guards its question bank, and its test writers create uniquely worded questions. If you’re memorizing answers to our questions without understanding “the why,” you’re setting yourself up for failure.
The best way to do this is by asking yourself this:
“If I was given another question, with a completely different scenario and wording, am I confident I would know the answer?”
If the answer is yes, keep moving forward. If the answer is no, review the topic in the reading materials.
This question also has no perfect or uniform answer. You could pass without taking a single practice exam or fail after 20 practice exams. It depends on you and your understanding of the material.
Generally speaking, we recommend taking at least 10 practice exams. You may get lucky with the first few practice exams, but most students initially start scoring in the 50s or 60s. Build knowledge from each exam through your review, and continue pressing forward! Substantial improvements don’t happen overnight, but you will improve if you stay motivated and continue utilizing the Achievable program.
A consistent passing score (70% or higher) over five or more exams indicates a firm grasp of the material. The higher the score, the better. Be sure to spend quality time reviewing each exam right after taking it. That’s the only way to improve!
Another reason to take several practice finals is to expose yourself to enough questions covering various topics. The way we look at the exam, the Series 9 could test you on over 2,000 subtopics. If you take only one or a few practice exams, how many subtopics are you testing yourself on? A full-length practice exam only covers 55 questions - and there are hundreds of topics you may need to know!
A passing score (70% or above) is always a good place to start. However, we recommend aiming higher. If you’ve averaged 70% on your last several practice exams, you have a good chance of passing the exam. However, the real test is different from a practice exam. You’ll likely feel more anxious given the testing environment (discussed below) and that you’re sitting for the real thing. Anxiety usually doesn’t work in a test taker’s favor and could negatively impact your score.
We recommend aiming for a mid-high 70s average (or higher) on your last 2-3 practice finals. At that point, you’ve likely built a big enough buffer to cover for anxiety or other problematic issues on the exam. The higher your average grade, the higher your chances of passing.
1. You must be sponsored by a FINRA-member firm to take the Series 9 exam. This means you need to be employed by or affiliated with a firm that is a FINRA member.
2. Your sponsoring firm will need to file Form U4 (Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer) on your behalf. This form is submitted to FINRA and contains your personal, professional, and background information. Once submitted, you will be authorized to take the Series 9 exam.
3. You’ll schedule the Series 9 exam through FINRA’s Test Enrollment System (TES) or Prometric (the test administrator).
The FINRA Series 9 exam costs $130 per attempt. The passing score is a 70% or higher.
There are waiting periods after failed attempts: 30 days after the first two failed attempts, and 180 days after the third and subsequent failures.
As you approach test day, we recommend the following to make sure you perform at the highest possible level:
Review your email confirmation.
Please give yourself plenty of time to review the important appointment details either the night before your exam or the morning of it.
Bring your ID.
Regardless of how you are testing, bring one valid, government-issued identification document with a signature and picture, such as an unexpired driver’s license, passport, or military ID. Also, ensure that your name on this ID is the exact same name under which your exam is scheduled.
Arrive early.
This ensures that you will get to your testing center on time.
As always, refer to the FINRA website for further information.
Check out the Achievable Blog for more study tips and best practices.
FINRA exams can be anxiety-inducing, but you CAN do it! Set yourself up for success by using the Achievable system as intended and following the best practices discussed in this section in your last days or weeks before the exam.
It’s a big accomplishment to have made it this far, but you’re not at the end of your journey yet.
Thanks again for choosing Achievable for the FINRA Series 9. We’ve put a lot of love into the product, and we really hope you’ve enjoyed your time with us. If you have any feedback, please let us know!
Wishing you the best,
The Achievable team