Series 14

It is a multiple-choice qualification exam delivered through FINRA's exam program for registered persons. FINRA publishes the current item count, time limit, and passing standard on its Qualification Exams pages and in the exam's content outline; those figures are revised from time to time, so confirm them there before scheduling rather than relying on older study materials.

It is designed for the person at a member firm who owns the compliance function - typically the designated compliance officer and the senior staff who write and enforce supervisory control procedures. It assumes you already understand how a broker-dealer operates, so it is a poor starting point if you have not worked in a compliance or supervisory role.

The published blueprint splits the exam evenly across firm compliance programs and regulatory obligations, supervision and control procedures, sales practices and conduct standards, recordkeeping/reporting/privacy, and financial and operational compliance - each weighted at 20 percent. Equal weighting means there is no area you can safely skip; a weak domain costs you the same as any other.

Start with the compliance program domain, because it frames who is responsible for what, then move to supervisory procedures, which is where most questions live. Sales practices and recordkeeping build naturally on that foundation. Leave financial and operational compliance for last, since net capital, books-and-records, and reporting topics stick better once you know the supervisory context.

Memorizing rule numbers without learning the underlying obligation. The exam rewards people who can read a fact pattern, identify which rule is triggered, and name the control or filing that follows. Candidates who can recite a rule but cannot say who must act, by when, and what evidence must be retained tend to stall in the supervisory and recordkeeping domains.

Plan on a structured few weeks rather than a weekend, and weight the time toward practice questions and written supervisory procedure scenarios rather than reading. A useful test of readiness is whether you can draft, from memory, the escalation path and documentation trail for a typical supervisory issue without consulting the rulebook.

Retakes are permitted but are governed by FINRA's waiting-period rules for qualification exams, which vary by exam and by how many attempts you have made. Check FINRA's Registration, Exams & CE pages for the current waiting period before you rebook, and use the diagnostic breakdown of your score to target the weakest domain.

Qualification exams are generally administered through the registration process, with the sponsoring member firm filing the application through CRD and candidates accessing their records and continuing education through FinPro. Prerequisites and co-requisites are set by FINRA rules, so confirm your specific situation with your firm's registration department before assuming you can sit independently.

Work from FINRA's Rules & Guidance section: the FINRA Manual and its updates, Notices, guidance and FAQs, interpretive questions, and the annual Regulatory Oversight Report, which summarizes findings from FINRA's regulatory operations. FINRA's Compliance Tools - the AML template, cybersecurity checklist, and compliance calendar - are also directly useful for the supervisory and operational domains.

This page is independent commentary, not official FINRA content, and rule requirements and exam logistics change. Treat anything here as a study aid and verify every figure - item counts, time limits, fees, waiting periods - against FINRA's own published pages at the time you register. Where a value could not be confirmed, this material deliberately declines to state one.