What is the SIE exam? The format, fee, scoring and retake rules

The SIE in one minute

• 80 multiple-choice items, 75 of them scored. Each has four answer choices. The other 5 are unscored pretest items mixed in where you cannot spot them. FINRA cut the pretest items from 10 to 5 on October 27, 2025; the time limit did not change.
• 1 hour 45 minutes, at a Prometric test center or online.
• A passing score of 70 on a 0–100 scale.
• $100 to enroll.
• Open to anyone 18 or older. You do not need to work for a firm, and you do not need to be a US citizen.
• Valid for four years from the day you pass.

What the exam covers

FINRA's content outline splits the 75 scored items into four sections. The weights tell you where the points are:

Products and their risks alone is 33 of the 75 scored items, so stocks, bonds, municipal securities, options, funds and investment risk deserve the most study time. Our section-by-section SIE study guide goes through each one.

How the SIE is scored

Your result is a scaled score from 0 to 100, and 70 passes. FINRA places scores on a common scale and adjusts them statistically for small differences in difficulty between the sets of questions different candidates see, so a 70 means the same thing on every version of the exam. That is why "70 is passing" is not the same as "get 70% right".

The 5 pretest items do not count, and they look exactly like the others, so treat every question as scored. You see a pass or fail result on screen when you finish. If you pass, that is all you get. If you fail, the report shows your overall score and how you did in each section, which is the map for your next attempt.

Who can take it, and what passing does

The SIE is unusual among FINRA exams because no firm has to sponsor you. Students, career changers and job seekers enroll on their own. Passing it, though, does not make you a registered representative and does not put you on BrokerCheck. To register you also need to pass a qualification exam for the job, such as the Series 7, and be associated with a FINRA member firm, which sponsors that second exam. The order does not matter: you can pass the SIE before you are hired or after.

The four years run from the day you pass. If you register with a firm and the registration later ends, they run from the date it ends. SIE vs Series 7 covers what comes next.

Enrolling and scheduling

1. Create a FINRA account and enroll for the SIE, paying the $100 by card, ACH or a voucher. Schools, training companies and firms can buy vouchers for candidates.
2. Your enrollment gives you a 120-calendar-day window to test. Miss it and you must enroll and pay again; FINRA does not accept refund requests once payment has been processed.
3. Schedule a seat with Prometric, at a test center or as an online appointment.

Veterans who qualify for the GI Bill may be able to get the exam fee reimbursed. The SIE exam day guide covers ID, check-in and the calculator.

Retake waits, and the change on January 19, 2027

If you do not pass, FINRA Rule 1210 makes you wait before trying again. FINRA shortened those waits in Regulatory Notice 26-18 (October 14, 2026):

Under both the old and the new waits, failed attempts more than two years old are not counted. The wait applies to the exam you failed, so failing the SIE does not stop you from taking a different exam. If you are inside a waiting period when the change arrives, check the notice: FINRA adjusts testing windows on January 19 for retake requests with no appointment booked, but cannot do so without cancelling an existing appointment.