Schooling

• Getting a degree in economics or finance can lay a solid foundation for anyone interested in becoming a stock broker, though many aspiring brokers sit for the Series 7 with their only financial education being life experience and an exam preparation course. Earning a degree in finance, economics or a related field will help by giving you an overall understanding of the way businesses get listed on exchanges and how they use shares of stock to generate profits. Financial and economics degree programs will also inform you on the ways that economic factors, crowd psychology and game theory impact movements on the stock market.
  
  

Exam Preparation

• The most efficient way to prepare specifically for the Series 7 is to get hired as a broker-trainee with a brokerage firm that will sponsor you for the exam. If that is not an option, enroll in an exam preparation course or purchase study materials that you can examine on your own time. If you choose home study, check with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for its exam schedule and locations. Choose a date that is eight weeks to four months away. Scheduling a test sooner than that will not give you adequate time to commit the study material to memory. This will also give you time to find a firm that will sponsor you for the exams.
  
  

Considerations

• Since you cannot sit for any of the exams to become a registered representative without being sponsored by an SEC-registered broker-dealer, you should consider training with a brokerage that also pays its broker-trainees minimum wage while they learn the ropes and prepare for exams. This can be easily accomplished in New York and Chicago, but may prove challenging in other parts of the country.
  
  

Misconceptions

• Some people believe that since there is no specific schooling or training required to become a registered representative, it must be a fairly uncomplicated process, but this is not true. The series 7, 63, 66 and other related exams are arduous and require a broad foundation of mathematical and ethical understanding.
  
  

Tips

• Before committing the money to a training course or the time to a broker-trainee program, start learning the fundamentals of underwriting, equities, bonds, options, commodities, futures contracts, margin accounts, limited partnerships, securities analysis, types of trade orders, taxation and the rules and regulations of FINRA and the SEC. Once you know that and you have been accepted by a sponsoring brokerage, you will have to be capable of correctly answering 250 multiple-choice questions over the span of two three-hour sessions and earn a 70-percent accuracy on testing day.