This free Series 6 cheat sheet distills FINRA's Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative exam into a printable rundown of the facts that show up most often. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Reinforce it with the rest of your free Series 6 toolkit — the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
Series 6 exam at a glance
- Questions: 50 scored + 10 pretest = 60 total
- Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Passing score: 70%
- Cost: $40 — sponsor (FINRA firm) required
What’s on the Series 6 cheat sheet
- Seeks Business for the Broker-Dealer (12%) — prospecting, communications with the public, and advertising and sales-literature rules.
- Opens Accounts & Evaluates Customers (8%) — gathering the financial profile, investment objectives, and required account documentation.
- Provides Information, Recommends & Maintains Records (73%) — the core section — mutual funds, variable annuities, suitability, and recordkeeping.
- Obtains & Verifies Instructions, Processes Transactions (7%) — confirming orders, processing purchases and redemptions, and completing transactions.
How to use it in your final week
- Print it and keep it beside your practice tests — review the sheet, then immediately drill the domain you just reviewed so the facts stick.
- Front-load Provides Information, Recommends & Maintains Records (73% of the exam) — mutual funds, variable contracts, and suitability. If you only master one section from the sheet, make it this one.
- Read the sheet the morning of the exam for a final pass on the memory hooks — forward pricing at NAV, breakpoints, letters of intent and rights of accumulation, and what a variable annuity does and doesn't guarantee.
- Don't cram in isolation — pair each review pass with a short timed practice set to keep your pacing sharp (50 scored questions in 90 minutes ≈ 1.8 min each).
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your Series 6 practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
Series 6 cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the Series 6 cheat sheet is 100% free — enter your email and we'll send the PDF straight to your inbox. It's part of Career Employer's free Series 6 toolkit alongside the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
The cheat sheet condenses the highest-yield Series 6 facts into a quick reference: mutual fund pricing and forward pricing at NAV, breakpoints and letters of intent, variable annuities and variable life, suitability, and recordkeeping — organized by FINRA's four exam functions and their weightings, with Function 3 alone making up 73%.
It's built from FINRA's current Series 6 (Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative) content outline, and we review it against that outline regularly so the facts and section weightings stay accurate.
No — the cheat sheet is a review and last-week cram aid, not a substitute for practice. The Series 6 requires a 70% to pass, and the best predictor of passing is scoring 70%+ on realistic practice tests, so use the cheat sheet to reinforce facts and the practice exam to build your readiness.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page, enter your email, and we'll send your cheat sheet straight to your inbox — read it online or download the PDF. Bookmark this page so you can find it again in your final week of studying.
References
- 1.FINRA. “Series 6 – Investment Company and Variable Contracts Products Representative Exam.” FINRA.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.FINRA. “Series 6 Content Outline.” FINRA.org, 2026. ↑
Career Employer
Career Employer is the ultimate resource to help you get started working the job of your dreams. We cover topics from general career information, career searching, exam preparation with free study materials, career interviewing, and becoming successful in your career of choice.
All PostsCareer Employer’s Editorial Process
Here at Career Employer, we focus a lot on providing factually accurate information that is always up to date. We strive to provide correct information using strict editorial processes, article editing, and fact-checking for all of the information found on our website. We only utilize trustworthy and relevant resources. To find out more, make sure to read our full editorial process page here.