Series 39

Covered supervisory activities include regulatory compliance over sales of direct participation program limited partnerships (for example real estate, oil and gas, and equipment leasing), limited liability companies and S corporations. It also supports overall supervision of a firm's investment banking and securities business - compliance, underwriting and advertising - for activities covered by each supervisory principal's license.

No. Candidates must be associated with and sponsored by a FINRA member firm or other applicable self-regulatory organization member firm to sit FINRA principal-level qualification exams. Your sponsoring firm files the enrollment, so the practical first step is a conversation with your firm's registration or compliance team.

Yes. The Series 39 carries a corequisite requirement: you must pass the SIE exam and either the Series 7 or the Series 22 to hold the Direct Participation Programs Principal registration. Passing the Series 39 alone does not produce the registration, so plan the sequencing of all required exams with your firm.

It is 100 multiple-choice items delivered in 2 hours and 15 minutes, and the passing score is 70. That works out to roughly 81 seconds per item, so pacing matters: candidates who linger on calculations in the DPP-offering function often run short at the end. Practice with a timer before exam day.

The fee is $200. Note that separate cancellation and rescheduling policies and fees apply to appointment changes, so confirm your date carefully before you book or move it.

Mirror the item allocation. Structure and regulation of DPP offerings carries 46 items, sales and general supervision plus the FINRA regulatory framework carries 32, and compliance with financial responsibility rules carries 22. Study the largest function first and revisit it last; the financial responsibility rules function is the smallest but is easy to under-prepare.

Under the current waiting periods, you may retake 30 days after your first and second unsuccessful attempts, and 180 days after the third. FINRA has announced that 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.

FINRA advises candidates with a scheduled retake appointment after January 19, 2027 to review whether cancelling and rescheduling for an earlier date is beneficial, noting that rescheduling fees may apply. January 19, 2027 is the first date FINRA can reduce a waiting period, and earlier requests will not be processed.

Two patterns dominate. First, treating the exam as a product-knowledge test when a large share of items turns on supervisory judgment - escalation, review, approval and documentation. Second, neglecting the financial responsibility function because it is the smallest block. Read each item for what the principal should do, not merely what the product is.