FINRA Series 7 - General Securities Representative Practice Test

To be eligible for the Series 7 exam, you must be sponsored by a FINRA member firm or a self-regulatory organization (SRO). You must also pass the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, which is a co-requisite. The SIE can be taken without sponsorship, but the Series 7 itself requires firm sponsorship. Your sponsoring firm will file the necessary Form U4 to enroll you.

The Series 7 license remains valid as long as you remain employed and in good standing with a FINRA member firm. To maintain your registration, you must complete the Regulatory Element of Continuing Education (CE) every three years. Your firm will also provide Firm Element training on an annual basis. If you leave the industry for more than two years, your license will lapse and you would need to be re-sponsored and re-qualify by exam.

The Series 7 is a general securities license allowing representatives to trade a wide array of products including stocks, bonds, options, and direct participation programs. The Series 6 license is more limited, authorizing representatives to sell only packaged investment products like mutual funds, variable annuities, and unit investment trusts (UITs). The Series 7 is considered the more comprehensive and versatile qualification.

No. The exam is closed-book, and no personal reference materials, paper, or electronic devices (including personal calculators) are allowed in the testing room. The computer-based testing platform provides an on-screen basic calculator and a digital notepad (whiteboard) for your use during the exam.

The Series 7 exam uses a scaled scoring system. While the raw score (number correct) is converted, the passing standard is widely reported as a scaled score of 72%. It's important to note that 10 of the 125 questions are unscored pretest questions used for future exams, but you will not know which ones they are. Your score is based on your performance on the 115 scored questions.