STUDY FOR THE SECURITIES INDUSTRY ESSENTIALS EXAM (SIE) EXAM

The Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam is a necessary first step if you plan to sit for many securities exams, including the Series 6 and Series 7 exams. If you do intend to sit for the SIE Exam, make sure that you know about self-regulatory organizations (SRO's), what they are, who they are, and what their purpose is. FINRA publishes a Content Outline for the SIE Exam, and Section 1.1.2 specifically talks about Self-Regulatory Organizations(SRO's), indicating that you should expect to see questions about SRO's on your exam. Bob Eder discusses SRO's in his Study for the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam. Here is a sample of Bob Eder's treatment: Self-Regulatory Organizations                                                      ...

For scoring purposes, the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam is broken into four sections. Section I deals with " Knowledge of the Capital Markets ." There are 12 questions out of 75 dealing with this topic, or 16 percent of the exam. Therefore, you need to know what the capital markets entail. For example, you need to be able to explain the difference between the SEC and the various self-regulatory organizations. When the SIE exam refers to an "SRO," you need to know that it is speaking about a self-regulatory organization, such as FINRA. The SIE asks questions about other securities regulators, such as the North American Securities Administrators Association, or NASAA. Know also about the Securities Investors Protection Corp. and the Federal Reserve, or Fed. We indicate here only a few of the topics covered in the SIE's Knowledge of the Capital Markets. Bob Eder's Study for the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam covers the subject in d...