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Open Exam Prep

Open Exam Prep

By: Ran Chen EA CFP®
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 Open Exam Prep: Mastering Financial Exams The path to becoming a certified financial professional is known for its difficulty, and finding high-quality, accessible study material shouldn't be the hardest part. Created by Ran Chen—an AI application enthusiast, Financial Advisor, and holder of the EA (Tax), Life Insurance, Series 6/63/65, and CFP® designations—this podcast was born from personal experience. Having navigated these challenging exams himself, Ran realized the need for better resources and created Open Exam Prep as a free solution for aspiring professionals. Each episode breaks down complex major exam topics into clear, digestible lessons, covering everything from tax planning and estate strategies to retirement solutions and investment principles. Whether you’re studying during your commute, workout, or downtime, we are here to guide you—one question, one topic, one victory at a time. Visit for more content: https://open-exam-prep.com/Copyright 2026 Ran Chen, EA, CFP® Education
Episodes
  • [Series 65] 13, Types of Risk Systematic vs Unsystematic

    [Series 65] 13, Types of Risk Systematic vs Unsystematic
    Apr 6 2026
    This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Systematic risk, also known as market risk, is non-diversifiable and impacts the entire market through factors like interest rates and inflation. - Unsystematic risk is unique to a specific company or industry and can be significantly reduced through diversification. - Beta is the specific metric used to measure a security's systematic risk, or volatility, in relation to the overall market. - Diversification is the key strategy to mitigate unsystematic risk, but it does not protect against systematic risk. - The exam will test your ability to differentiate between business risk (operational issues) and financial risk (debt-related issues), both of which are types of unsystematic risk. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
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    4 mins
  • [Series 65] 12, Descriptive Statistics and Correlation

    [Series 65] 12, Descriptive Statistics and Correlation
    Apr 5 2026
    This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to differentiate between mean, median, and mode in a set of investment returns and why the median is crucial when outliers are present. - That standard deviation is the primary measure of an investment's volatility and risk on the Series 65 exam; a higher number means higher risk. - The significance of the normal distribution, where approximately 67% of returns are within one standard deviation and 95% are within two. - The role of the correlation coefficient, from -1 to +1, in measuring how two investments move in relation to each other. - Why combining assets with low or negative correlation is the key to effective portfolio diversification and risk reduction. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
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    4 mins
  • [Series 65] 11, NPV IRR and Internal Rate of Return

    [Series 65] 11, NPV IRR and Internal Rate of Return
    Apr 4 2026
    This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The Net Present Value (NPV) decision rule: Accept projects with a positive NPV and reject those with a negative NPV. - The Internal Rate of Return (IRR) decision rule: Accept projects where the IRR is greater than the required rate of return or hurdle rate. - For the Series 65 exam, NPV is considered the superior capital budgeting method, especially for comparing mutually exclusive projects. - Exam questions test your understanding of the decision rules and the relationship between variables, not complex calculations. - A key mnemonic: "IRR Greater, Go!"—if the IRR is greater than the required rate, accept the project. For more free exam prep tools, practice questions, and AI-powered explanations, visit https://open-exam-prep.com/ or YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Open-exam-prep
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    3 mins
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