Series 22

It is a multiple-choice exam of 50 items with a duration of 1 hour and 30 minutes. FINRA lists the passing score as 70 and the cost as $100. The exam has been in effect from 08/1980 to the present.

Yes. The SIE exam is a corequisite. Candidates must pass both the Series 22 exam and the SIE exam to obtain the Direct Participation Programs registration, so plan to clear the SIE first or alongside it.

Candidates must be associated with and sponsored by a FINRA member firm or another applicable self-regulatory organization member firm. You cannot enroll independently; your firm files the enrollment. Registration requirements are set out in FINRA Rule 1210.

Covered activities and products include direct participation programs such as real estate, oil and gas, and equipment leasing programs, along with limited partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations. The exam focuses on the solicitation, purchase and sale of these products.

The content outline allocates 17 items to seeking business from customers and potential customers, 4 to opening accounts after evaluating a customer's financial profile and objectives, 27 to providing investment information, making recommendations, transferring assets and keeping records, and 2 to verifying instructions and processing transactions.

Currently, candidates must wait 30 days after a first and second unsuccessful attempt and 180 days after a third. Effective January 19, 2027, those waiting periods drop to 15 days after the first and second attempts and 60 days after the third, applying automatically to new enrollments and open enrollments without an appointment.

Start with the function that carries 27 of the 50 items, since it dominates your score, then move to the 17-item business-development function. The account-opening and transaction-processing functions carry only 4 and 2 items respectively, so treat them as short review blocks rather than major study projects.

The two lightly weighted functions are easy to skip and then miss on exam day, so a quick pass over account documentation and purchase-processing steps protects a handful of items. Likewise, the heavily weighted function rewards precision on product features and recordkeeping, so avoid skimming it late in your prep.

Scheduling and cancellation are handled through FINRA's enrollment and scheduling processes, and rescheduling fees may apply. Candidates with a retake appointment scheduled after January 19, 2027 may want to review whether cancelling and rescheduling for an earlier date is beneficial.