Award-Winning SIE Test Prep in Gurnee, IL

If you are ready to take your SIE Exam prep to the next level, Varsity Tutors can help you prepare with an in-depth SIE class. Taking an SIE course could help you get more out of the time you had already planned on devoting to studying. You can get started with your own SIE prep program quickly by contacting us today!

We have become a leader in the SIE test prep space because we connect students like you with SIE tutors dedicated to helping you reach for your professional and academic potential. SIE test prep can be a difficult road to cross alone, so bring in the experts to help you pursue success!

Can You Place Me In A SIE Exam Class Near Me That Explains What The Test Is?

Naturally! SIE stands for Securities Industry Essentials, a standardized exam administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to measure a prospective financial professional's basic knowledge of the securities industry. It is considered an entry-level exam, so the only requirement to sitting for it is being 18 years of age or older. Many students take it to build their resumes and establish their commitment to a career in the financial field to potential employers, though a passing score only remains valid for four years.

How Can SIE Exam Classes Near Me Improve My Study Efficiency?

Attending private SIE Exam courses allows you to study anything you might need to. You never need to leave a topic behind until you are comfortable doing so, in contrast to many competing SIE Exam courses that follow set curricula regardless of an individual student's needs. Likewise, you can receive help whenever you need it since you are your instructor's sole student during your SIE test prep. In fact, many of the students who have worked with us in the past claim that the personal rapport they were able to establish with their instructor over the course of their SIE classes made it easier to ask questions whenever necessary.

The personal relationship you forge can also help your tutor design SIE prep sessions with your needs in mind. If you are a visual learner who needs to see something in order to understand it, your SIE Exam tutor might create flashcards highlighting the most important things you need to know. Alternatively, an auditory learner could benefit from oral repetitions of key points to help them stick in their mind. Both approaches are viable SIE Exam prep options, but large SIE Exam classes tend to pick one or the other to the detriment of students who would prefer a different method.

Your instructor may even incorporate your outside interests into your SIE tutoring sessions to make them more engaging. If you enjoy game shows such as Jeopardy!, your instructor might structure your SIE test prep in a similar way. Alternatively, you may use high-profile clients as examples to make practice problems more interesting. Research suggests that students who are actively engaged in their SIE test prep end up getting more out of it, so why not spice it up a little bit?

The most challenging part of SIE test prep may be how foreign some of the concepts can seem. Finance isn't covered at all by the average high school curriculum, and most college courses don't delve into the finer points of topics such as options and bonds. Thankfully, you may review these concepts during SIE tutoring sessions. Here are some of the topics you might want to go over during your SIE Exam prep:

SIE Topics (non-comprehensive)

• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Department of the Treasury/IRS
• The Federal Reserve
• Market Participants and their Roles
• Types of Markets
• Monetary vs. fiscal policy
• Business Economic Factors
• International Economic Factors
• Offerings
• Equity Securities
• Debt Instruments
• Packaged Products
• Municipal Fund Securities
• Direct Participation Programs (DPPs)
• REITs
• Hedge Funds
• Exchange-traded Products (ETPs)
• Definition and Identification of Risk Types
• Orders and Strategies
• Investment Returns
• Corporate Actions
• Customer Account Registrations
• Anti-money Laundering (AML)
• Books and Records and Privacy Requirements
• Prohibited Activities
• Registration and Continuing Education
• Employee Conduct
• Reportable Events

What Can SIE Exam Courses Near Me Teach Me About The Structure Of The Test?

The SIE is broken into four sections: Knowledge of Capital Markets (16% of your total grade), Understanding Products and Their Risks (44%), Understanding Trading, Customer Accounts, and Prohibited Activities (31%), and Overview of Regulatory Framework (9%). Here is a closer look at how formal SIE prep can help you prepare for each section:

Section One: Knowledge of Capital Markets

This section covers topics such as the role played by various market participants, types of markets (primary, secondary, etc.), how to read economic indicators, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and how they work, and regulatory filing requirements and exemptions. It's a very broad section, but a lot of it boils down to rote memorization. If something just won't stick in your mind for any reason, you may work with your tutor to come up with a mnemonic device as part of your SIE Exam prep.

Alternatively, you could take advantage of SIE test prep time to write down anything you're having a hard time with. Writing things down forces you to actively think about them, potentially making them easier to remember.

Section Two: Understanding Products and Their Risks

Section Two covers investment products such as mutual funds, options, stocks, hedge funds, and risk mitigation. You will be expected to both understand these concepts on a theoretical level and crunch the numbers to demonstrate how they work in practice. The latter involves math, so your tutor may provide practice problems during your SIE Exam test prep if your quantitative skills aren't up to snuff.

Risk is also a key concept on this section, as you need to understand the different types of risk (liquidity, political, credit, capital, etc.) as well as common strategies to mitigate an investor's exposure to risk (diversification, hedging, portfolio rebalancing). You probably have an intuitive understanding of what risk is, but may not express it in the financial terms used by the exam. If so, your instructor may dedicate some SIE prep time to getting you up to speed with the pertinent terminology.

Section Three: Understanding Trading, Customer Accounts, and Prohibited Activities

Topics covered in this section include the different types of orders, investment returns, the difference between trade delivery and settlement, corporate actions (mergers, acquisitions, etc.), and different account types. One of the most important concepts to understand is how to take a customer's financial needs into consideration when recommending products to them. Your SIE tutor may act as different types of customers to give you some practical experience you can eventually draw on with real clients.

This section also includes the ethical components of finance, including the prohibitions on market manipulation and insider trading and the penalties associated with each. You need to be able to cite a lot of specific Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and FINRA regulations here, so the rote memorization techniques discussed for the first section may come in handy again once your SIE Exam prep makes it here.

Section Four: Overview of Regulatory Framework

If you felt that the previous sections of the test didn't have enough rules to memorize, you'll love the fourth section. It covers additional FINRA and SEC regulations, plus those imposed by self-regulatory organizations (SROs). The relatively light weight of this section may make students gloss over it in their SIE test prep, but these are important concepts. If you don't understand anything, make sure to ask your instructor before your testing date.

Likewise, the fourth section includes rules for how to perform various types of paperwork. If you're the type of person who needs to learn by doing, your instructor may provide sample problems for you to complete during your SIE test prep. If you would prefer for your instructor to walk you through the process, a comprehensive tutorial may be incorporated into your SIE preparation as well.

Will SIE Test Preparation Near Me Cover The Formatting Of The Test?

Yes! The SIE consists of 85 multiple-choice questions administered over a testing session lasting an hour and 15 minutes. Only 75 of the questions are scored but the experimental items are unmarked, so you'll just have to do your best on all of them. There is no penalty for guessing on the test, so you should plan to at least attempt every question. Of course, wanting to answer every question and actually having the time to do so can be completely different things.

Thankfully, time management strategies may be incorporated into your SIE test preparation. For example, you might learn how to eliminate obviously incorrect answer choices during an SIE course so that you can take a guess and move on. You might also learn how to leverage the exam against itself by using the information in one item to answer another.

You also have two resources available to you during the exam: a basic scientific calculator and a dry-erase board you may use as scrap paper. Unfortunately, you probably won't have enough time to use these resources for every question. Your instructor may demonstrate how to use these tools during your SIE Exam tutoring sessions to help you utilize them efficiently and effectively.

The SIE Exam is administered on a computer, providing a different test-taking experience from the pencil-and-paper format you are probably accustomed to. If you're a little apprehensive about an unfamiliar process, you may take practice tests during your SIE preparation to develop a familiarity with how it works. You may also learn relaxation techniques during your SIE prep if you have dealt with test anxiety in the past.

What Are The Benefits Of Booking SIE Preparation Through Varsity Tutors?

We try our best to refer every student to an SIE course that meets their scheduling needs. We believe that nobody should allow an SIE class to dictate their lives and design our services with the value of your time in mind.

For instance, our proprietary Live Learning Platform facilitates digital SIE test prep. You may meet with your instructor on our online classroom, giving you the advantages associated with face-to-face SIE prep without the corresponding headache. Our platform also has powerful features such as a virtual whiteboard and video chat functionality to bring your SIE test prep to life! We like to think it's one of the differentiators that help us stand out in a crowded industry.

Passing the SIE Exam would be a major accomplishment (the minimum passing score is 70), but it does not certify you as a financial professional. In order to earn a license, you must pass the SIE and another FINRA qualification exam based on the duties of the position you are gunning for. Here are some of the other qualification exams you may pursue after passing the SIE:

Qualification Exam Choices After Passing the SIE

• Series 6 - Investment Company Representative (IR)
• Series 7 - General Securities Representative (GS)
• Series 22 - DPP Representative (DR)
• Series 57 - Securities Trader (TD)
• Series 79 - Investment Banking Representative (IB)
• Series 82 - Private Securities Offerings Representative (PR)
• Series 86 and 87 -Research Analyst (RS)
• Series 99 - Operations Professional (OS)

Note that many of these tests have prerequisites that go beyond passing the SIE, such as a sponsorship from a FINRA member firm or passing an additional exam. That said, you have to start somewhere. The SIE could be the launching pad that helps your fiance career get off of the ground!

Are you interested in a career in the securities industry? If so, you may have already decided to take the SIE. This is an important exam but it can also be challenging to prepare for without any guidance. Varsity Tutors can help you create a more effective and efficient study plan with SIE prep guidance from expert educators. If you think that you would benefit from this style of SIE test preparation, then consider contacting us today. We'd love to help you pursue your test goals with confidence!