Exam prep · Free exam prep course
A complete course for the FINRA Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, built against the 2025 FINRA content outline. It starts with what a security is and how a trade happens, then builds through regulators, offerings, the economy, stocks, bonds, municipal securities, options, funds and annuities, and investment risk. From there it moves to orders and trading, settlement, customer accounts, anti-money laundering, communications and Regulation Best Interest, prohibited activities, registration, and conduct rules. The cards are weighted to the exam's four sections, and the math shows up early and keeps repeating.
| Questions | 75 scored items plus 5 unscored pretest items, 4 answer choices each |
|---|---|
| Time | 1 hour and 45 minutes |
| Guessing | No penalty for guessing, so answer every item |
| Passing score | 70 (scaled) |
| Sections (share of items) | Capital markets 16% (12 items); products and their risks 44% (33); trading, customer accounts and prohibited activities 31% (23); regulatory framework 9% (7) |
| Fee | $100 as of 2026, per FINRA |
| Eligibility | Open to anyone 18 or older; no firm sponsor is needed |
| Results valid for | Four years |
| Test delivery | Prometric test center or online |
| Retakes | FINRA sets waiting periods between attempts. Check FINRA before you book a retake. |
Source: FINRA SIE exam page and SIE content outline (effective 2025), finra.org, read 2026-09-25.
Copied straight from the course. In the app, each wrong option also gets its own explanation.
Card 1A customer buys one 50 call for 3.00. At expiration the stock is at 58. What is the profit in dollars?
$500. Intrinsic value is 58 - 50 = 8.00; less the 3.00 premium is 5.00, and 5.00 x 100 = $500.
Card 2An affiliate wants to sell under Rule 144. The issuer has 10,000,000 shares outstanding and average weekly volume is 250,000 shares. What is the maximum sale in three months?
250,000 shares. The greater of 1 percent (100,000) and average weekly volume (250,000) is 250,000 shares.
Card 3A representative recommends a series of trades in a customer's account. Which Reg BI obligation asks whether the series is excessive when taken together?
Care obligation. The Care obligation includes a reasonable basis to believe a series of recommended transactions is not excessive.
Yes. Create a free Encodr account and all 20 units and 1,156 cards are yours to study, with spaced repetition scheduling your reviews. The exam itself has a fee paid to FINRA.
Yes. The course is built against the SIE content outline FINRA made effective in 2025, and where a rule or figure changes with the year, the card says "as of 2026". FINRA can revise its outline, so skim the current one before your exam date.
Four sections: capital markets (16%), products and their risks (44%), trading, customer accounts and prohibited activities (31%), and the regulatory framework (9%). The course teaches all of it in 20 units, in an order where each unit leans on the last.
Not much, but it repeats: yields, percent change, bond pricing, options profit and breakeven, mutual fund sales charges and margin. Unit 1 has a math primer, and the later units come back to each formula with cards you can drill. The free calculators below help too.
The SIE is the entry exam and it comes first. A qualification exam like the Series 7, 6, 22 or 79 is the top-off that covers the specific work you will do, and you need a firm to take one. Passing the SIE alone does not register you to sell securities.