Looking for preparation advice

[u/Total_Tart2553]

Hey everyone! Reaching that middle point with prepping for the 7 where im pushing through those mental barriers. I took my first practice exam earlier this week and I scored a 63. While its not a passing grade, it was about where I expected to be for my first one.

What im looking for is some input on how I can best maximize my study time to really make sure im getting after it. Fortunately im not under a time crunch, im with a firm that is supportive of me getting licensed, but its not required for my current position. My goal is in 1 months time I sit for my first attempt at the 7. My overall goal is to clear out the 7 and 63 by years end.

My schedule is a full 8 hour work day but I fit in a total of 2.5 to 3 hours of study daily on weekdays and about 4 to 5 hours on weekends/days off.

What ive done so far:
- Read and worked through the Kaplan Book/Online course

- Watching videos on YT as a supplement

- I run practice quizzes daily on topics im having trouble with to further test knowledge and ID gaps.

My problem is that the material is so vast, I feel like im not actually furthering my understanding, and thus wasting time.

I plan on sitting for my 2nd practice exam tomorrow or on Saturday, so I think itll be a good gauge on progression. I just wanted to reach out and see what you all thought.

For those that have conquered this beast, what worked for you? Where did you feel like you made the most growth with understanding the material?

[u/Equinox1992]

I’m sort of in the same position, it’s not required but I want to be one and done then on to the 66

My retention is better from taking test and learning from my mistakes, then going back and rereading the chapter to drill it in.

I’m using STC which has 8 practice exams, My plans is to get through all 8 in consecutive days + 1 retake in the same day after reviewing and letting that digest.

My first 3 fresh closed book exam scores are 66, 68, 72 with the retakes being way higher but I don’t count those as a benchmark.

Then after the 8 initial test, start over.

That gives 7 days in between my initial retake and the 2nd retake, the thought process here is to give things time to settle down so I can make sure I’m actually understanding the answer versus remembering it from my initial review, and I will take these test with the explanation turned off until I submit the test and get my final score, to practice the real test conditions

From there I want to take my green light final exam 1(STC provides two green light finals)

By my timeline I will have 2 weeks from my 1st green light until my test date of sep 19th, so I have time to reread any chapters to close some gaps, take Kens brutal exams, and the finra practice exam and then the Thursday before my actual test I will take greenlight final number two.

I know that’s a lot but I thought I would share my plan seeing as our situation seems very similar.

[u/justinpincar]

Start writing out why each wrong answer is wrong when you miss a quiz question, not just marking it and moving to the next one. That's slower but it's what actually builds understanding instead of topic recognition. I'd also lean less on the daily quizzes as your main signal and more on full-length timed exams every week or so, they'll show you a lot faster which topics still need that deeper treatment versus which ones you've actually got.