I am between L2 and L3 and finding I need to take the Series 65. Have used an old version of Kaplan but the material is really tedious and dry especially the legal stuff. I am at ease learning concepts as in the CFA series but the Series 65 material bores me.
Is this because of the Kaplan material? If you took the exam, which material did you use? Thanks in advance.
Any opinion on Investopedia which seems to have a free study guide online?
The 65 is pretty dry. I used STC, but like Kaplan better for FINRA tests. You can’t really make those topics interesting, so I don’t think it Kaplan’s material, it is the test itself. If you already have your 7, you will find that you already know some of the test topics, but the laws and securities acts are very tedious. Also I remember having a difficult time with the life insurance part, as I had never been exposed to this before taking the 65. It’s a plug and chug test, and just do lots of practice test and you will be fine. Personally, I would stay away from investopida when prepping for these test
I skimmed through Investopedia just today. It seems like an easy read. I just find it difficult to slog through the minutae of Kaplan. But guess will stick with it.
Investopedia has lots of errors. Read their article on beta; if you know anything about beta, you’ll see that it’s filled with errors.
I passed Series 65 with Kaplan. If I hadn’t used it, I would never pass the exam, as I found the exam questions almost absolutely unfamiliar to me.
I believe Kaplan (and, especially, its Qbank) was the crucial thing that helped me eventually.
Make sure you really focus on the first 3 chapters of Kaplan. Know all of the laws and really know the differences between the RIA and Broker Dealer. I’d say that’s easily ~60-70% of the exam. I found the best way to really study was just doing the quizzes over and over again. Some of Kaplan’s questions were almost identical to the actual exam when I took it last year. Good luck.