Series 9 study plan: A 4-week schedule, week by week
Table of contents
- The 4-week Series 9 study plan at a glance
- Week-by-week breakdown
- Week 1: Options strategies
- Week 2: Advanced strategies and customer accounts
- Week 3: Rules, then the first practice exams
- Week 4: Full-length practice exams
- How the plan is built
- Adjust the plan to your schedule
- The last few days before the exam
- Build your own Series 9 plan in Achievable’s study planner
- About the Series 9 exam
- Key takeaways
You can prepare for the Series 9 in about four weeks at 45 minutes to an hour a day. Spend the first two and a half weeks working through the three chapters of Achievable’s Series 9 course: options strategies, customer accounts, and the rules and regulations. Then use the last week and a half for five full-length practice exams, with review days between them. The plan below lays that out week by week, using the same time estimates as the study planner in our app.
The 4-week Series 9 study plan at a glance
Week | What to study | Approx. time |
|---|---|---|
1 | The introduction, then chapter 1 on options strategies, from the fundamentals through basic, hedging and income strategies to the first spreads | 5 hours |
2 | The rest of chapter 1 (put spreads, advanced spreads, non-equity options and suitability), chapter 2 on customer accounts, and the start of chapter 3 | 6 hours |
3 | The rest of chapter 3 (taxation, communications and other rules), then the first two full-length practice exams | 5 hours |
4 | Three more full-length practice exams, with review days between them | 5 hours |
Each week’s time covers reading, the review questions at the end of each section, and the practice exams, all at the planner’s estimates. A full practice exam is 55 questions, the length of the real exam.
Week-by-week breakdown
Week 1: Options strategies
Start with the introduction, which covers the exam’s specifications and the options knowledge it assumes. Chapter 1 is the longest in the course. It reviews the fundamentals (contracts, premiums and exercise), then the four basic positions (long and short calls and puts), hedging and income strategies, synthetic options, ratio writing, collars, straddles and combinations, and the first spread strategies. Most of this builds on what you learned for the Series 7, so the work here is speed and precision: work each example with pen and paper until you can find the maximum gain, maximum loss and breakeven without looking.
Week 2: Advanced strategies and customer accounts
Finish chapter 1 with put spreads, butterfly spreads and iron condors, then index, VIX, foreign currency and yield-based options, and the suitability of options strategies. Chapter 2 covers what a supervisor needs to know about options accounts: the account opening process, options and fiduciary accounts, margin requirements, and customer complaints and arbitration. Start chapter 3 with registration and reporting, how the options market works and the position and exercise limits.
Week 3: Rules, then the first practice exams
Finish chapter 3: options taxation, options communications with the public, and other rules such as Regulation Best Interest, anti-money-laundering requirements and record retention. Then take your first two full practice exams, a few days apart. Sit each one in a single, timed session of 90 minutes, as on test day, and use the days between to reread the sections behind your missed questions.
Week 4: Full-length practice exams
Take the full Series 9 practice exam three more times, every two days or so. Each sitting draws a fresh set of questions from the course’s question bank. Review every question you missed or guessed on before the next exam. When your scores sit comfortably above the 70% passing mark, rather than just reaching it, you’re ready to book or keep your test date.
How the plan is built
The course’s work comes to about 22 hours: about 13 hours of reading, including the review questions at the end of each section, and 9 hours of practice exams, at the planner’s estimate of each exam’s 90-minute time limit plus a fifth for reviewing your answers. Over four weeks, that’s 45 minutes to an hour a day, with practice exam days closer to 2 hours.
The plan assumes you passed the Series 7 and still know your options basics. If options are rusty, or you’re studying for the Series 9 and Series 10 together, give yourself more time: see our guide to preparing for the Series 9 and 10.
Adjust the plan to your schedule
Four weeks at under an hour a day leaves room for a full-time job, but the plan stretches or shrinks:
- More time: at 30 minutes a day, the reading takes about four weeks; keep the last week and a half for practice exams.
- Less time: at 2 hours a day, the plan fits in about two weeks.
- Taking the Series 10 too: you need both exams for the General Securities Sales Supervisor registration. The Series 10 study plan takes another four weeks at about an hour a day.
- Practice scores stuck below passing: add a week. Reread the strategies you miss most and redo their examples before the next full exam.
The last few days before the exam
Don’t start new material in the last two or three days. Go back over the strategies and rules you keep missing, and take your last full exam no later than two days out. The day before, confirm your appointment: the test center or online setup, the ID you need, and the time. You’ll see your result on screen when you finish.
Build your own Series 9 plan in Achievable’s study planner
This calendar is a fixed version of what the study planner in Achievable’s Series 9 course does for you. Enter your exam date and choose which days you’ll study (every day, weekdays or weekends), and it lays out every textbook section and practice exam across those days, with a time estimate for each. As you check tasks off, it shows whether you’re on track for your date, and you can print the plan.
The course includes the online textbook with review questions in every section, and the full-length practice exams. You can also try a free Series 9 practice exam before you start.
About the Series 9 exam
The Series 9 exam is the options half of FINRA’s General Securities Sales Supervisor qualification. It has 55 scored multiple-choice questions plus 5 unscored ones, you have 1 hour 30 minutes, and the passing score is 70. The SIE and Series 7 are corequisites, you also need the Series 10 for the registration, and you need a sponsoring FINRA member firm to take it. The questions come from four supervisory functions:
- Supervise sales practices and general options trading activities: 34% (19 questions)
- Supervise the opening and maintenance of customer options accounts: 33% (18 questions)
- Supervise associated persons and personnel management activities: 24% (13 questions)
- Supervise options communications: 9% (5 questions)
See our Series 9 exam information page for more, and FINRA’s page on scheduling your exam when you’re ready.
Key takeaways
- Four weeks at 45 minutes to an hour a day is enough to prepare for the Series 9 if your options basics are solid from the Series 7.
- Spend about two and a half weeks on the three chapters, with most of that time on options strategies.
- Leave the last week and a half for five full-length practice exams, with review days between them.
- Book your test once your practice scores are comfortably above 70%.
- Achievable’s study planner builds this kind of plan around your own exam date and study days.
