SIE pass rate: what FINRA actually publishes, and how hard the SIE is

FINRA does not publish a pass rate for the Securities Industry Essentials® (SIE®) Exam on its own, so any "SIE exam pass rate" you see quoted as a single number is not FINRA's. The only current figure is in a 2026 rule filing: "Over 70 percent of individuals pass these qualification examinations on the first attempt." That figure covers 2024 first attempts on the SIE, the Series 7 and the Series 24 combined.

Everything else you will read, including the "74%", is older, unsourced or self-reported. This page explains which number to trust and what it can and cannot tell you. It then covers what actually makes the SIE hard, using FINRA's own structure and what candidates who have sat it report.

The one current number, and its limits

In June 2026 FINRA filed a rule change (SR-FINRA-2026-014) to shorten the waiting periods between exam attempts. To support it, FINRA analyzed candidates with first attempts in 2024 on its three most popular qualification exams: the SIE, the Series 7 and the Series 24 (General Securities Principal). Its conclusion, on page 9: over 70 percent pass on the first attempt.

Read it for what it is:

• It is aggregated. The SIE, a 75-question knowledge exam open to anyone 18 or older, is pooled with two exams taken by sponsored industry staff. The SIE's own first-attempt rate could sit above or below 70 percent. FINRA does not say which.
• It is a floor, not a point. "Over 70 percent" is the whole statement, with no decimal and no breakdown by exam.
• It is about 2024. The scored exam is the same today (75 questions, four sections, passing at 70); only the unscored count has moved, from 10 to 5. The candidate mix may have changed too.

That is all FINRA publishes. The fee, the question count and the retake rules are checked the same way in the other SIE facts prep sites still get wrong.

Where the "74%" comes from

The 74 percent that most prep pages quote is a 2019 figure from the exam's first year. Two prep providers relay it with different bases. One says it is first-time candidates as of August 31, 2019. The other says it is "the first 16,000" candidates. No page on finra.org carries either version. Pages that present 74 percent as today's SIE pass rate are quoting a seven-year-old number whose base nobody can confirm.

Then there are providers' own pass rates for their students: 87, 93, 95, 98 percent and similar. These rest on self-reported surveys or undisclosed methods, and at least one counts candidates who needed more than one attempt to get there. Not comparable. Not with each other, and not with anything FINRA publishes.

We do not publish a pass rate of our own. We have no verified outcome data for StreetPrimer users. Until we do, the honest number is no number.

What FINRA's data says about failing

The same filing contains figures almost nobody quotes. They describe what SIE candidates do after a fail, using the same 2024 data:

• 65 percent of people who fail the SIE take it a second time. For the Series 7 it is 85 percent, and for the Series 24 it is 78 percent. More than a third of SIE failers did not take it again. The SIE is the only one of the three that needs no sponsoring firm, which may explain part of the gap.
• 23 percent make their second attempt as quickly as the rules allow, within 30 to 34 days.
• 40 percent of those who retake wait more than 60 days.

The waiting periods behind those numbers are still in force. After a first or second fail you wait 30 days; after a third and every later fail, 180 days. FINRA has amended the rule to cut these to 15 and 60 days, but its July 1, 2026 Weekly Update says the shorter waits are not yet in effect for candidates. As of September 30, 2026, no implementation date has been announced. Each retake is a new enrollment and a new $100 fee.

How the SIE is scored, and why "53 of 75" is wrong

Passing is 70 on an equated 0–100 scale. FINRA places every candidate's score on a common scale so that people who receive harder or easier sets of questions are held to the same standard. Because forms differ, the number of correct answers that equates to 70 is not fixed, and FINRA does not publish it. "Get 53 of 75 right" is 70 percent of 75, rounded up from 52.5: arithmetic, not a FINRA rule.

What you see afterwards depends on the result. Pass, and the report says pass, with no score. Fail, and FINRA gives you your overall score and your performance on each of the four sections (FINRA's results page). Candidates who have shared fail reports describe a label per section, from "Very Low Performance" to "Adequate Performance". That wording is candidate-reported; FINRA's page describes the content, not the labels.

How hard is the SIE? Where the difficulty actually sits

The SIE is a fundamentals exam: 80 multiple-choice questions (75 scored, 5 unscored and unidentified) in 1 hour 45 minutes. That is under 80 seconds a question. FINRA's 2024 outline said 10 unscored (85 total); the 2025 outline says 5. Nothing about the format is exotic: four options, one answer, no penalty for guessing.

What makes it hard is concentration. FINRA allocates the 75 scored questions by section:

Sections 2 and 3 together hold 56 of the 75 scored questions. A weak Section 2 is very hard to make up elsewhere. Our guides break down what FINRA lists under Section 2, and how to drill it and the Section 3 rules and scenarios to the outline's headings.

What candidates who have sat it consistently report:

• Rules and regulations are the trouble spot named most often: the '33 and '34 Acts, Rule 144, Regulation A, and the customer-account, suitability and prohibited-practice material in Section 3.
• There is very little math. Accounts describe anywhere from one to three or four calculation questions; stock splits come up by name.
• Real-exam wording differs from vendor practice. Several candidates who failed report practice averages of roughly 78 to 83 percent on third-party tests beforehand. No practice percentage converts into an SIE result, ours included.

How long it takes depends on background. Candidates report roughly 10–30 hours with a finance background and 64–157 hours without; prep providers commonly recommend 50–80 hours for newcomers. Neither range comes from FINRA. Our week-by-week SIE study plan by background turns both into a schedule.

What a practice score can and cannot tell you

In our simulator every full-length form is built to FINRA's 2025 outline: 80 items, the 12/33/23/7 split, 105 minutes, five unscored items spread in proportion to the sections. The results show a raw percentage and a per-section count. That tells you which section is costing you points. It does not tell you your equated score, because FINRA's equating cannot be reproduced from outside. Every results screen says so: the real SIE reports an equated score on a 0–100 scale; passing is 70; your raw percentage is not an equated score.

The free run is one full-length, timed 80-question exam with a worked rationale on every item, with a free account and no card needed.

This is exam preparation, not investment advice.

FAQ

What is the SIE pass rate?

FINRA does not publish an SIE-only pass rate. Its only current figure, from rule filing SR-FINRA-2026-014, is that over 70 percent of individuals passed on the first attempt in 2024, across the SIE, Series 7 and Series 24 combined.

Is the 74% SIE pass rate accurate?

It is a 2019 figure from the exam's first year, relayed by prep providers with two different bases. No finra.org page carries it, so it should not be read as today's rate.

Is the SIE exam hard?

It is a fundamentals exam with little math, but it is broad and concentrated: 56 of its 75 scored questions sit in Section 2 (products and risks) and Section 3 (trading, accounts and prohibited activities). Candidates most often report rules and regulations as the hard part.

What happens if you fail the SIE?

You receive your overall score and your performance in each section, and you wait 30 days before retaking (180 days after a third or later fail). Each retake costs a new $100 fee. FINRA has filed shorter 15- and 60-day waits but, as of September 30, 2026, has not put them into effect.

Is the SIE harder than the Series 7?

They test different things. FINRA describes the SIE as fundamental securities knowledge and the Series 7 as knowledge for day-to-day job functions. The Series 7 is longer (125 scored questions in 3 hours 45 minutes), has a passing score of 72, costs $395 and requires firm sponsorship.