Series 7 Syllabus — Blueprint & Learning Objectives
FINRA Series 7 syllabus mapped to the official job functions with clear learning objectives and quick links to targeted practice.
This syllabus is based on FINRA’s official Series 7 Content Outline (4 major job functions). Use it as a checklist: cover every objective, then drill questions until you can pick the safest compliant answer fast.
Differentiate retail communications, institutional communications and correspondence, and identify high-level approval and review expectations.
Apply FINRA Rule 2210 principles to recognize communications that are false, misleading, promissory or lack a fair and balanced presentation of risks and benefits.
Identify when a seminar, lecture or group forum requires heightened supervision, disclosures and recordkeeping.
Recognize product-specific disclosure themes for investment company products and variable contracts (e.g., fees, expenses, risks and limitations).
Explain why options-related communications must be consistent with the Options Disclosure Document (ODD) and firm-approved materials.
Identify key communication requirements for municipal securities (e.g., fair presentation, conflicts, and required disclosures when applicable).
Describe what a research report is at a high level and identify common communication constraints such as quiet periods and distribution restrictions.
Recognize special communication requirements for CMOs and other mortgage-related products, including the need to emphasize cash-flow and prepayment risk.
Differentiate government securities communications from other products at a high level and identify typical disclosures around price/yield and market risk.
Identify the types of approvals and controls firms use before distributing marketing materials (e.g., principal review, record retention, supervision).
Describing Products, Services and Offerings
Describe the high-level steps and participants in a securities offering (issuer, underwriter, selling group, market makers).
Differentiate firm-commitment and best-efforts underwriting and identify how each affects distribution risk and proceeds certainty.
Identify what makes a new issue allocation sensitive (e.g., conflicts, spinning, restricted persons) and why firms use controls in new issue distribution.
Apply high-level new issue restrictions (e.g., associated persons and certain accounts) to determine whether a customer is eligible to purchase IPO shares.
Recognize common conflicts of interest in public offerings and identify required disclosures/controls in conflict scenarios.
Differentiate registered public offerings, exempt offerings and private placements at a high level and identify why offering exemptions exist.
Explain the purpose of prospectus delivery requirements in registered offerings and what a prospectus is intended to do for investors.
Identify the purpose of Regulation D private offerings and the basic concept of accredited investors and investor sophistication.
Recognize how Regulation S relates to offers/sales outside the United States and why U.S. resale restrictions may still apply.
Identify high-level practices that can be manipulative in connection with offerings (e.g., conditioning the market) and why rules restrict them.
F2 — Opens Accounts After Obtaining and Evaluating Customers’ Financial Profile and Investment Objectives (9%)
Differentiate common account types (cash, margin, options, advisory/fee-based, DVP/RVP) and identify key restrictions associated with each.
Describe what qualifies as pattern day trading at a high level and identify required disclosures and approvals for day-trading accounts.
Differentiate common registration types (individual, joint, trust, partnership, sole proprietorship, community property, unincorporated association) and explain why registration affects authority and ownership.
Identify core account-opening information requirements (customer identity, account title, risk profile, and required documents).
Explain why firms require written authorization for third-party mailings and disbursements and how this supports customer protection.
Describe the purpose of tax-advantaged accounts (e.g., IRAs, 529 plans) and identify high-level eligibility, contribution and distribution constraints.
Differentiate transfers and rollovers between retirement plans and describe common tax consequences of improper handling.
Recognize employer-sponsored plan types (e.g., 401(k), 457, defined benefit, profit-sharing) and how ERISA concepts can affect plan operations at a high level.
Identify common wealth events (e.g., inheritance) that can trigger account changes, documentation updates and revised investment objectives.
Describe common scenarios that require account registration changes or internal transfers and the controls used to document and approve changes.
CIP/KYC, Privacy & Account Authorizations
Explain the purpose of Customer Identification Program (CIP) requirements and what information firms typically collect to verify identity.
Apply know-your-customer (KYC) concepts to identify when additional information is required (e.g., foreign residency, citizenship, entity ownership).
Identify common screening considerations (e.g., corporate insiders, employees of broker-dealers/SROs) and why they matter for compliance and trading restrictions.
Describe the purpose of Regulation S-P privacy notices, opt-out rights and safeguard expectations for nonpublic personal information.
Recognize permitted and prohibited sharing of customer information and common exceptions (e.g., servicing, legal/regulatory).
Identify required account authorizations and documents for various relationships (e.g., POA, trust agreements, corporate resolutions, trading authority).
Differentiate discretionary authority from trading authorization and identify documentation and supervisory requirements for discretionary accounts.
Recognize suspicious activity indicators discovered during onboarding and identify the internal escalation path rather than attempting to resolve issues independently.
Customer Investment Profile & Suitability/Reg BI
Gather and document essential customer facts (financial situation, needs, objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon and experience) for an investment profile.
Differentiate preservation of capital, income, growth and speculation objectives and map them to typical product characteristics and risk levels.
Explain the difference between reasonable-basis suitability, customer-specific suitability and quantitative suitability at a high level.
Identify what makes a recommendation a recommendation and why that distinction matters for suitability and best interest obligations.
Describe Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) at a high level and identify the goal of mitigating conflicts and acting in the customer’s best interest for recommendations.
Explain why firms may need to verify investor accreditation/sophistication for certain offerings and how that supports exemption eligibility.
Recognize “hold” recommendations and identify why ongoing monitoring expectations depend on account type, agreement and firm policy.
Supervision, Approvals & Safeguarding Assets
Identify supervisory approvals commonly required to open and maintain accounts, including for higher-risk products and strategies.
Explain why firms control the physical receipt, delivery and safeguarding of cash, checks and securities, and how those controls reduce fraud and loss.
Recognize circumstances where a firm may refuse, restrict or close an account (e.g., incomplete information, suspicious activity, regulatory concerns).
Describe the purpose of supervisory control systems and how firms test, document and improve supervisory procedures.
F3 — Provides Customers with Information, Makes Recommendations, Transfers Assets and Maintains Appropriate Records (73%)
Differentiate authorized, issued, outstanding and treasury stock and explain why share counts matter for ownership and EPS.
Identify common stockholder rights (voting, dividends, inspection, residual claim) and how those rights differ from creditor claims.
Differentiate statutory voting and cumulative voting and explain how cumulative voting can affect minority shareholder influence.
Explain what a stock spin-off is and how it can affect shareholder holdings, cost basis and taxation.
Recognize what makes a penny stock transaction high risk and identify why special disclosures and rules apply.
Differentiate preferred stock types (cumulative, participating, convertible, callable, adjustable/variable-rate) and the investor objectives each may suit.
Explain subscription rights and warrants, including exercise terms, dilution considerations and value drivers.
Differentiate ADRs from domestic shares and identify currency risk and country/settlement considerations.
Compute cost basis adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends and stock rights in basic scenarios.
Differentiate qualified and non-qualified dividends and identify holding-period considerations at a high level.
Explain wash sale rules at a high level and apply them to identify when a loss may be disallowed for tax purposes.
Apply FIFO, LIFO and specific identification approaches to determine cost basis and realized gain/loss in simple equity sale scenarios.
Describe how equities trade across venues (exchange, OTC, ECNs, ATS/dark pools) and why venue differences can affect execution quality.
Mutual Funds, ETFs, UITs & Sales Practices
Differentiate open-end funds, closed-end funds, ETFs and UITs by structure, pricing and how investors buy/sell.
Explain NAV, public offering price (POP) and forward pricing for mutual funds and apply them to basic pricing scenarios.
Differentiate common mutual fund objectives (growth, value, income, balanced, sector, lifecycle) and relate each to typical holdings and risks.
Identify mutual fund share class cost drivers (front-end loads, back-end loads/CDSC, level loads/12b-1 fees) and explain how they affect investor outcomes.
Apply breakpoint concepts, letters of intent (LOI) and rights of accumulation (ROA) to determine when reduced sales charges may apply.
Explain dollar-cost averaging (DCA) and identify when it can reduce timing risk but does not eliminate market risk.
Differentiate redemption, exchange and conversion privileges and identify common restrictions and timing considerations.
Describe how mutual fund distributions work (dividends vs capital gains distributions) and why reinvestment changes cost basis.
Differentiate ETFs from mutual funds in trading (intraday vs once-per-day pricing) and identify how tracking error and fees impact ETF performance.
Explain the basic differences between closed-end fund pricing at premium/discount and open-end fund pricing at NAV.
Variable Annuities and Variable Life (Features, Valuation, Tax)
Describe core insurance features of variable contracts (death benefits, living benefits, riders, minimum guarantees) and their tradeoffs.
Explain separate accounts at a high level and how investment performance flows through to contract value.
Differentiate accumulation units from annuity units and explain how each is used in valuing a variable annuity over time.
Identify common variable annuity fees (M&E, admin, underlying fund fees, surrender charges) and explain how they affect returns.
Differentiate immediate vs deferred annuities and describe what annuitization means for liquidity and taxation.
Explain assumed interest rate (AIR) at a high level and how AIR interacts with actual investment performance to determine variable payouts.
Describe the tax treatment of variable annuities during accumulation and annuity payout and identify taxation triggers at surrender.
Explain the purpose of a 1035 exchange and identify common suitability and disclosure concerns when exchanging annuity contracts.
REITs, DPPs and Alternative Programs
Differentiate listed, non-listed registered and private REITs and identify liquidity and pricing implications of each structure.
Differentiate equity REITs, mortgage REITs and hybrid REITs and explain how each generates cash flow and risk exposure.
Describe how REIT distributions are typically taxed at a high level (dividends, capital gains, return of capital) and why tax character matters.
Describe core DPP structures (limited partnership, LLC) and the roles and duties of general partners vs limited partners.
Explain tax flow-through concepts for DPPs and identify how depreciation and other deductions can affect taxable income.
Differentiate public DPP offerings from private placements at a high level and identify common liquidity and disclosure differences.
Differentiate corporate, municipal, Treasury and agency debt by issuer, credit risk profile and typical tax treatment.
Explain how coupon, maturity and yield measures (nominal/coupon, current, YTM, YTC, yield to worst, discount yield) relate to price.
Interpret ratings at a high level and describe how downgrades can affect market value, liquidity and required yield.
Identify the tax implications of original issue discount (OID), market discount and bond premium at a high level.
Differentiate common corporate bond structures (debentures, secured/mortgage bonds, zero-coupon, step-up, income bonds, convertibles) and identify key risks.
Explain convertible bond parity concepts at a high level and identify how conversion value can affect price sensitivity.
Differentiate callable and puttable bonds and identify reinvestment/call risk and extension risk implications.
Differentiate GO and revenue municipal bonds and identify typical sources of security and key credit factors.
Identify common municipal short-term notes (TANs, RANs, BANs, TRANs) and why issuers use them for cash-flow management.
Describe special municipal structures (pre-refunded, insured, AMT, taxable munis, COPs, lease revenue, variable-rate, auction-rate) and identify suitability implications.
Explain municipal call features (optional, mandatory, sinking fund, extraordinary, make-whole) and how they affect price and yield.
Describe basic refunding methods (current vs advance refunding, escrowed-to-maturity) and how refunding changes credit and call exposure.
Calculate accrued interest for bonds using 30/360 conventions in simple scenarios and explain why settlement includes accrued interest.
Compute taxable equivalent yield (TEY) at a high level and identify when TEY comparisons can change the preferred choice between taxable and tax-exempt bonds.
Explain asset-backed securities (CMOs/CDOs) at a high level and identify how tranche structure and prepayment risk change cash flows.
Differentiate Treasury bills, notes, bonds, STRIPS and TIPS and identify key features (maturity, interest payments, inflation adjustment).
Identify agency issuers (GNMA, FNMA, FHLMC) and explain pass-through mechanics and prepayment risk at a high level.
Differentiate ETNs from ETFs and identify issuer credit risk and tax/structure considerations of ETNs.
Identify transaction-level disclosures that may be required (material aspects, conflicts, control relationships) and explain why disclosure protects investors.
Differentiate major risk types (call, reinvestment, interest-rate, credit, liquidity, systematic and non-systematic) and match them to products.
Differentiate types of investment returns (tax-exempt interest, taxable interest, dividends, capital gains, return of capital) and explain why return composition matters.
Explain markups, markdowns and commissions at a high level and identify how costs differ for principal vs agency transactions.
Differentiate mutual fund share classes and identify the disclosure goal of helping customers understand long-run cost differences.
Identify key fees unique to variable products (surrender charges, M&E charges) and explain why they must be disclosed clearly.
Describe soft dollar arrangements at a high level and identify why conflicts and disclosure expectations exist.
Identify basic gift and estate tax concepts (annual gift exclusion, lifetime exemption) and apply them to common gifting/inheritance scenarios at a high level.
Interpret simple market sentiment and momentum indicators (volume, short interest, index futures, put/call ratio) and identify limits of these signals.
Identify Bond Buyer municipal indexes at a high level and explain how benchmarks can be used to interpret municipal yield movements.
Recognize basic technical analysis concepts (support/resistance, trend lines, breakouts) and apply them to identify common chart patterns in simple examples.
Explain why municipal material event disclosures can affect secondary-market pricing and why retail communications must remain current and fair.
Account Maintenance, Transfers, Confirmations & Records
Identify required elements and timing of customer confirmations and account statements and explain why accuracy and timely delivery matters.
Differentiate realized vs unrealized gains/losses and explain how each impacts statements and suitability discussions.
Describe how withdrawals, tender offers and other account requests are processed and documented at a high level.
Identify when account records must be updated (address changes, objective changes, trusted contact details when used) and how updates support suitability and supervision.
Explain ACATS transfers at a high level and identify typical steps and firm obligations during account transfers.
Describe record retention expectations at a high level and why records must be retrievable, tamper-resistant and complete.
Identify key steps and controls used in account closure procedures to protect customers and reduce operational risk.
Explain why educational communications may be required for account transfer and recruitment-related messaging.
F4 — Obtains and Verifies Purchase/Sale Instructions; Processes, Completes and Confirms Transactions (11%)
Differentiate quote types (firm vs subject/qualified) and identify how quote status affects execution expectations.
Differentiate common order types and modifiers (AON, FOK, IOC, not-held, MOC) and select an appropriate order given a scenario.
Explain how bid/ask quotations relate to customer pricing and what “at advertised yield” implies for fixed income transactions.
Describe the purpose of best execution obligations and identify key factors used to evaluate execution quality.
Differentiate agency vs principal execution at a high level and describe how that affects disclosures and transaction costs.
Explain short sale order marking and the purpose of locate/borrow processes under Regulation SHO.
Differentiate speculative, hedging and arbitrage motivations for short sales and identify how strategy affects risk.
Describe securities lending at a high level and identify “hard to borrow” and “fail to deliver” concepts and why they matter operationally.
Recognize when trading halts and volatility controls can restrict quoting and trading and how firms should respond operationally.
Order Tickets, Trade Reporting, Settlement & Delivery
Identify required order ticket elements (account, security, price, capacity, time, special instructions) and explain why complete tickets support supervision and audit trails.
Describe the role of market makers and designated market makers (DMMs) at a high level, including quoting and liquidity responsibilities.
Identify common trade reporting systems (e.g., TRACE, EMMA/RTRS, TRF) and the purpose of timely and accurate transaction reporting.
Explain the concept of good delivery for securities and identify common good-delivery problem scenarios (endorsements, registration, denominations, due bills).
Differentiate physical certificates from book-entry settlement and identify how DRS affects ownership records.
Describe settlement cycle concepts under SEC Rule 15c6-1 and identify why “regular way” vs negotiated settlement matters.
Differentiate when-issued, as-issued and if-issued trading and identify settlement and cancellation risks unique to conditional trading.
Explain ex-dividend and ex-rights processing at a high level and how due bills can be used to allocate distributions correctly.
Describe how options exercise/assignment affects settlement and delivery and why firms must process assignments accurately.
Identify DK (don’t know) discrepancies and describe high-level steps to resolve trade comparisons and settlement differences.
Errors, Complaints & Dispute Resolution
Identify common trade errors (cancels, rebills, erroneous reports) and describe why prompt correction reduces customer harm and regulatory risk.
Describe firm requirements for capturing and escalating written customer complaints and the consequences of improper handling.
Differentiate arbitration, mediation and litigation at a high level and identify what types of disputes commonly go through each forum.
Identify when a reportable event or complaint may trigger internal reporting and updates to registration records (e.g., Form U4).
Recognize clearly erroneous transaction scenarios and the need to follow exchange/firm procedures for review and resolution.