Series 79 Tutor — Real Deal Experience for the Investment Banking Exam
The Series 79 isn’t a memorization exam. It’s an analysis exam — and the person helping you should have actually done the analysis.
I’m Ken Finnen — the Series 7 Whisperer®. NYSE floor trader 1989–2009, technical editor of Series 7 For Dummies, 127 five-star Google reviews across my tutoring practice. For the Series 79, you work with Mason Moriarity — a former investment banking analyst in Bank of America’s Technology, Media & Telecom group in New York. Cornell-trained in behavioral finance, summa cum laude in finance at Virginia Tech — top 1.5% of his class — and before the analyst seat, Chief Investment Officer of the school’s $5 million student-run equities fund. He’s been exactly where you are: same desk hours, same exam. Now he coaches analysts through the 79 — and the interviews and career on the other side of it. Same standard as everything with my name on it: no theory recitals, no reading the manual to you. Diagnosis, then repair.
Who hires a Series 79 tutor?
The analyst who failed it
You missed by a few points, the retake window is 30 days, and your staffing team knows your test date. At most banks this exam is not optional and not forgiving. A failed attempt is actually useful — it tells us exactly which of the three exam functions is bleeding. We fix that, not everything.
The non-finance hire
You were hired for your brain, not your modeling. The 79 quietly assumes a vocabulary — accretion, purchase-price allocation, registration exemptions — that nobody taught you in your major. That’s not a knowledge problem, it’s a translation problem, and it’s fast to fix with the right person.
The crammer
Your firm handed you the Knopman book, gave you a few weeks, and kept your deal workload exactly where it was. You don’t have time to study everything. You need someone to tell you what actually gets tested and what to skip — and to be honest with you about which is which.
“My firm already gave me Knopman — why would I need a tutor?”
Fair question, and here’s the honest answer: Knopman is the best material in the 79 space. Use it. But a book can’t look at your practice exams and tell you that your registration-rules questions are fine and your M&A math is what’s killing you. It can’t answer the question you’re stuck on at 11 PM. And it can’t adjust when your deal blows up your study week. Materials teach the exam. A tutor fixes you. Those are different jobs.
How it works
Zoom, screen sharing, anywhere. First session starts with your practice-exam results — the 79 has three tested functions (data collection and analysis is roughly half the exam; underwriting and M&A split the rest), and everybody leaks in a different place. Then you work the exact question types you’re missing until you can explain them back. Text between sessions when you’re stuck. The current exam is 80 questions, 75 scored, in 2 hours 30 minutes — with the SIE as your corequisite.
Additional resources (for when you’ve worn out Knopman)
Your firm almost certainly handed you Knopman — use it. It’s the best primary material in the 79 space. But by your second pass through its question bank, you’ve started memorizing answers instead of learning material, and memorized questions stop telling you the truth about your readiness. For fresh reps, add The Securities Institute of America’s Series 79 course — a second question bank with full rationales, and in my opinion the strongest supplement available for this exam. Unseen questions are the only honest practice.
Series 79 Tutoring — Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Series 79 tutor cost?
$350 an hour — no contracts, no packages, no minimums. Most students need 4–8 hours; a first session tells us honestly how many you actually need.
Is the Series 79 exam hard?
It’s the most analytical exam FINRA gives to bankers — long, paragraph-style questions where you’re doing math and judgment, not recall. Finance backgrounds find the vocabulary familiar and the volume brutal; everyone else finds both brutal. Respect it.
Do you tutor the Series 79 online?
Yes — Zoom with screen sharing, nationwide. Sessions schedule around banking hours, because we know what your calendar looks like.
How close to my exam is too late?
If you’re two weeks out with practice scores in the 60s, that’s exactly when to call. If you’re four days out and panicking, call anyway — triage is part of the job.
What about the SIE?
The SIE is your corequisite — if you still need it, my team tutors it at a lower rate, and the same operation carries you through both.
The standard behind the name
The Series 7 Whisperer® practice: 127 five-star Google reviews, 100,000+ students on YouTube, free live exam Q&A every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 PM ET. The 79 gets the same treatment: honest diagnosis, real experience, and nobody sells you hours you don’t need.