This Series 24 cheat sheet strips FINRA's General Securities Principal exam down to the supervisory rules and numbers examiners test most. 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 24 toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
Series 24 exam at a glance
- Questions: 160 (150 scored + 10 unscored pretest)
- Time: 3 hours 45 minutes (225 minutes)
- Passing score: 70% (about 105 of 150 scored correct)
- Cost: $235 exam fee, paid through your sponsoring FINRA member firm
- Prerequisites: SIE co-requisite plus a rep license (Series 7, 57, 79, or 82) and firm sponsorship
What’s on the Series 24 cheat sheet
- Registration & Personnel (6%, ~9 Qs) — the uniform forms (BD, BR, U4, U5), statutory disqualification, heightened supervision, and Regulatory/Firm Element CE.
- General Broker-Dealer Activities (30%, ~45 Qs) — the 3110/3120/3130 system, net capital 15c3-1, customer protection 15c3-3, books and records, gifts, and discipline — the largest function.
- Customer-Related Activities (21.3%, ~32 Qs) — CIP and AML, SAR vs CTR thresholds, Reg BI and suitability, and communications approval under Rule 2210.
- Trading & Market Making (21.3%, ~32 Qs) — best execution, Regulation SHO and NMS, TRACE and CAT reporting, and the T+1 settlement cycle.
- Investment Banking & Research (21.3%, ~32 Qs) — Securities Act offering periods, the Corporate Financing Rule 5110, new-issue rule 5130, and research information barriers.
How to use it in your final week
- Anchor the three supervision rules cold — 3110 builds the system, 3120 tests it and reports to management, 3130 the CEO certifies it — plus the annual OSJ inspection cadence versus every three years for other branches.
- Front-load Function 2 (30%, about 45 questions): net capital 15c3-1 and customer protection 15c3-3, WORM recordkeeping, the $100 gift limit, and the 4530 reporting deadlines.
- Skim the sheet the morning of the test to lock the number traps — T+1 settlement, same-day 17a-11 early warning, SAR at $5,000 versus CTR over $10,000, and Reg T 50% initial margin.
- Pair each review pass with a short timed practice set so the 3-hour-45-minute clock and the supervisory framing both feel routine on exam day.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your Series 24 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 24 cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the Series 24 cheat sheet downloads as a PDF at no cost and with no sign-up. It sits alongside Career Employer's free General Securities Principal toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
It condenses the supervisory rules FINRA leans on hardest: the 3110/3120/3130 system, net capital and customer protection (15c3-1 and 15c3-3), communications and suitability, trade reporting, and the underwriting and research rules — grouped by the exam's five job functions.
No. The Series 24 tests supervisory judgment on fact patterns, so the sheet is a last-week memory anchor, not a substitute for reading rules and working questions. You need 70% (about 105 of the 150 scored items), which comes from applying rules under our practice test.
It is built from FINRA's current Series 24 content outline and rulebook, including the T+1 settlement cycle and current fee schedule, and we review it against FINRA's outline on a regular cycle.
Click the download button or the preview card at the top of this page and the PDF opens instantly. Bookmark the page so it's easy to find again the week before your Prometric appointment.
References
- 1.FINRA. “Series 24 — General Securities Principal Exam.” FINRA.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.FINRA. “Series 24 Content Outline (General Securities Principal, PDF).” FINRA.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.FINRA. “Rule 3110 — Supervision.” FINRA.org, 2026. ↑
- 4.FINRA. “Schedule of Registration and Examination Fees.” FINRA.org, 2026. ↑
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