I posted a few posts above and as a method of paying it forward wanted to first thank those who gave me a path to success and give some detail as to what worked for me. I took the 24 last week and scored the highest on the real test compared to any practice exam I had previously taken. My method was to use STC - read the whole book, watched all the online chapter by chapter lectures, and did each of the eight practice tests in Q&A form two times (one week apart).

I took notes during each Q&A test - notecards for acronyms and regular notes for concepts I wasn’t recalling well. Scored in the high 50s to low 60s on the my first round. As I did the tests over, I scored in the mid 80s regularly but again, this was all in the Q&A mode.

I then purchased the test package from Training Consultants for $125. They have four tests and I took them all closed book like the real thing. I scored in the mid 70s on each of those. Please note that the STC materials are more up to date than Training Consultants tests. There were answers that I knew were wrong on the TC tests because they were using out of date rules from FINRA.

There is no substitute to hard work and focus on this exam. It took me a month to do it. Thanks to this thread and the previous posters for giving me a path to success!

I appreciated comments in while I was studying here an so I decided to add my 2 cents to potentially help future test takers.

I just passed the 24 with an 86%. I primarily used STC which I thought did a great job prepping me. This was probably my least favorite test I’ve ever taken (I’ve done CFA, plus 7, 65, etc). I like learning concepts better than just memorizing rules which is why it was such a challenge for me. I feel like I studied a TON for this.

For those using STC, don’t get frustrated if your scores seem low the first time you take the open book final exams. My scores were on the 8 open book tests on the first round were: 63,63,63,64,67,69,72,69. I wrote down notes going along each test to memorize. I didn’t take any closed book tests in STC, but took the first 4 open books a second time within as I was getting close to taking the actual test and got 87,88,84,89. Also took one Training Consultants closed book test and got 79. Also did a bunch of topic questions from Training Consultants. Using both prepared me well, but I did study a TON!

Good luck to future test takers!

As someone who was looking for information as I prepared for the 24, I figured I would add my experience. I recently passed with an 86. STC was my primary resource. I did the study plan recommended, and it works!

I never received higher than an 80 on any practice test, so I was surprised I passed with a high number. Read (I kind of skimmed to be honest) the material first. Take the Q&A tests, make notes of things… Then take all the closed-books. Review the areas that are weak. For me, it was financial responsibility and underwriting and margin. I actually went back read each chapter that I was doing really bad on. Then take the topic questions in those areas. Finally, I went back and looked at all the Q&A tests and closed book test scores, and picked a couple I did really bad on, and re took them to make sure my score was better.

You have to study. It’s awful and boring and mostly memorization, but you have to put it int he time.

I also used Solomon’s audio book, and I listened to that commuting to/from work each day to keep the material in my head. They word things differently than STC which helped me think about the material differently, which helped me out.

Finally, a couple of days before the test, I decided to purchase more questions, which I did from Solomon because I liked their audio book. Honestly, while the questions were great to see because they phrased things differently and were harder in my opinion, they weren’t quite formatted the same way as the test, which was much closer to STC.

I still have access to the Solomon audio / test bank until April 2017 if someone would like to purchase them from me. They’re each about $100, but I’d sell the access to both for $125 if anyone is interested. PM me.

Good luck!

I took the 24 today and failed with a 59% I used Kaplan’s materials and online class. I felt 100% confident going into the test. I feel like the materials that I studied were really out dated compared to the actual test. I studied over 100 hours for this test, and I was shocked with my score. I will definitely look at STC.

S24attempt2 - can you share which study materials you used to study?

Is there anyone here that used only the TC materials and passed and felt that it adequately prepared you for the test? I started off with STC and found the material to be too dense and not organized in a manner I could understand so I switched to TC and have used that exclusively for the past few weeks. I am getting nervous that maybe I chose the wrong materials for this exam. I am taking it in less than 2 weeks so any advice would be appreciated.

Hello everyone,

I hope one of you would be sonkinda as to answer this question for me. I've been in the industry for 12 years with only a 6 & 63. I passed the 7 last week on the first attempt using only Kaplan, with an 80%, and I studied for about 6 weeks evenings only. I was amazed to see the questions on the 7 were very similar to Kaplan qbank questions. Now I'm using Kaplan for the 24 and this material is INTENSE!

For those who have taken the 24, passed or failed, did you receive a lot of questions asking for specific dates, time frames, and deadlines?...basically memorization types of material. Or, were there more scenario based questions?

Your insight is greatly appreciated.

I took the Series 24 a couple months ago with very little study time (some book I got on Amazon and a bank of test questions purchased from Securities CE) and I got a 68. I am a good test taker and I have passed much harder exams (CPA) so I went into this thinking that I could pass with very little study time. Don't make the same mistake that I did. The material is very dry and is basically just memorization of rules and regulations. I am going to purchase an on demand video class from Securities CE and then retake the test after I have properly prepared.

I studied for the 24 using Kaplan materials for about 4 months rather casually. I went through 50% of the question bank and was scoring in the 70s. I watched their video library but that was a joke. I read the entire book. I went in and scored a 66. I used Kaplan on the 7 and 63 and scored a 92 on both those exams so I went in with a bias towards using Kaplan again. Don't make my mistake.

On the second round I used STC. Their book is not as well indexed as Kaplans book and I found myself refering to Kaplan's book at times. However, beyond that STC is superior in every way to Kaplan. They have a great Q and A bank with solid explanations on each question. Their video library is decent. I took their class in person and it was a good use of time. I made index cards on topic areas that came up a lot and that helped me memorize enough of the rules. This is a test that is about memorization. You can be smart and fail. You have to memorize a lot and because of this I would recommend condensing your study period over 6 weeks and no longer. You have to breath the materials and just live to study around work. It will suck but trust me its better then spreading it across 5 months and failing the exam once. I passed with an 82 on Monday.

Best of luck to you!

As I read this thread in August, I was somewhat concerned about passing the Series 24. I took the Series 7 earlier this year and passed easily with a 80% using STC material. Per my prior experience and feedback from employees, most folks recommended STC. So I had the company buy the STC online lecture, flashcards and other material. I spent about 110 hours of studying in 4-5 weeks. I read the book, did the Q&A, listened to lectures twice (very helpful) and focused on areas I was struggling with. I ended up passing the Series 24 with a 75%. When I was taking the test, some of the questions were similar to the STC material; however, there were a good amount (20-30) questions where I really had to narrow it down to 2 answers and pick the best answer from a compliance/customer perspective.

Everyone's study habits are different. Some need two weeks, some need two months. It is hard to predict what questions will be on the test, but if I had to take it over again, I wouldn't focus on Securities Act 1933 or 34 at all as there were only 5-10 questions around those.

You guys are awesome! Thank you for the feedback and advice. I'm almost done with my Kaplan 24 book. I'm taking tons of notes and will create flash cards. I also ordered a virtual class through Knopman Marks. I watched a few of their series 7 lectures some months ago I found them to be pretty good.

Congrats to those of you who have recently passed. One more question, I know it's a lot of memorization; but were there really a ton of questions about dates and times? i.e. 30 days for this, or 25 days for that?

Super helpful forum. The 24 is the most frustrating exam I have ever taken. 99% of the material has nothing to do with what I do but because I supervise registered reps, I'm required to take it.

I have used STC through all of my licensing exams (7, 63, 3, etc) and have passed on the first shot. On the 24, I've failed 3 times with no real improvement on each exam. I've read all the materials, created my own set of notes, done 1000s of questions. Just can't seem to get this stuff to sink in.

I consider this material easy but voluminous and dry. I have to take this exam in a week. Wish me luck. Open to any suggestions.

I just took the 24 on December 23 after being out of the brokerage business for 6 years. I used Kaplan study materials, and let me tell you, about 25% to 35% material on the exam wasn't covered in the study materials. Needless to say, I got a 68%. I'm in the process of applying to FINRA to become a member, and the 24 is a requirement. Anyone have any thoughts on how to pass this damn 24 the second time around and be done with it????

Hello Everyone,

Thank you to those of you who have posted on this thread. Your responses helped me tremendously. I passed my 24 exam a couple of days ago on the first attempt. Here are my thoughts... my company had me using Kaplan and they honestly aren't the best for THIS exam. While they cover everything, it seems the most testable points were only mildly covered. Fortunately, after reading the book I purchased a flash card app from Knopman Marks which was awesome. Then I supplemented my studies with STC's questions bank which included a 14 page series 24 cheat sheet. I also created my own flashcards for rules and dates. I had about 150 of those I committed to memory. If I relied on Kaplan only I would have failed. I snagged about 15-20 questions thanks to the STC cheat sheet alone! So here are my best practices to help those who are struggling:

1) Make flash cards for EVERY date and rule! For example: (front of card) Rule 123 requires a member to update form ABC in this amount of time. (Back) answer. This method helps you drill down and know the material.

2) Use STC questions. Only costs $105. It will save you!

3) Buy a flashcards app to keep on the go.

4) Memorize all of the minimum net capital requirements. ALL of them. Use flashcards for that too.

Thats about all all I have. I'm more than happy to answer any other questions about my experience. Good luck!

Hello There Bassman2011

So can you let me know what you thought of the exam? Did Kaplan help at least abit with the material being tested? Do you strongly recommend getting another set of study materials? The firm I work for purchased the kaplan material for me. I read the book once but don't feel like I understood it 100%. I am currently starting the on demand course to see if I could pick up some items. Please let me know your thoughts on the series 24 exam?

Hi folks,

Passed yesterday with 72... my co-workers tell me that is the perfect score indicating that I did not overprepare...lol. I jumped online this morning to see if this was just difficult for me or if the test is a challenge for everyone... Seeing so many have failed I thought I would share my thoughts.

Here's my feedback on my experience - I studied for approx 5 weeks (2hrs a day) and read the complete materials 1x only. I completed all provided sample questions 2x and finished up with a three day cram and utilizing a cheat sheet with key facts I memorized. I used Testeachers and to be honest Testeachers was woeful, disorganized materials that do not match up neatly with the FINRA outline, old videos and a stack of updates in the last chapter on mistaught earlier content. The exam was very difficult for me... it was peppered with questions (maybe 20-30) I had ZERO idea about and had to use logic rather than knowledge to make an educated guess. I scored 90-100% in the BD Supervisory section and under 70% in the other four areas - I work in an OSJ. I'm pretty sure if I had to take it again and studied I wouldn't get much more than I did the first time! I knew everything generally and that was not enough to make this exam easy to pass...

Tips

- Read and re-read materials, the minutiae is what you are tested on, not the general detail or understanding of the topics. This is a test in memorization of detail not your capabilities or suitability for supervision. Being confident you understand what you've read is NOT enough!

- find a good provider and then buy question banks from one or two others (wish I had done that!)

- have a cheat sheet memorized so the awful sense of dread this exam gives you once it is underway is eased by having some confusing times/day limits/etc at your fingertips

- the test had no questions where you choose 2 answers from I-IV, every question was a straight up multiple choice - and less than 5 questions involved calculations. Many questions had more than one answer that COULD be correct but you had to devine the MOST correct one.

- accept that you are going to see nasty questions you are completely unprepared for, make an educated guess on those, mark them for review and move on. Staring at them and running out of time won't help!

Hope that helps

Great feedback, I am not a fan of the Kaplan questions. In the past I used Test Teachers for all my exams; 7,63,65, and Life/health. But for the series 24 I am hearing mixed reviews of test teachers. I take the test in 2 weeks, my firm provided the STC material to me. Would this and Testteachers be sufficent?

Also what are yalls thoughts on the PassPerfect qbank?

I just passed the 24 with a 78%, after failing the first time with a 66%. The first time I used Kaplan exclusively, and went into the test pretty confident that I was going to pass. There were MANY questions and topics that I was completely unfamiliar with, so I was not surprised that I failed.

I ended up buying the STC question bank and flash cards and they saved me this time around!! The study guide from STC is also extremely helpful and I feel like I picked up a significant amount of questions from that alone.

I wouldn't waste your time with Kaplan - the questions don't "feel" the same as the actual exam, and you will be missing a ton of testable information. STC got the job done!

Good luck!

Okay so I wanted to leave some comments on this topic because I looked EVERYWHERE before I took the 24 and could literally find no help online except through this chain. I passed the test today with an 80% I used training consultants. The test wasn't much like the book at all, but I think that's how it is for most training programs, I was scoring upper 80s on my practice exams, basically took 10% off my score on the real one. My recommendation is to really nail down the chapters on investment banking and secondary offerings as well as the sections on market making supervision. Had I not been well versed in those two areas I would have failed no doubt. The key to this exam is to eliminate the two OBVIOSULY wrong answers, and then when you're left with two decent answers ask yourself "what's best for the client" and go with that answer. I would NEVER take this exam again, but what I will say is do not take it until you have studied for at least 140 hours. Hope this helps!

I took the exam today and got a 68%.I found that kaplans questions are nothing like the actual exam. I read fhe posts about using an alternate study qbank and got the stc qbank like 2 weeks ago before my exam. I think i should of gotten this sooner to make my study efforts worth it. is the training consultants material good as far as the reading manual? Someone please advice.

What would your advice be to someone who has been using Kaplan reading materials supplemented with STC qbank, and who takes the exam sometime this week?