Postponed Again!

 OMG.....the SIE (Securities Industry Essentials) test is taking so much out of me! I am serious. I took it the first time after only reviewing the materials less than two weeks, and there was NO WAY I was prepared to take it. I was flat out ignorant and I tanked it like no other. I think I made a 54 or something. You have to make a 70 to pass. There are 85 questions and 10 don't count, they aren't recorded as right or wrong because they are experimental. You have to pass 53 out of 75 actual testable questions.  The 2nd time I took the test, which was in November of this year (2021) I came SO close to passing. I missed it by literally one or two questions. I either made a 68 or a 64, I can't remember. I didn't pass. I remember that.

    So, what I did the second time around that I didn't do the first time, was to sign up for a great review course called Pass Perfect. I could have paid the larger amount of money and paid for the flashcards and the online study tutor thing I suppose, but I didn't. I simply paid the lower cost for the lesser study guide and materials because I had been through the process once and felt that I would at least have an upper hand. Well, OK, I was correct, I did have the upper hand, but what I FAILED to do the 2nd time around was to see that there were a TON of other resources that I had paid for but I had not opened and I had not reviewed them. I have NO IDEA why that was, other than maybe I didn't see that I had in fact paid for them. I was all about taking the tests and getting the answers to cover the questions I failed. 

    There are three Mastery practice tests and you have to actually pass them before you can go on to the next level. I think I was stuck on Master Level One and never made it to Master Level Two! So, the third time, this time, I have done so many other things I needed to do in the first place. I am reading the book I purchased in the beginning, I am taking those practice tests as I go. I am going over the Pass Perfect again because I have it under a 6 month subscription. I can go over it and over it and over it. Then, just this past week I decided to check on YouTube to see if anyone else had/has videos for options (Calls and Puts) and they did! What? Really?  Then I found that there are SOOOOO many others who have videos out to even help you pass the SIE!  YES!

    Now, I've decided to postpone the Friday scheduled exam that was set in motion for this coming Friday, in order to go over about 100 more videos and see if I can glean any additional information from the various trainers and experienced financial people who have made some great videos. Some of my favorites have been Brain Wisdom, Rose Han, Dean Tinney, and still others. I'm seriously cramming my head full of information from about 10:30 a.m. to about 7:00 p.m. so that I can take the Master Level Two test and pass it so I can get to the final level in the Pass Perfect series. I think I can pass with just knowing Level Two, but no, I want to have all of it under my belt, in my head, and pouring out of my ears to the point that I can sit down and zoom through that real test on December 22 (Happy Birthday Faith) and finally, officially, say I have passed the SIE!  I want to SMASH IT. (OK, in reality you never know what your passing score is, you only know if you fail what your fail score is so you can know what to work on for next time.) If I SMASH the test I will not actually know that I smashed it.

    Still, if I pass the test there will be dancing. There will be singing, there will be earth shaking crazy laughing but I will have to wait and contain my joy for when I leave the exam room. You're not allowed to make a peep of noise inside it. You can barely breathe loudly before a test proctor comes over to your area to see if you're cheating! Cheating is so out of the question! You'd be shunned from all things FINRA for the rest of your life if you are caught cheating. No one cheats on FINRA....it's NOT done. But, when I pass, and I believe I will pass, I will celebrate with friends and family immediately. I will probably head off to Ted's for dinner, and Braum's for ice cream - - and there will be posting, and there will be cause for throwing a little block party too!  My crazy neighbors are all rooting for me, and they want to know how I did too!

    I postponed the exam to give myself a bit more time to read, watch, study, and put my mind into a frame of intellectual understanding. This is just too important for me to fail again, and it's too important for me to take too lightly. The SIE is the first stepping stone before the truly hard tests with very very steep learning curves. I'll be studying the Series 66 for at least 3-6 months before taking the exam. The Series 7 following that will be another 3-6 months of study. I want to be sure I know what I'm up against before I attempt it. I don't want to just have a notch on the belt. I want to KNOW the subject matter. I want to breathe the subject matter.  The good news is, I can get a great job in finance with the SIE and the institution that hires me will sponsor me for the Series 66 and Series 7. They understand the complexity and the reason to take your time. This is a game changing event. (and Jesus has been by my side the entire time.) Lots of prayers go up in those testing exam rooms!!

    Have you ever cared about something enough to postpone the day of celebration to make sure you'll have a day to celebrate? It's hard to do because you have to face your limitations and know what you can and can't do. You have to know that you can fail so you have to understand the concept of not being the best. Learning is a good thing, and I never want to stop doing it.  The reasons I watch so many videos from so many different points of view is that someone will touch on something, and someone else will touch on a different angle to get the same result. I want choices, I want options, I want to understand the true meaning not just the shortcuts to get to the answer.   Growing pains really hurt, but they're so worth every new minute and every new choice.  It will happen. I know it will.

Photo Credit: Pittstate.edu