Best SIE prep courses
Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam
The industry's entry-point exam covering securities products, market structure, regulatory framework, and prohibited practices. It is the first exam most candidates take, and the usual starting point for anyone exploring a securities career before joining a firm.
SIE at a glance
| Administered by | FINRA |
|---|---|
| Exam fee | $100 |
| Questions | 75 |
| Time limit | 105 minutes |
| Passing score | 70 |
| Sponsorship | No firm sponsorship required |
Rankings
- #13.0/ 4
Kaplan
The establishment pick, with the question bank other providers' students end up buying anyway
- #22.9/ 4
Knopman Marks
White-glove exam prep from the firm that trains Wall Street's new hires
- #32.9/ 4
Achievable
Budget-priced, reading-first exam prep on a genuinely modern platform
- #42.9/ 4
Securities Training Corporation (STC)
The 50-year incumbent whose practice finals candidates treat as the readiness benchmark
- #52.8/ 4
Pass Perfect
The 30-year question-bank shop, rebuilt with Solomon Exam Prep under one roof
- #62.7/ 4
Securities Institute of America
The textbook house: published question counts, a simple guarantee, and self-study basics at fair prices
How to choose for the SIE
The SIE is almost everyone's first securities exam, so the on-ramp matters more than the support ladder: how readable the material is for a beginner (our R1 sub-score), what a complete package costs (T2), and whether you can see the product before paying. Most SIE candidates never need live classes for a 75-question fundamentals exam, which is why the budget picks compete so well here.
The rankings above order providers by overall CHART score; the picks below map them to the situations we actually see for this exam.
No finance background
The plain-language textbook is the best beginner on-ramp we evaluated, and its SIE practice runs harder than the real exam, which is the direction you want.
Want to try before buying
The free SIE demo course is the fullest preview in the market: real lessons, the quiz builder, the whole teaching style.
Budget, but want humans available
Live review sessions and instructor support come included even at the cheapest tier.
Heading to a firm and the Series 7
The establishment pipeline: SIE, 7, and beyond under one roof, with the strongest question bank and live options when you need them.
SIE FAQs
No. FINRA opens the SIE to anyone aged 18 or older, and association with a firm is not required. That makes it the one exam on the broker-dealer path you can take before you're hired.
Your SIE result is valid for four years. Passing it alone doesn't register you for anything; it pairs with a representative-level exam like the Series 7 once a firm sponsors you.
Other exams
About the author
Brennan KolarSenior Financial Analyst · Founder & Lead Researcher
Brennan Kolar is a Senior Financial Analyst and the founder of the Atlas Index family of research sites, including Atlas CPA Index and Atlas Securities Index. He built the CHART methodology to make exam-prep comparisons transparent: every score traces to a published rubric, and every factual claim carries a source.
Full bio & editorial standards →