The Hidden Challenge With the Series 82: Bad Study Materials

At  Britehorn Securities, we’ve long believed the Series 82 is one of the most logical and efficient licensing paths for many lower middle market M&A advisors. And we still do.

For professionals focused primarily on private placement work (which includes capital raising for private companies, minority recapitalizations, and even M&A) — the Series 82 remains an extremely sensible fit. It aligns exceptionally well with the actual day-to-day business activities of many independent M&A professionals.

To quickly summarize: the Series 7 (General Securities) exam is the broadest of the three licenses, covering a wide range of retail and institutional securities activities, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, and more. The Series 79 (Investment Banking) exam is more narrowly focused on investment banking activities like M&A advisory. Meanwhile, the Series 82 (Private Placement) exam designed specifically for professionals involved in private placements and capital raising activities.

You can read more about our comparison of the Series 82, Series 79, and Series 7 here.

The Real Challenge with the Series 82

Increasingly, we here at Britehorn have noticed a frustrating industry problem among our reps:

While we almost never see reps fail the Series 7 or Series 79 on their first try (even though those are longer exams), it's a pretty regular occurance with the Series 82. We do not think the Series 82 is inherently “harder” than the Series 79 or Series 7 — so what's the problem?

The Series 82 suffers from significantly worse pass rates than the Series 79 or Series 7 — and we're convinced it's due to the study materials.

From everything I've personally experienced and heard from others in the industry, Kaplan offers better prep materials for securities-related exams than any other competitor. Plenty of reps have passed their exams using Kaplan's practice tests alone — which are known to have questions that closely resemble the actual exams. With huge question banks and the ability to take practice tests over and over (and review reasoning for wrong answers) — Kaplan does an excellent job preparing reps for the real thing.

Unfortunately, while Kaplan has study materials for the Series 79 and Series 7, it does not have them for the Series 82. If anyone from Kaplan is reading this, I'd love to ask you why.

The providers of Series 82 study guides are:

• Pass Perfect

• Securities Institute of America

And unfortunately, we repeatedly hear from candidates that those guides often do not resemble the actual exam particularly well — and in some cases, candidates believe the prep materials themselves contain incorrect answers. I’ve personally reviewed portions of some of these materials when representatives flagged concerns — and candidly, I do think some of their materials are actually inconsistent with FINRA rules and regulations.

That creates a difficult situation where highly competent professionals who likely would have no issue passing the Series 79 or Series 7 with strong prep materials may instead struggle because the preparation ecosystem for the Series 82 simply is not at the same level.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

Ironically, this issue matters precisely because the Series 82 is otherwise such a strong fit for so many professionals in our industry. All other factors aside, we at Britehorn Securities feel it's a better exam for many of our professionals, as the Series 79 often falls short.

Modern lower middle market advisory work increasingly includes:

• minority recapitalizations,

• sponsor-backed transactions,

• growth equity raises,

• private placements,

• and hybrid M&A/capital raise engagements

  
  

That’s exactly the type of activity the Series 82 was designed around. And at Britehorn, we still absolutely support the Series 82 as an excellent licensing option for many independent advisors.

At the same time, we increasingly recognize that some candidates may choose the Series 79 simply because the prep resources are dramatically stronger. Accordingly:

• We generally accept either the Series 79 or Series 82 for M&A-focused representatives.

• We will often accept the Series 79 for minority recapitalizations or capital raises associated with broader M&A engagements.

Not because we’ve abandoned the Series 82 — quite the opposite. But because we want candidates to succeed.

A Request to Kaplan: Please Build a Series 82 Program

Honestly, we would love to see Kaplan Financial Education launch a comprehensive Series 82 prep platform.

If you’ve experienced frustration preparing for the Series 82, we genuinely encourage you to contact Kaplan and request they develop a Series 82 study guide or prep course. Because I know there is demand for it.

The more demand the industry shows, the more likely it becomes that the Series 82 finally gets the quality prep ecosystem it deserves.

And if anyone from Kaplan is reading this, I'd love to chat!