I called TC and they said they haven’t changed any of their final exam questions. I’ll report back to let people know what worked/didn’t work.

FINRA does not administer the series 66 exam, NASAA does

I’m using Fire Solutions for my 66 studying (my firm uses Fire Solutions, wasn’t a personal choice) and have found countless grammatical errors in the text and definitional errors in the online exams, very disconcerting for obvious reasons. For a test as technical and detailed as the 66 I want my study materials to be exact, not vague and hypocritical. For instance the book will say one thing and then on a practice test it will have the exact opposite as the answer. My test is on March 15th and I think I am going to buy the TC exam prep ($99) this week. Hope that works out better!

I took the 66 today and passed with an 85. I’ll recap my experience for those taking it soon.

I read STC cover to cover taking all the end of section progress exams/videos, never took a full STC test. Then started taking Training Consultants exams. I got an 83, 91, then 93 on exams 1-3. The next two days I spent going through the Kaplan Qbank, by section, and looking up the answers in the Kaplan book which is very easy as it shows the page it is on. I found this to be very helpful. For some reason the STC 66 questions do NOT show where in the book the answers came from like they did for the 7.

The STC book was great for the 7 but BAD for the 66. The textbook is arranged it a way that it almost seems like they are deliberately trying to confuse you and the test questions seem to be based on random stuff from the book rather than actual test questions from the 66.

Kaplan was very well organized into 7 units with all the regulations(half the actual exam) that needed to be studies located in the first 3. When a state regulation is shown that has a similar but different federal regulation it lets you know right there. It doesn’t make you wait for several chapters later like in STC then force you to flip back and for to make a comparison. I can’t stress how much better the Kaplan book is.

I saw a tons of similar and many nearly identical questions on the actual exam. Unfortunately, I’m not sure whether I saw them on the TC tests or the Kaplan Qbank. However, I would say the TC tests are worth the $100 even if it just gives you 7 questions as that could be the difference between passing and failing.

If I had to recommend to a family member how to prepare for the 66 I would say: Use the Kaplan book/Qbank and supplement with the 5 TC tests. Just throw the STC for the 66 in the garbage. I’m actually pretty angry and how much time I wasted on that book when I could have been using Kaplan. I was shocked at how bad it was especially considering that I got a good score using it on the 7. I’m very luckky I stumbled on to this forum which gave me the idea to look into other providers.

Hope that helps.

I agree. STC sucks for 66.

Just passed the 66 with an 80. Used STC book as a reference guide and TC for practice exams. I’d say about 7 questions on the real exam were word for word from TC. I was scoring high 90s on TC and overall TC gives you a good base and similar format of how questions are asked on the real exam.

I’m selling my TC online question bank… $30 (unlimited use) pm me if you’re interested.

I’m currently in the process of choosing which materials to use in my studies for the series 66 (just passed the Series 7 with an 88% using STC only). The firm is recommending STC or Pass Perfect but my contact is leaning heavily towards PP as the recorded success rate with the STC materials is unfortunately very poor for the 66.

I’m glad to have found these forums but was surprised at all the TC recommendations. I’ve seen a few thumbs up for the smart 66 with pass perfect but not much in terms of how well the material they have stacks up to TC/the actual exam. Any words of wisdom or experience someone could share?

Recently took the 66 and fail with a 71 using STC. I started taking the exams for TC and scocing in the low 80s. Any suggestions?

anyone selling their tc online question bank? ive been using pass perfect and want to try the tc questions. thanks

Took my Series 66 today using TC material and PASSED 1st try. Yet I will say my colleague used Fire Solutions (total crap) and passed with the same score I did. Point being, TC is fantastic he said he had 1 question that he remember from his material and I had at least 50 but…it’s all on the luck of the draw as far as questions you get and I got some rowdy ones.

Passed my series 66 first day with a 82%. I used Pass Perfect for reading along with the Training Consultants question bank. The question bank was well worth the $100 and I felt totally prepared. I plan on selling my copy with about 75 days left for $50 in two weeks. PM me if you’re interested.

Selling my Training Consultants question bank with 83 days left for $50. PM me or email me at [email protected] if interested. thanks

Passed the Series 66 with an 80% using TC. I did not use any other material other than the TC online lectures and the Q bank. I would say that the TC material did prepare me well enough. Although, there were some questions on topics I had never seen. For the most part, I knew I passed when I clicked the final submit. Questions on things like how to calculate Alpha and Beta scores threw me off a bit because of the wording, as well as some slightly more complex insurance questions than I was ready for, but it was only a few questions overall that I flat out did not know. I was scoring in the 90s on the random finals and spent about 3 weeks of study time total. I would say, if you follow the program, you will pass. Either way, very glad those tests are overwith!

Passed my Series 66 yesterday with an 82% using Kaplan (firm provided) and subsequently ordering the TC question bank after reading all about it on here. I’ll recap my experience as well.

In my view, ZenAdvisor’s post above nailed it. Kaplan and TC together is a very good recipe for success. The $100 that I spent on TC’s test bank was WELL worth the money as I truly think I saw about 15 questions that were nearly identical to what TC had on their unit tests and practice finals.

I took my 7 and 63 over 12 years ago so I was pretty nervous for this one.,

All of those people raving about the TC material are spot on…It really is a game changer as their questions are very straight to the point and exactly what’s being tested on the actual exam. It’s REALLY helpful in drilling down to the important aspects of the law sections, and for building confidence going into the actual exam. Try to break 80% or higher consistently on the TC tests before considering the actual exam.

However, for those of you who are using Kaplan, their material is also very good, particularly relating to the client recommendations and investment vehicle characteristics sections, as well as the quantitative stuff. I think that Kaplan’s material is much more difficult than the actual exam questions, although I’m sure they do that purposefully. The one drawback in that is that sometimes they get TOO specific. Just focus on the basics.

Using Kaplan and TC, there were very few questions on the exam that I wasn’t prepared to see in some way, shape, or form.

Good luck and Happy Fourth!

I’ve been studying for the S66 using Kaplan for 3 weeks, and just found this forum last night! Wish I had found it sooner. I took the test this morning and passed with an 81%! I have used Kaplan for everything starting with Life/Health, then 6, 63, 7, and now 66.

I was getting mostly 72%'s on the practice exams using Kaplan’s Q-Bank., with an occasional 85%. Of course it would been nice to be higher going in, but I usually find that my actual exam scores are above the Kaplan practice scores. Once again that was the case.

I saw many questions that were very similar to the Kaplan Qbank, which is what we all like to see. I’d guesstimate that between 8 to 12 questions were nearly identical and another 10 were simplified versions Kaplan questions. I was surprised to see 2 specific questions about Indexed Annuities. Kaplan did not address these and I don’t sell them, so I was reduced to guessing on one of them.

There was one particular question I puzzled over regarding a limited partnership that had a 20% capital gain realized in November, but didn’t distribute the gains to the partners until January (5 partners 20% each). The question wanted to know if it would be treated as a capital gain or income to an individual partner and for which tax year? I wasted many minutes puzzling over this before guessing… don’t know if I got it right, but don’t really care either, now that I passed!!

This post is for all the people FREAKING OUT getting ready for the 66. The solution to pass is very simple and ill try and be as in depth as possible.

I can’t comment on any other study tools other than what I used. I was given the STC book by my firm. After about 10 days of reading/practice tests, I got frustrated with how confusing the exam questions were. They go above and beyond to try and trick you and use poor wording. The fact of the matter is the actual exam is NOT that tricky. Take it from a guy who took it less than 24 hours ago. I came on this site and read the million posts about TC and how great it was. Now, there are going to be a million people that want to play conspiracy theorists and say anyone who recommends them on this forum works for TC. Ignore them. What I did was buy the final exam/subject tests from TC which cost $100. On my first attempts through the five exams my scores ranged from 76-82. Don’t be too concerned with the scores the first time through. However, the second time through you do not want to be scoring lower than 85. I took the exam yesterday and passed with an 81. ALOT of the questions were either identical or very closely related. These practice finals give you an extremely accurate forecast of the actual exam. Also, take the practice tests about the USA and other laws repeatedly as this accounts for the majority of the test. These laws are not that tricky, its just a matter of understanding/memorizing who is exempt from registration and what information must be disclosed and when. Approach this as a law exam.

Hope this helped. Don’t panic. The exam is challenging but by no means impossible. I found it to be easier than the 7. Do not get caught up on it being tricky. If you know what you’re talking about then nothing is tricky.

Congrats bscharf. I just started studying with Kaplan. I want to supplement that with TC. Do you all recommend buying the online tutorials, or whatever they are? Or would it be safe to just buy the book and tests?

Hi all,

New to this forum (as you can see). Really needing some advice.

I passed the Series 7 a couple of months ago using Kaplan study materials and the live class. Since then, I have failed the Series 66 twice, also using Kaplan materials. After failing a second time, I bought the Kaplan Series 66 online class. My scores on the practice test are all over the place - in the last week or two I’ve gotten the following scores: 76, 73, 87. Prior to taking the test the second time, I was pretty consistently getting in low to high 80s (though did get a 78 and 77 also).

Does anybody have any tips? I need to take the test again soon, but absolutely cannot afford to fail. I don’t feel confident enough to take the test unless I have some foolproof method of passing this thing. Not sure if buying the STC tests will do the trick, as it sounds like they are considerably easier from what you all have indicated. Looking for a method to get this material to stick, as it feels considerably harder than the S7 stuff IMO.

Any ideas, advice, etc. is greatly appreciated.

Whatever source of materials you choose, you SHOULD NOT be looking EASY content or materials with questions you have heard are identical to those on the test. Easy content/questions will not prepare you for the test. The materials should be challenging. I would be very skeptical about materials that supposedly have a high number of questions that are identical to those on the exams.

Congrats bscharf. I just started studying with Kaplan. I want to supplement that with TC. Do you all recommend buying the online tutorials, or whatever they are? Or would it be safe to just buy the book and tests?

All I bought was TC’s exams. It was 99 dollars. I didnt think I needed the lectures because I already had the study background from STC which is sufficient. There are two reasons why TC is great. Number one is because there are a lot of practice questions that are identical to the test. This may seem too good to be true but it’s really not. This isn’t like the seven where they can change up numbers on math related problems or test you on 500 different subjects. This is about rules, and there are only so many ways they can ask about a rule. TC does a great job preparing you for what you will see. The second reason is that they focus on the important material. I never have seen Kaplan study material so i can’t comment on what you’re experiencing but the test is mostly about the USA and Act of 40. You can get an exact breakdown on the NASAA site. Its 80 percent law/regulation. TC focuses on the law aspect more than any other subject.

Look, Im not here to convince you. Simply to tell you what worked for me. Two weeks ago I was petrified of failing and came on this site and read all the reviews of how I needed to use TC. I passed the first time and felt I owed it to anyone else freaking out to make an account on here and post about my experience.

Best of luck to you whichever route you choose going. Don’t stress. The test is not nearly as hard/confusing as people love to make it out to be.