Series 24 General Securities Principal guide exam help

FINRA Series 24 is the General Securities Principal Qualification Exam. FINRA states that the exam assesses whether an entry-level principal has the knowledge needed to perform the critical supervisory functions of a general securities principal, including rules and statutory provisions applicable to supervisory management of a general securities broker-dealer. Candidates must be associated with and sponsored by a FINRA member firm or other applicable SRO member firm to be eligible for principal-level qualification exams.

FINRA's current Series 24 page lists 150 multiple-choice items, a 3-hour-and-45-minute duration, a passing score of 70, a $235 cost, and an effective date of January 1979 to present. The Series 24 also has corequisite exam requirements. To hold the appropriate principal registration, candidates must pass SIE plus a representative-level exam such as Series 7, Series 57, Series 79, Series 82, Series 86 and 87, or pass Series 16 for Research Principal. The resulting principal registration depends on the corequisite combination.

The current content outline is organized around five job functions: supervision of registration of broker-dealer and personnel management activities (9 items), supervision of general broker-dealer activities (45 items), supervision of retail and institutional customer-related activities (32 items), supervision of trading and market making activities (32 items), and supervision of investment banking and research (32 items). FINRA also explains that Series 24 is broader than Series 9 and 10 because it can qualify a candidate to supervise areas such as underwriting, trading, market making, advertising, and overall compliance with financial responsibilities, but it does not cover municipal securities or options.