Series 7

Look on ebay...thats where I would get the materials.

As for the cost for taking the tests, check out www.nasdr.com and they have a Q&A area.

More than those costs is the holding cost for your licenses..

You need to be with a firm in order to take these exams, it's called being sponsored.  I believe the 7 is $200 to take but I will check for sure and post tomm. for you.  Being sponsored, a firm would provide those for you.  If you are going to get them elsewhere, make sure you're getting an up to date version.  A lot of laws and rules change so you wouldn't want to study the wrong info.

Hope this helps

gambler,

When I took the exam I was exposed to the market for years before and I also had my bach in accounting, so much of the study was easy and I didnt even have to try much. The options area I scored in the middle 90 percentage range and it was a breeze.

So depending on your background, propensity to study and grasp, the time will vary.

When I studied the BEST part was the sample exams..so whatever package you get, make sure you get the one that has the MOST practice exams..they take past test questions and you can take them over and over and over...it gets you familiar with how the questions are worded. It was more important to me than the study material to be honest.

Ebay will have what you want..I would suggest jotting down the top 3 or so choices you find on ebay, then google them and see what people say about the certain program..not the company but users...

I had the books on one and the practice test, then had a computer program for another and practice exams.

For me the 7 was easy...the 63 was a b!tch because it has less to do with the markets and more to do with regulations and goofy things like registration requirements for corporations etc.

You have a period of time once you take the exam to have a member firm hold it before it expires. When I was working it was one year, but that might be different.

What are your plans after taking it?   

There's two things that you need to understand.  In order for you to sit for the exam, you need to have a window opened.  A window consists of 90 days that you have to take the actual exam.  In order to do this, a firm needs to go into what's called the CRD system.  This is the system that a firm would use to open the window I described before.  The second thing is that you need to be affiliated with a brokerage firm because if you're not, you will lose your license 2 years from the day you are not with a firm.  So if you leave job A Jan 1st, you have 2 years from that date to get with another firm or it's lost.  I took my 7 5 years ago so the rules may have changed however, I know for a fact that you need to be affiliated with a NASD firm or you'll lose it.

I used Dearborn to take it the first time a failed miserably.  They have since made this test more difficult because any Joe Shmo who wants to take it can.  Many fraud cases involve young, eager, greedy kids so you can see where the problem lies with this.  Last time I checked the average test score was a 68 which is a failing grade.  I found that STC material was far superior to Dearborn however, since I had both I used both.  It's never a good idea to strictly use the computer tests or strictly use the paper tests.  You need to make sure to mix it up to get a good base for the material.

Sorry I'm rambling but, I joined a firm on Wall Street who has a teacher with a 97% pass rate.  The guy is solid.  Everybody is different and everyone learns different.  I'm the type of person who reads something and forgets it before I'm done reading the entire piece.  I can tell you the best way to pass this test however, if you deviate from it, it's no good.

By the way, as far as how much time you need isn't just a number you can throw out there.  It all depends on if you follow the study guide I was taught and where your practice scores are.  Like I said, I'd be more then happy to tell you how to do this if you'd like?