How to gain practical finance experience as a college student
Jake is a finance student and personal banker with a strong interest in investing, wealth management, and financial markets. After passing the SIE, he continues to build his knowledge and work toward a long-term career in finance and wealth management. He is based in Wichita, Kansas.
Breaking into the finance world as a college student can feel both exciting and like you’re managing a lot at once. Mastering the right skills and navigating potential job prospects while taking a full course load takes persistence. In this post, Jake shares his experience as a college student pursuing a career in finance and what he’s learned along the way. If you’re a student looking to build a strong foundation in the financial industry, Achievable can help you reach your goals.
What motivated you to take this exam?
What motivated me to take the exam was my pursuit of a career in wealth management/financial advising. When I started looking into the certification that I would need, I saw that I really needed three tests to do the role that I wish to do; those three are the SIE, Series 7, and Series 66. As a college student working in banking, I spoke with other people in the industry. They shared that having the SIE completed shows a strong signal to firms and banks that you are a serious candidate and can help you stand out among many other applicants.
What was the biggest challenge you faced during your prep?
I would say the biggest challenge for me was just kind of not to view all the material in one snapshot. It can be very overwhelming when you are studying for a test with so much information, and it might be hard to grasp at first, because it's all new information. Also, it can be pretty hard to manage everything else going on in life and still take the time to study for it. Also, one other challenge was going through the information and then having to take a break from it for a week or two to focus on other things in life, and then coming back and trying to remember some of the content that you have already gone through.
Did your background or life circumstances shape how you approached prep?
Yes, I would say it was hard for me to find time to study and make real progress on the material, sometimes just because there are so many things going on in one person's life. But there are a few ways to make time for it.
What advice would you give to someone just starting?
The best advice that I would give someone just starting out would be to just get through a first pass of the material. In my opinion, trying to understand all the material on a super deep level as you read the textbook will just make you move slowly and get frustrated. I started studying that way, and then I got to a point where I just read through all the material and tried to understand it, but if I didn't understand something, I would just move on.
Then, once I got through all the material, I drilled practice tests repeatedly, and then I would review my missed questions, and I would insert them into ChatGPT and ask it to explain why the answer was wrong in a way I would understand. Also, if I really felt something was important and applied to many different subjects, I would write them out in a notebook over and over again. In my opinion, I thought that the actual test was a little bit easier than the Achievable material just because the questions were more straightforward, but I’m glad that Achievable had many questions that were a little overly complex or wordier than they needed to be. I would even recommend making the Achievable material a little harder and more complex.
How did you feel going into test day?
A full week or two before going into the test, I was very nervous and had very little confidence in myself, but that’s just the type of test-taker I am. It is definitely very nerve-racking in my opinion, but once I sat down and started taking the test, I felt better once I got about 15 questions in, and I realized that I had this material down pretty well.
What’s next for you now that you’ve finished the exam?
Now that I’m done with the SIE, I’m going to complete my four-year degree in finance. I’m currently studying for my real estate license, and in about 5 months, I’m going to start self-studying for the Series 7 so that when I do apply for jobs, I will be able to take that test pretty soon after being hired. The goal is to be hired into a wealth management role in 8 months or so.
