Series 7 Last-Minute Review 2026: Final 48-Hour Plan

Series 7 Exam Last-Minute Review

You are not learning new material now. You are protecting the points you already own and stopping the four or five predictable mistakes that turn a 71 into a 73.

This page is built for the final 48 hours. It is ordered by where the marks actually are, it flags every number that changed for 2026, and it ends with the exact block of formulas to write on your note board in the first two minutes of the exam.

If you have more than a week left, use the full Series 7 cheat sheet instead. This one is triage.

---

What Changed for 2026

Most cram sheets online are running on 2024 numbers. Check yours against these before you trust anything on it.

Still unchanged, despite what you may have read: the retake waiting periods. FINRA filed an amendment to Rule 1210 on June 29, 2026 that will cut them to 15/15/60 days, but FINRA has said the shorter waits are not yet in effect and will be switched on by a future Regulatory Notice. Until then the waits are still 30 days, 30 days, then 180 days.

---

Exam Structure (Current Outline)

Three things about that table trip candidates up.

The pretest count changed. FINRA's October 2025 content outline cut the unscored pretest items from 10 to 5. You now sit 130 items, not 135. The five pretest items are scattered at random and you cannot identify them, so the practical advice is unchanged: answer everything.

"72" is a scaled score, not a raw percentage. FINRA equates every candidate's score onto a common scale so that a slightly harder item set is not punished. In round numbers you are aiming at roughly 90 of the 125 scored items, but the exact raw count that clears the bar moves a little with your particular item set. Do not walk in planning to miss exactly 35.

The SIE is a corequisite, not a prerequisite. You can sit the Series 7 before the SIE. You just cannot be registered as a General Securities Representative until both are passed and your firm has filed your U4.

Budget Your Clock

225 minutes over 130 items is 1 minute 44 seconds per item. Options and margin questions eat two to three minutes each; a definition question takes fifteen seconds. Set two checkpoints: you want to be at item 45 by the 75-minute mark and item 90 by the 150-minute mark. If you are behind at a checkpoint, start flagging and moving instead of grinding.

Retake Rules If It Goes Badly

Each attempt costs another $395, and there is no lifetime cap on attempts.

---

Where the Marks Actually Are

The exam is built from four job functions with fixed item counts. Ignore the topic ordering in your textbook and study these weights instead.

Function 3 is 91 of your 125 scored items. Products, recommendations, suitability, and the math that supports them. If you have one evening left, spend all of it inside Function 3, and inside Function 3 spend it on options.

Functions 1 and 2 together are only 20 items. Communications rules and account paperwork are worth knowing, but they are not where a borderline candidate is won or lost.

---

What You Actually Get in the Room

This is the single most common piece of stale advice in Series 7 cram material, including some very well-known books: they tell you to write your formulas on "scratch paper." You will not be given scratch paper.

You may not bring your own calculator either way, and no personal items go into the room. If you have practiced your dump sheet on paper with your own financial calculator, do one run-through on a dry-erase board with a basic four-function calculator before exam day. The friction is real and it is better discovered at home.

---

The Two-Minute Dump Sheet

Write these down before you look at item one. Nothing else. If you try to reproduce twelve tables you will burn eight minutes and still not have the one you need.

Options, four lines:

Call BE = Strike + Premium
Put  BE = Strike - Premium
Debit  spread: max loss = net premium; max gain = strike diff - net premium
Credit spread: max gain = net premium; max loss = strike diff - net premium

Margin, three lines:

Long  EQ = MV - DR      Long  call price  = DR / 0.75
Short EQ = CR - MV      Short call price  = CR / 1.30
Reg T 50%  |  Maint 25% long / 30% short  |  Min equity $2,000

Bonds and munis, three lines:

Current Yield = Annual Interest / Market Price
TEY = Muni Yield / (1 - Tax Bracket)
Discount: Coupon < CY < YTM < YTC   (premium reverses)

The T-chart. Draw one empty two-column box labeled DR and CR. Every multi-leg options question goes into it: money out on the left, money in on the right. It is worth more than any formula you can memorize.

---

Options: The 73% Inside the 73%

The Four Single Positions

Two shortcuts hide in that table. For the long put, max gain and breakeven are the same number. For the short put, max loss and breakeven are the same number. That is two fewer things to memorize.

Buyers pay, so buyers have limited risk. Sellers collect, so sellers accept the greater risk. When a question strands you, start there.

Stock Plus Option: The Four Combined Positions

Most cram sheets stop at covered calls and protective puts. The exam does not. Note that once stock is in the position, every breakeven is measured from the stock cost, not the strike.

Think of the two protective positions as insurance. You buy the option pointing the way you are afraid the market will move: long stock and worried about a fall, buy a put; short stock and worried about a rise, buy a call. The premium is the cost of the policy.

Collar: long stock + long put + short call. Caps both ends and is often structured at zero net cost. Own 100 shares at $50, buy the 45 put for $2, sell the 55 call for $2: max loss $500, max gain $500, net premium zero.

In the Money, Intrinsic Value, Time Value

$\text{Premium} = \text{Intrinsic Value} + \text{Time Value}$

Intrinsic value is what the option is worth if exercised right now and can never be negative. The floor is zero, never a minus number. Call intrinsic = Market - Strike when positive; put intrinsic = Strike - Market when positive.

Spreads: Identify Before You Calculate

A spread is buying and selling the same type of option (both calls or both puts) on the same underlying. Before you touch a formula, answer one question: did money leave the account or enter it?

Every spread has exactly one side equal to the plain net premium and one side equal to strike difference minus net premium. Debit spreads pay the net premium as the max loss; credit spreads keep the net premium as the max gain. There is no third possibility.

Breakeven, two mnemonics instead of four formulas:

• Call spreads: add to the LOWER strike.
• Put spreads: subtract from the HIGHER strike.

Which way you want it to move: count the letters. DEBIT and WIDEN are both five letters. CREDIT and NARROW are both six. Paid to get in, you want the spread to widen and the contract exercised. Paid on the way in, you want it to narrow and expire worthless.

Worked example. Buy 1 XYZ 50 call at 5, sell 1 XYZ 60 call at 2. Net debit $3.

• Max loss = $3 x 100 = $300 (the net premium, because it is a debit)
• Max gain = ($60 - $50) - $3 = $7 x 100 = $700
• Breakeven = $50 + $3 = $53 (call spread, add to the lower strike)

Flip it to a credit put spread with the same strikes and premiums and the $300 and $700 simply swap sides.

Vertical, Horizontal, Diagonal

Straddles and Strangles

A straddle has two breakevens because it profits from a move in either direction, and the most common error on the exam is answering with only one of them. Use the total premium of both legs, not the call premium alone.

Buy the straddle when you expect a big move and do not know the direction. Sell it when you expect the stock to sit still. The strangle is the cheaper version that needs a bigger move to pay off.

Example. Buy 1 XYZ 50 call at 4 and 1 XYZ 50 put at 3. Total premium $7. Max loss $700 if the stock closes exactly at $50. Breakevens $57 and $43.

Exercise, Assignment, and Expiration

• The OCC issues, guarantees, and standardizes every listed option, and assigns exercise notices to clearing firms at random.
• One equity contract = 100 shares.
• Listed equity options expire on the third Friday of the expiration month. Trading in the expiring series ends at 4:00 pm ET that Friday; the customer exercise cut-off runs later, to 5:30 pm ET.
• Automatic exercise applies to any option $0.01 or more in the money at expiration unless the customer files do-not-exercise instructions.
• American style can be exercised any time before expiration; European style only at expiration. Most equity options are American; broad-based index options are usually European and settle in cash.

Account paperwork: the Options Disclosure Document must be delivered at or before account approval, and the signed options agreement must come back within 15 days of approval. Trading may begin once the account is approved; it is the signed agreement that has the 15-day clock.

---

Margin

The Two Equations

$\text{Equity (Long)} = \text{Market Value} - \text{Debit Balance}$

$\text{Equity (Short)} = \text{Credit Balance} - \text{Market Value}$

Margin Call Shortcuts

Rather than testing values until one breaks, solve for the price directly.

$\text{Long account, call at} = \frac{\text{Debit Balance}}{1 - 0.25} = \frac{\text{DR}}{0.75}$

$\text{Short account, call at} = \frac{\text{Credit Balance}}{1 + 0.30} = \frac{\text{CR}}{1.30}$

Long example. Buy $20,000 of stock on margin. Reg T deposit $10,000, debit balance $10,000. The account goes into maintenance call when market value falls to $10,000 / 0.75 = $13,333. At a market value of $12,000: equity is $12,000 - $10,000 = $2,000, the requirement is 25% x $12,000 = $3,000, so the call is $1,000.

Short example. Sell short $20,000. Credit balance = $20,000 proceeds + $10,000 Reg T = $30,000. The call comes when market value rises to $30,000 / 1.30 = $23,077. At $24,000: equity is $30,000 - $24,000 = $6,000, requirement 30% x $24,000 = $7,200, call = $1,200.

SMA and Restricted Accounts

• SMA is a line of credit, not cash. It is created when equity exceeds the Reg T requirement, and it equals 50% of any increase in market value.
• Buying power = SMA x 2.
• SMA does not disappear when the market drops. This is tested constantly.
• A restricted account is one where equity has fallen below Reg T but is still above maintenance. No margin call is issued, but new purchases need a deposit, and on any sale the retention requirement sends 50% of the proceeds to SMA while 50% reduces the debit.

Cash Accounts and the Payment Period

Reg T defines the payment period as the standard settlement cycle plus two business days. Under T+1 that is T+3. Miss it and the firm must promptly sell out the position, then apply a 90-day freeze during which the customer must have cash in the account before any order is accepted. Firms may disregard shortfalls of $1,000 or less.

---

Municipal Securities

GO Versus Revenue

GO analysis: assessed valuation, tax collection rate, debt per capita, debt as a percentage of assessed value, overlapping debt, population trends, economic diversity.

Revenue analysis: feasibility study, debt service coverage ratio, rate covenant, flow of funds, additional bonds test, maintenance covenant.

Flow of funds. Gross revenue pledge pays debt service before operations. Net revenue pledge pays operations first, then debt service. Net is far more common, and it is the one that sounds backwards, which is exactly why it is tested.

Municipal Tax Treatment

$\text{Tax-Equivalent Yield} = \frac{\text{Municipal Yield}}{1 - \text{Tax Bracket}}$

• 4% muni, 22% bracket: 4 / 0.78 = 5.13%
• 4% muni, 32% bracket: 4 / 0.68 = 5.88%
• 4% muni, 37% bracket: 4 / 0.63 = 6.35%

MSRB Rules Worth Twenty Seconds Each

The MSRB writes the rules for municipal dealers, banks, and municipal advisors but has no enforcement power. The SEC and FINRA enforce them.

Rule G-37 in one paragraph. A contribution by a municipal finance professional to an official of an issuer triggers a two-year ban on the dealer engaging in negotiated municipal securities business with that issuer. The exception is a de minimis contribution of $250 or less per election, and only to a candidate the MFP is personally entitled to vote for. The MFP designation follows the person for one year after the last activity or position that gave rise to it. Contributions made before becoming an MFP can still count: the look-back runs two years for solicitors and primary MFPs, and six months for municipal finance principals, supervisory-chain persons, and executive officers.

Municipal Terms

---

Corporate Securities

Bond Seniority

Convertible Math

$\text{Conversion Ratio} = \frac{\text{Par Value}}{\text{Conversion Price}}$

$\text{Parity Price of Bond} = \text{Stock Price} \times \text{Conversion Ratio}$

$\text{Parity Price of Stock} = \frac{\text{Bond Price}}{\text{Conversion Ratio}}$

Example. A $1,000 bond convertible at $50 gives a conversion ratio of 20 shares. With the stock at $60, bond parity is 20 x $60 = $1,200. With the bond trading at $1,100, stock parity is $1,100 / 20 = $55.

Preferred Stock and Corporate Actions

Total market value and total cost basis are unchanged in every case. Only the per-share numbers move.

Common stock rights: vote (typically one vote per share), receive dividends if declared, preemptive rights to maintain proportional ownership, inspect the books, and a residual claim on assets in liquidation, which is last in line behind every creditor and preferred holder.

---

Investment Companies

$\text{NAV} = \frac{\text{Total Assets} - \text{Liabilities}}{\text{Shares Outstanding}}$

$\text{POP} = \text{NAV} + \text{Sales Charge} \qquad \text{Sales Charge \%} = \frac{\text{POP} - \text{NAV}}{\text{POP}}$

Note the denominator: the sales charge percentage is a percentage of POP, not of NAV. Getting that backwards is a favorite distractor.

Breakpoints are volume discounts on the sales charge. A Letter of Intent locks in a breakpoint for purchases over the next 13 months and may be backdated up to 90 days. Rights of accumulation let existing holdings count toward the next breakpoint with no time limit. Steering a client just below a breakpoint to earn a higher commission is a breakpoint sale, and it is a violation.

---

Variable Products

Investment risk sits with the contract owner, not the insurer. Surrender charges typically run about seven years, and withdrawals before age 59 1/2 add a 10% penalty on the taxable portion.

Variable life has a fixed scheduled premium and a guaranteed minimum death benefit. Variable universal life has flexible premiums and a flexible death benefit but no guaranteed minimum.

---

Direct Participation Programs

• Flow-through taxation. Income, losses, deductions, and credits pass through to the partners; the partnership itself pays no tax.
• Limited partners have liability limited to their investment and must stay passive. Take part in management and you can lose the limited-liability shield.
• General partner has unlimited liability and manages the program.
• Illiquid. There is no meaningful secondary market.

Tax items: intangible drilling costs are deductible in the year incurred, depletion is available under the cost or percentage method, and at-risk rules cap deductions at the amount the investor genuinely has at risk. Passive losses offset passive income only.

Suitability: DPPs fit high-bracket investors with long horizons who can tolerate total illiquidity, and they are frequently sold only to accredited investors. A retiree who needs income and access to capital is the classic wrong answer.

---

Customer Accounts and Retirement

UGMA and UTMA details worth a point: one custodian and one minor per account, the minor is the beneficial owner and the account uses the minor's Social Security number, gifts are irrevocable, the account cannot be margined, and it must be registered in cash. The custodianship ends at the state's age of termination, typically 18 or 21 under UGMA and commonly 21 under UTMA, with some states permitting a later age.

Retirement Plans

2026 Contribution Limits

New for 2026: under SECURE 2.0, a catch-up eligible participant whose 2025 FICA wages from the plan sponsor exceeded $150,000 must make all catch-up contributions as Roth contributions. The IRS indexed that threshold up from the statutory $145,000 in Notice 2025-67. The rule covers 401(k), 403(b), and governmental 457(b) plans. It does not apply to SIMPLE IRAs or SEPs. If the plan has no Roth feature, an affected participant cannot make catch-up contributions at all.

RMDs begin at age 73 and rise to 75 in 2033. The penalty for a missed RMD is 25%, cut to 10% if corrected inside the correction window.

Penalty exceptions before 59 1/2: death, disability, substantially equal periodic payments, medical expenses above 7.5% of AGI, and for IRAs a $10,000 first-time home purchase, qualified higher education, and health insurance premiums while unemployed. The age 55 separation from service exception applies to qualified plans, not to IRAs.

---

Suitability and Reg BI

Two Standards, Two Audiences

Regulation Best Interest is the SEC standard and it governs recommendations to retail customers. FINRA Rule 2111 still applies where Reg BI does not, principally to institutional and non-retail accounts.

Form CRS length is a favorite trap. A standalone broker-dealer or investment adviser is limited to two pages. Only a dual registrant combining both businesses into one summary may run to four pages. It must be plain English, delivered at or before the relationship begins, updated within 30 days of a material change, and posted publicly.

Rule 2111's Three Suitability Obligations

1. Reasonable-basis. The product is suitable for at least some investors, and you understand it.
2. Customer-specific. It is suitable for this particular customer's profile.
3. Quantitative. The series of recommendations is not excessive. This is the churning test.

The Customer Profile

Automatic wrong answers: municipal bonds inside an IRA, a variable annuity inside an IRA sold for the tax deferral, a DPP for someone who needs liquidity, concentrated positions for a conservative investor, and anything speculative for a retiree living on the account.

---

Regulations

The Four Acts

FINRA Rules

The 5% policy is a guideline, not a rule. It applies to markups, markdowns, and commissions in secondary-market transactions, and it takes account of price, order size, availability, and the type of security. It does not apply to securities sold with a prospectus: mutual funds, new issues, DPPs, and variable contracts.

Rule 144: Restricted and Control Securities

Exempt Offerings

Accredited investor: $200,000 individual income or $300,000 joint for the last two years with a reasonable expectation of the same this year, or $1 million net worth excluding the primary residence. Since 2020 the definition also captures individuals holding a Series 7, 65, or 82 in good standing. Passing this exam makes you one.

---

Trading and Settlement

Buy stops and sell limits sit above the market; sell stops and buy limits sit below it.

Settlement

T+1 has been the standard cycle since May 28, 2024.

The Ex-Dividend Trap

This is the change that catches candidates working from older material. Under the old T+2 cycle the ex-dividend date fell one business day before the record date. Under T+1, FINRA Rule 11140 sets the ex-date on the record date itself.

• Buy before the record date and you settle in time to be a holder of record, so you receive the dividend.
• Buy on the record date, which is now the ex-date, and you do not.
• For a large distribution of 25% or more of the value of the security, the ex-date instead falls the first business day after the payable date.
• The stock price typically opens lower by roughly the dividend amount on the ex-date.

---

Economics

Loosen by cutting rates and buying securities. Tighten by raising rates and selling securities.

---

Taxes

Capital Gains, 2026

Add the 3.8% net investment income tax above modified AGI of $200,000 single or $250,000 joint, which puts the top effective long-term rate at 23.8%.

Rules That Get Tested Every Time

Wash sale. A loss is disallowed if a substantially identical security is bought within 30 days before or after the sale, a 61-day window in total. The disallowed loss is added to the basis of the replacement shares and the holding period carries over. Calls and convertible bonds on the same stock can count as substantially identical; a bond of a different issuer does not.

Cost basis methods. FIFO by default, specific identification if elected at the time of sale, average cost for mutual fund shares.

Gifted versus inherited securities. This pair is a reliable exam question.

The 2026 annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient, and the basic estate and gift exclusion is $15 million.

Municipal interest is federally exempt, state-exempt in the issuing state, and any capital gain is always taxable. Original issue discount on a muni is accreted annually and that accretion is treated as tax-exempt interest; market discount is ordinary income.

Non-qualified annuities distribute on a LIFO basis, so earnings come out first and are ordinary income. The exclusion ratio determines the tax-free return-of-premium portion once annuitized.

---

Prohibited Practices

Information barriers, the term that replaced "Chinese wall," separate investment banking from trading and research so that material non-public information cannot cross. Firms must maintain and enforce written policies, watch lists, and restricted lists.

Sharing in a customer account requires prior written approval from both the customer and the firm, and the registered representative's participation must be proportionate to their capital contribution. The narrow exception is a joint account with an immediate family member.

---

Anti-Money Laundering

Never tell the customer a SAR was filed. Disclosure is itself a violation, and the confidentiality rule applies even to a subpoena, which the firm must decline while notifying FinCEN.

Red flags: structuring deposits just below $10,000, refusing to give identifying information, wire activity to or from high-risk jurisdictions, third-party deposits, and accounts with no apparent business purpose.

---

Underwriting and the Primary Market

Sequence: due diligence, registration statement filed, a cooling-off period of at least 20 days, red herring circulated (indications of interest only, no sales, no price), effective date, then the final prospectus with the price.

During the cooling-off period you may not send research, advertising, or a sales confirmation. You may send a preliminary prospectus and take non-binding indications of interest.

Stabilization may be entered at or below the public offering price and never above it. Only the managing underwriter may stabilize, and the bid must be disclosed in the prospectus.

---

Money Market and Government Securities

Treasury interest is exempt from state and local tax but fully taxable federally, the mirror image of a municipal bond.

Only GNMA carries the explicit full faith and credit of the United States. That single line is worth a point on most exams.

---

Odds and Ends That Still Show Up

These are the topics candidates skip and then meet on the exam. Each is worth about a minute of review.

Bond Quote Conventions

Accrued Interest Day Counts

The buyer pays the seller accrued interest from the last coupon date up to but not including settlement.

$\text{Accrued Interest} = \text{Par} \times \text{Coupon Rate} \times \frac{\text{Days}}{360 \text{ or } 365}$

Settlement is T+1, so the day count runs to the business day after the trade.

Rights and Warrants

$\text{Rights value, cum rights} = \frac{\text{Market Price} - \text{Subscription Price}}{N + 1}$

$\text{Rights value, ex rights} = \frac{\text{Market Price} - \text{Subscription Price}}{N}$

N is the number of rights needed to buy one new share. The "+1" appears only while the stock still trades with the right attached.

ADRs

American Depositary Receipts are negotiable receipts for foreign shares held on deposit by a U.S. bank. They trade in dollars and settle domestically, dividends are declared in the foreign currency and converted, and the holder carries currency risk and typically has no voting rights and no preemptive rights. Foreign withholding tax is usually deducted at source, and a U.S. holder may claim a foreign tax credit.

CMOs

A collateralized mortgage obligation carves mortgage cash flow into tranches. Principal repays sequentially: tranche A is retired first, then B, then C. Consequences that get tested:

• Early tranches carry the least extension risk and the shortest average life.
• Prepayment risk rises when rates fall and homeowners refinance; extension risk rises when rates rise and prepayments slow.
• A PAC tranche has a companion tranche absorbing prepayment variability, so the PAC has the more predictable schedule. A TAC protects against prepayment risk only.
• Z-tranches accrue interest and pay last, so they are the most volatile.
• Interest is taxable at federal, state, and local level.

Municipal New-Issue Order Priority

Syndicate orders fill in a set order, and the mnemonic is the whole question:

1. Pre-sale orders, entered before the syndicate wins the bid
2. Group net orders, credited to the whole syndicate
3. Designated orders, where the buyer names which members get credit
4. Member orders, filled for the member's own account

Pre-sale and group net come first because they benefit the entire syndicate.

---

Analysis and Portfolio Concepts

Systematic risk is market risk and cannot be diversified away. Unsystematic risk is company or industry specific and can be. Correlation runs from -1 to +1, and diversification only helps to the extent assets are less than perfectly correlated.

Technical terms: support is where buying appears, resistance is where selling appears, a head and shoulders top is a bearish reversal, and a breakout through resistance on rising volume is bullish. Technical analysts study price and volume; fundamental analysts study the company.

---

Communications With the Public

Prohibited in any communication: guarantees against loss, predictions or projections of performance, exaggerated or unwarranted claims, omission of material facts, and cherry-picked past performance without context. Past performance must state that it does not guarantee future results.

---

The Traps That Actually Cost Points

1. Debit spread max loss. It is the net premium paid, not the difference in strikes. Credit spread max gain is the net premium received. Every spread has one plain-net-premium side and one strike-difference-minus-premium side.

2. Missing a straddle's second breakeven. Two breakevens, always, and use the combined premium.

3. Reg T versus maintenance. Reg T's 50% is the initial deposit. The maintenance call comes at 25% long or 30% short. A restricted account is not a margin call.

4. SMA does not evaporate. It is a line of credit. A falling market does not erase it.

5. The ex-date is the record date. Under T+1 they are the same day. If your practice bank still says "one business day before," the practice bank is stale.

6. Short options. A naked short call has unlimited risk. A short put's risk stops at the strike minus the premium, because the stock stops at zero.

7. GO versus revenue backing. GO is taxes. Revenue is the project. A toll, a hospital fee, or a water bill is revenue backing, never a GO.

8. Municipal capital gains are taxable. The interest is federally exempt. The gain never is.

9. General partner liability is unlimited. Limited partners are capped at their investment, and lose that protection if they take part in management.

10. Form CRS page limits. Two pages for a standalone firm. Four only for a dual registrant.

11. Sales charge percentage uses POP. The denominator is the public offering price, not NAV.

12. Intrinsic value has a floor of zero. It is never negative. Out of the money means zero intrinsic value, not a negative one.

---

Your Final 48 Hours

Two days out. Take one full-length timed practice exam under real conditions. Then review only the questions you got wrong, and write down why you missed each one: knowledge gap, misread, or arithmetic. Three-quarters of them will be the last two, and those you can fix tonight.

The day before, until noon. Work your missed-question list and the options tables above. Nothing new. Learning a new topic in the last 24 hours displaces something you already know.

The day before, after noon. Stop. Reproduce the two-minute dump sheet from memory on a dry-erase board twice. Then close everything. Confirm your appointment time and location, put your government-issued photo ID somewhere you cannot forget it, and go to bed early. Cramming past the point of diminishing returns costs more points than it gains.

Exam morning. Eat something. Arrive 30 minutes early. Leave your phone, watch, notes, and calculator in the car or the locker, because none of them come into the room.

First two minutes. Write the dump sheet before item one.

During. Answer everything, because there is no guessing penalty. Flag and move on anything that runs past two minutes; there is always an easier item further down. On review, only change an answer if you can articulate a concrete reason, not a feeling.

You have done the work. Go collect the points you already own.

---

Sources

• FINRA Series 7 exam page and the Series 7 Content Outline (October 2025 posting, copyright 2025 FINRA): item counts, job-function weights, time limit, fee, and passing score
• FINRA Regulatory Notice 26-05: Rule 3220 gift limit increase to $300, effective March 30, 2026
• MSRB Rule G-20 and MSRB Notice 2026-04: gift limit increase to $300, operative June 1, 2026 for FINRA-member dealers
• MSRB Rule G-37: $250 de minimis contribution and the two-year ban
• FINRA Rule 11140 as amended for T+1, effective May 28, 2024: ex-dividend date determination
• Prometric FINRA exam policies: note boards, markers, and calculator provision
• IRS 2026 retirement plan limits and IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32: contribution limits, capital gains thresholds, gift tax exclusion
• 12 CFR Part 220 (Regulation T) and 31 CFR 1023.320 (broker-dealer SAR rule)

Good luck. Go pass it.