SIE passing score: what you need to pass

You need a 70 to pass the SIE. The exam has 75 scored questions, so 70 percent works out to 53 correct answers. There is no curve and no partial credit: you either clear 70 or you do not.

Why 85 questions but only 75 count

You will answer 85 questions in 1 hour and 45 minutes, but only 75 of them are scored. The other 10 are unscored pretest questions FINRA is trialling for future exams, and they are scattered through the test with no marking of any kind. You cannot identify them, you cannot skip them, and guessing which ones they are is a waste of the clock. Treat all 85 as real.

The practical consequence is that you can get 10 questions wrong and still pass comfortably, but only if the ones you miss are not concentrated in a single section.

What a 70 actually means

A 70 is a scaled score, not a raw percentage of questions right. Scaling exists because different versions of the exam vary slightly in difficulty, so FINRA adjusts to keep the standard constant across forms. In practice the difference is small, and 53 of 75 is the right number to aim at. What it means for studying is simple: do not aim for 70. Aim for the high seventies on practice exams, so an off day still lands you above the line.

Is there a passing score per section?

No. The SIE is scored as one exam, so a weak section can be carried by strong ones. That said, the sections are not equally weighted, and being weak in the wrong one is expensive. Products and risks alone is 44 percent of the exam, so a bad performance there is very hard to make up elsewhere. The full breakdown is in SIE sections and weights.

What is the SIE pass rate?

FINRA's most recently published figure put it at roughly three out of four candidates passing. Treat that number with some care: FINRA has not refreshed it in years, and it counts everyone who sat the exam, including people who walked in badly prepared. It is not a prediction about you.

The more useful way to read it is the other direction. Roughly one in four people fails an exam that is entirely passable with preparation, and the common thread among them is passive studying: reading and watching rather than answering questions under time. Why prepared people still fail goes into what separates the two groups.

How do you know when you are ready?

One number: your score on full-length practice exams taken under real conditions, all 75 questions in one sitting, no pausing to look things up. If you are consistently above the high seventies across more than one attempt, you are ready. If you are in the sixties, you are not, and booking the appointment anyway costs $100 to find that out. Single section quizzes will flatter you, because they let you think inside one topic at a time and the real exam does not.

If you want a rough read before committing to anything, our free ten-question diagnostic is weighted like the real exam and will tell you which section would cost you the most points today.

What happens if you miss it

A failed attempt is not reported to employers and does not appear on any public record. You wait 30 days and try again, and the score report you get tells you exactly which sections sank you. The details are in what happens if you fail the SIE.