Series 7 cheat sheet: the formulas to brain dump on exam day

The Series 7 hands you a whiteboard or scratch sheet at the testing center. The two minutes after the clock starts, before you touch question one, are for writing down the formulas your nerves will otherwise eat. This page is that sheet: the numbers and one-liners worth memorizing cold, and nothing else. Print it, drill it, dump it.

Options math, the part that pays the most

Options carry more Series 7 questions than any other single topic, and nearly all of the math reduces to breakevens and maximums:

The mnemonics that survive exam pressure: call up, put down for breakevens (add the premium to a call strike, subtract it from a put strike), and for spreads, debit spreads want to widen, credit spreads want to narrow. A straddle buyer needs movement past the strike by MORE than the combined premiums, in either direction.

Margin numbers

Four numbers cover most margin questions: 50% Reg T initial on both long purchases and short sales, 25% FINRA minimum maintenance on long accounts, 30% on short accounts, and $2,000 minimum equity to open a margin account. A maintenance call brings equity back to the minimum, never back to 50%. Long account arithmetic: equity = market value − debit. The market value at which a long account hits maintenance = debit ÷ 0.75.

Municipal and tax math

Tax-equivalent yield = municipal yield ÷ (1 − tax bracket). If the question gives a taxable yield and asks what muni matches it, flip it: muni equivalent = taxable × (1 − bracket). Accretion and amortization both move a bond's cost basis toward par in a straight line over its remaining life: original issue discounts accrete (and the accretion on a municipal OID is tax-free), premiums amortize.

The clock facts

Regular-way settlement for stocks, corporates, and municipals is T+1 (since May 2024; older materials still say T+2, and the exam tests the current rule). Cash settlement is same-day. Options premiums settle T+1, and the ex-dividend date for a regular cash dividend is the same day as the record date under T+1. Regulation T payment is due S+2, two business days after settlement.

The exam shell itself

125 scored questions plus 10 unscored pretest items in 3 hours 45 minutes, passing score 72, no penalty for guessing, so never leave a blank. 91 of the 125 scored questions come from Function 3, which is why the options and product math above earns its place on your sheet.

How to actually use this

A cheat sheet you read is worthless; one you can reproduce is the whole point. Blank-page test: close this tab and write the options table from memory. Wherever you stall is tomorrow's drill. Our Series 7 flashcard decks carry every line on this page as a card, and a free account opens the 2,000-question bank where these formulas get tested the way the real exam tests them: buried inside customer scenarios.