New Agents Share Their Perspective On Preparing For The Securities Exams

For Monti Allison, a representative with Jefferson-Pilots Piedmont Agency, the online exams helped give him a feel for what to expect on his actual Series 6 exam. "The exam is in a computer-oriented format, so youve got to get familiar with how the questions are posed and how to use the multiple choice questions to narrow down your answers," he says.

But the biggest challenge agents face when studying for any exam is finding the time to do it. At the Piedmont Agency, agents are busy trying to get their business started during the day and spend time studying at night. "That was the hardest part, especially working the way we do," says Jason Vinson, a newly licensed representative with the agency.

"Youve got to manage your family life, your business life and other things," adds Allison. "Youve got to commit the time to spend on it every night," he says.

"Managing the time is one of the key aspects to this career and to the study process as well," adds Giguere.

While Allison and Vinson only used self-study materials to prepare for the Series 6, Giguere was enrolled in a Series 7 "Blitz" class that all new Prudential agents are required to go through.

The "Blitz" class is an intensive five-day review program that preps each candidate for the exam, says Kinsella.

After sitting through a long day of classroom instruction, Giguere would come home to his wife and three children, have dinner, put the kids to bed, and then go on to continue studying, he recalls.

"Id get very tired and then Id be faced with the decision of study more or sleep," he says.

Giguere felt that being well rested for the next days class was more important than studying all night, so he followed a rule he had set for himself. "I forced myself to get at least seven hours of sleep," he says.

Typically candidates will schedule their exams sometime the week following the review class, notes Kinsella.

Giguere was scheduled to take the exam a week and a half after the review class, but just before the review session began, he was given an opportunity to move his exam appointment ahead to the day after the class ended.

"I was planning on it being a little later," he said. "But, I felt that having it fresh in my mind would benefit me."

While Giguere had heard about how difficult the Series 7 exam was, he was confident he knew the material and was ready to take the test. What he wasnt prepared for was the actual length of time it takes to go through the entire exam. Giguere used five of the given six hours.

"Between the emotion and the concentration its tiring; its a test of endurance–that was the difficult part for me," he says.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, March 17, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.