On the morning of your exam, plan on arriving at the testing center at least 30 minutes prior to your scheduled start time. You should bring with you government-issued identification (e.g. driver's license or passport). Make sure the last name on your I.D. is the same as your last name on your registration form with your firm. Also make sure you don't bring expired I.D. You will be required to leave all your personal articles in a locker outside the testing room. The testing center will provide you with a scratch pad, a pen or marker, and a basic four-function calculator. You are not permitted to bring anything else into the actual testing room.

Learn more about the exam process from FINRA here.

You can schedule your exam yourself or with your firm's compliance department after your firm has opened an exam window. The actual exam is administered at Prometric testing centers via the FINRA PROCTOR system. You can check test site availability and locations at the Prometric website.

Assuming you are working full time while preparing for the examination, you should allow yourself three to four weeks to read through the material and another two to four weeks to complete practice exams.  You should attend the live class, watch the online video lectures or receive private instruction while you are reading the material or immediately after reading the material.

Proper preparation, however, always varies from student to student, based on their background, ability to find study time, and general disposition for memorization and test-taking.