SIE practice questions are the fastest way to find out what you know and what you only half know. Each one gives you a short scenario, four answer choices, and a written explanation once you answer. You can start with a free 20 question test at /free-practice-test, with no account and no email.
Questions do more for your score than reading does, because they make you produce an answer. Reading a chapter twice feels like progress. Answering 20 questions on the same chapter shows you which parts you can use under pressure.
The real exam gives you 80 questions in 1 hour 45 minutes. You get four answer choices on every question, and there is no penalty for guessing. Your practice questions should match that format. This page covers what makes a question worth your time, how many to do, and where to get them free.
Why practice questions beat rereading
Answering a question pulls the fact out of your memory. That act of retrieval is what makes a fact stick, and what makes it come back quickly on exam day. Rereading builds recognition instead, and recognition fades as soon as the page closes.
Questions also expose the gap between knowing a term and using it. You may be able to define a municipal bond. The exam asks which customer it suits and why. That is a different job.
Most of the learning sits in the explanation. A good one tells you why the right answer is right, then why the option you picked is wrong. Score the question, skip the explanation, and you keep the number without the lesson.
Use questions as your main study tool, and use lessons to fill the gaps the questions find. The 30 free lessons at /course are written to pair with the question bank, one topic at a time.
What a good SIE practice question looks like
Question quality varies a lot between providers, and a weak bank costs you hours. A good SIE question reads like something FINRA would write. It describes a short situation, asks one thing, and offers four choices that a half prepared candidate could believe.
Weak banks show themselves quickly. They ask the same fact five ways, lean on all of the above, or print one line explanations that restate the question. Read five explanations before you trust a bank, because the explanation is the part you will read hundreds of times.
Difficulty should sit near the real exam. Questions built to be harder than the real exam look impressive and eat your study time. The topics that genuinely catch people out sit at /resources/blog/hardest-sie-exam-questions. We apply the same explanation test when we compare prep apps at /resources/blog/best-sie-exam-prep-app and full courses at /resources/blog/best-sie-exam-prep-courses.
- Four answer choices, which is the real exam format.
- A stem that describes a situation, rather than asking you to recite a definition.
- Wrong options that match real mistakes, so a loose guess costs you.
- A written explanation on every question, including why the wrong options fail.
- A tag showing which of the four exam sections the question came from.
Free SIE practice questions you can start now
You can answer exam-style questions here without paying or signing up. The test at /free-practice-test runs 20 questions across all four exam sections. It marks each answer as you go and shows the explanation straight away.
The full set of practice tests sits at /practice-tests. Tests 1 to 4 need no sign up at all. Later tests need a free account, which also saves your progress between your phone and your desk. Every question in the bank appears in exactly one test, so you never meet a repeat while you work through them.
Paid access adds the rest of the bank: 750 questions in total, each with a written explanation, plus full length timed mock exams. It costs $9.99 per week, or $79.99 once for lifetime access, and it runs on iOS, Android and the web. SIE Exam Ready is new, so this page carries no ratings, student numbers or testimonials. Answer 20 free questions and judge the writing yourself.
- A 20 question test at /free-practice-test, with no account and no email.
- Practice tests 1 to 4 at /practice-tests, with no sign up.
- 30 course lessons at /course, free to read.
- A written study guide at /sie-study-guide, free.
How many SIE practice questions should you do
No official number exists. FINRA does not publish one, so every figure you see is somebody's estimate. Use coverage and accuracy as your targets instead of a total.
Coverage means every topic in FINRA's content outline has come up more than once. Accuracy means you clear the high 70s on full length tests, with no section trailing far behind. Reach both and the raw count stops mattering.
A workable rhythm is 20 to 30 questions per study session, then one full length timed test each week. A bank of 750 questions supports that for well over a month.
Stop drilling when you can predict the answer from the first line of a question. Stop as well when your misses all land in one section. Both signs mean your time belongs in the explanations and the lessons. The week by week plan sits at /resources/blog/how-to-study-for-the-sie-exam, and the wider method sits at /sie-exam-prep.
Keep going a little longer than feels necessary. A first failed attempt means a 30 day wait before you can retake, which is a long time to lose. /resources/blog/what-happens-if-you-fail-the-sie covers what a failure costs you.
Spread your questions across the four exam sections
The exam does not weight its four sections evenly, so your question count should not be even either. FINRA publishes the weights in the content outline. They tell you where the 75 scored questions land.
Products and their risks is nearly half the exam, so nearly half your questions belong there. What sits inside it is covered at /resources/blog/sie-products-and-risks-overview. Trading, customer accounts and prohibited activities comes next at 23 questions, covered at /resources/blog/sie-trading-and-accounts-rules.
Capital markets carries 12 scored questions and sets up the vocabulary for everything else, at /resources/blog/capital-markets-basics-sie. Regulatory framework is the smallest section at 7 questions and the quickest to learn, at /resources/blog/sie-regulatory-framework-explained.
Let your own scores adjust the mix. If products already come out strong, move questions into the section that does not. The full format and scoring sit at /sie-exam, and /sie-license explains what a pass lets you do next.
- Knowledge of Capital Markets: 16 percent, 12 scored questions.
- Understanding Products and Their Risks: 44 percent, 33 scored questions.
- Understanding Trading, Customer Accounts and Prohibited Activities: 31 percent, 23 scored questions.
- Overview of Regulatory Framework: 9 percent, 7 scored questions.
How to work through a set of questions
Answer first, then check. Reading the four options before you form your own answer lets their wording lead you. Decide what you think, then look at the choices.
Reading the explanation on a correct answer catches your lucky guesses. On a four choice exam, a coin flip between two options that both look right hides a real gap. That gap comes back on exam day if you let it pass now.
Your list of missed topics becomes your study plan. If margin accounts appear on it three times, read that lesson at /course and work the topic until it stops appearing. The habits behind a first time pass sit at /resources/blog/pass-the-sie-exam-first-time, and /resources/blog/sie-exam-day-what-to-expect covers how the timing feels on the day.
- Answer the whole set before you check any of it, so the practice stays honest.
- Work at about 79 seconds per question, which is the real exam pace.
- Guess and move on when you are stuck, since nothing is deducted for a wrong answer.
- Read the explanation on every question, including the ones you got right.
- Write each miss down as a topic, not as a single question.
- Answer questions on that same topic again two days later.
Frequently asked questions
How many questions are on the SIE exam?
You get 80 questions and 1 hour 45 minutes. Only 75 of them count toward your score, and the other 5 are unscored pretest items mixed in at random. Every question has four answer choices, and there is no penalty for guessing, so answer all 80.
Do SIE practice questions match the real exam questions?
No prep provider has the real questions, because FINRA does not release them. Good practice questions match the exam format and follow FINRA's published content outline, topic by topic. Treat any provider that claims to have real exam questions as a warning sign.
Where can you find free SIE practice questions?
Start with the 20 question test at /free-practice-test, which needs no account and no email. Practice tests 1 to 4 at /practice-tests also need no sign up. FINRA publishes its content outline free as well. The outline lists every topic a question can cover, though it holds no questions itself.
Are practice questions harder than the real SIE exam?
Some providers write them harder on purpose, and a few write them much easier. Both distort your sense of where you stand. Judge a bank by whether its questions match the exam format and by whether the explanations teach you something. For expectations about the real exam, read /resources/blog/sie-exam-difficulty.
What practice score means you are ready to book the exam?
Aim for the high 70s on full length practice tests, with no section trailing far behind the others. FINRA reports the passing score as an equated 70. It does not publish a percent correct equivalent, so treat any practice percentage as a rough guide. Several steady results beat one high score, since a single test can draw easy questions. What the score means sits at /resources/blog/sie-exam-pass-rate.
Do you have to pay for SIE practice questions?
You can get a long way free. The 20 question test, practice tests 1 to 4, the 30 lesson course and the study guide all cost nothing. Paid access adds the full bank of 750 questions and full length timed mock exams, at $9.99 per week or $79.99 once for lifetime access. The exam itself costs $100, paid to FINRA, and /resources/blog/sie-exam-cost breaks down the rest.