How taking the SIE improved my resume and future job opportunities

I learned about the SIE exam through my school's Finance Club and during a job interview for a wealth management role. I initially didn't think much about it, and I had a very busy semester, so I never planned to take it. The next semester, I heard some people talking about the SIE and why it is a great idea for every person in finance to take it. Since my course load was lighter, I decided to start studying in January.

Finding the best study plan for success

The biggest challenge during my exam prep was balancing my school work. I am taking a very difficult class right now that requires a lot of studying, so it was difficult to find time to study for both. I studied every day, did not take a single day off while reading the textbook, and only took a break once I started taking the final practice exams. I primarily studied the textbook and used active recall and practice quizzes to ensure I understood the material rather than just memorizing it.

I supplemented my Achievable prep with Capital Advantage tutoring and YouTube videos from Series7Guru. I would listen to them while walking around campus so the content stayed in my mind. I don’t exactly need to take the SIE because I might not be going into a career that requires a license, but I still felt it was important.

Building blocks to passing

I have an internship this summer in a corporate role at Deutsche Bank, and I hope to receive a return offer. I might pivot to Asset Management, which would require the SIE and supplemental licenses, but the chances are slim. I primarily took the SIE to learn about the securities industry and to boost my resume. I learned a fair amount about the industry from some of my classes, but it never went into as much detail or covered as much material as the SIE.

I truly think that taking this exam gave me an edge over other students, and I am now much better prepared for my future classes. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about securities and how financial markets work, and I plan to continue learning.

I would like to take the Series 7 and Series 66, but I can’t take the 7 without firm sponsorship. If I had done anything differently, I would have looked for more practice exams. I took the Achievable exams over 30 times, the FINRA practice SIE a couple of times, and found some practice questions online.

At the end, I got so used to the wording on Achievable that I could immediately tell the answer from the question. I started using other practice exams to get more exposure to questions with different wordings, ensuring I knew the content and wasn't just memorizing the questions.

Tackling the exam with confidence

I was very nervous on test day. I am a good test taker, and I knew I was prepared, but I had this feeling that the actual exam would be much harder than what I had studied. There were a couple of topics I wasn't super confident in, and I was worried the actual exam would have a lot of questions on them.

The actual exam was harder than I thought it would be, and there were 2-3 questions I didn't know, but for the most part, I knew every other question or could at least narrow it down to 1-2 answers. I’m celebrating my achievement right now, but I have finals and an exam this week, so I can’t celebrate too much.

I would absolutely recommend Achievable to anyone studying for the SIE. The chapter quizzes and exams were very helpful, and every topic is broken down in a way that makes it easy to understand. Studying for the SIE takes a lot of time, but I don’t doubt that I made the most out of it using Achievable.