The Series 6 is an NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) license held by tens of thousands of individuals. Many mutual fund and investment companies require this license for their agents and brokers.

The Series 6 exam is a multiple choice test of 100 questions. The test focuses on securities types such as: Common and preferred stock, corporate and government securities, taxation, customer accounts, SEC/NASD rules, mutual funds, annuities, and variable insurance products.

The Series 6 is given on computer at select testing centers throughout the country for those that have been registered and been approved to sit for the exam. 70% is the passing grade and you will be notified of your pass or fail once the computer exam has concluded. A company must sponsor you for the test. This would be the company that hires you as a trainee.

The exam normally takes 4-6 weeks of home study time to prepare. If you fail the exam, you must wait 30 days to re-test. The key to passing this exam is studying each section and taking the chapter exams after each section. The last 2 weeks of your study time should be focused on taking and passing the practice final exams and reading the correct answer explanations given. Your goal is to achieve scores near 80% on the practice tests. As I said, 70% is the actual passing grade needed on the real test, but you want to increase your margin of error before sitting for the Series 6.

When the test is over, you can review your answer choices on questions you "marked for review" before you end the exam. This test feature is helpful on questions you were unsure of and wish to go over them again. You don't want to change too many. I believe in the old test saying: "your first guess is usually your best guess". Sometimes students look at past questions at the end because they had spent too much time on the question earlier and they just "guessed", hoping to have another look at it later. That is a good way to use the changing answers feature. You have 135 minutes to complete the exam. That is usually plenty of time. You want to practice your timing while studying at home.

This is not a hard test, but it requires consistency in studying and some memorization. Pass the updated practice exams and you will walk in that room fully confident and ready to pass the exam and get your Series 6 License.

Good Luck!

Nick Hunter is the President of American Investment Training, Inc. (AIT) http://www.aitraining.com. He has personally taught thousands of students in the securities industry for over 15 years. AIT offers Series 6 home study training courses and other NASD license training for companies and individuals.

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