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Free SIE Practice Questions (2026) — 10 Sample Q&As Explained

The Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam comes down to four published numbers every candidate should know cold before test day: 75 scored questions, 1 hour and 45 minutes (105 minutes) of testing time, a 70% passing score, and an $80 exam fee. The ten practice questions below drill exactly those figures — including the scoring arithmetic that trips up more candidates than any securities concept: how many questions you can miss and still pass.

How to use these questions

Answer each question before reading the explanation, and treat every wrong choice as information — the distractors here mimic the traps real exam writers use. The set deliberately repeats the passing-threshold calculation in two forms (Questions 3 and 7), because it is the one computation you will want automatic on exam day. And keep pacing in mind as you work: the real exam allows 105 minutes for 75 questions, an average of 1.4 minutes — 84 seconds — per question.

10 SIE practice questions with worked explanations

Question 1: Budgeting for the exam fee

A candidate is budgeting for the SIE exam. What is the exam fee they should expect to pay?

  1. $60
  2. $80
  3. $100
  4. $120

Answer: B — $80. The SIE exam fee is $80. The other amounts are plausible-looking distractors but do not match the published fee. Note the pattern: wrong choices are built to resemble fees you might half-remember, which is why exact recall of published figures matters.

Question 2: How many scored questions?

How many scored questions does a candidate answer on the SIE exam?

  1. 50 questions
  2. 65 questions
  3. 75 questions
  4. 85 questions

Answer: C — 75 questions. The SIE exam consists of 75 scored questions. This number anchors every scoring calculation that follows in this set, so commit it to memory alongside the 70% passing standard.

Question 3: The minimum number of correct answers to pass

To pass the SIE exam at the required 70% threshold, what is the minimum number of scored questions a candidate must answer correctly?

  1. 50 questions
  2. 53 questions
  3. 60 questions
  4. 70 questions

Answer: B — 53 questions. With 75 scored questions and a 70% passing requirement, 0.70 × 75 = 52.5. You cannot answer half a question correctly, so round up: at least 53 correct answers are needed. Answering only 52 correctly works out to roughly 69.3%, just under the line. Put another way, you can miss up to 22 questions (75 − 53 = 22) and still pass.

Question 4: Converting the exam duration to minutes

The published SIE exam duration is stated as "1 hour and 45 minutes." Expressed entirely in minutes, this equals:

  1. 95 minutes
  2. 105 minutes
  3. 115 minutes
  4. 145 minutes

Answer: B — 105 minutes. One hour is 60 minutes, and 60 + 45 = 105 minutes. The 145-minute distractor is the classic trap of gluing the "1" and the "45" together instead of converting the hour. The conversion matters for pacing: 105 minutes across 75 questions leaves an average of 84 seconds per question.

Question 5: Scoring exactly 70%

A candidate scored exactly 70% on the SIE exam. Based on the passing standard, what is the outcome?

  1. Fail — 70% is below the threshold
  2. Pass — 70% meets the required threshold
  3. The result is pending manual review
  4. Fail — a higher score is required

Answer: B — the candidate passes. A score of 70% is required to pass, and that threshold is inclusive: scoring exactly 70% meets the requirement. Choice C invents a manual-review step that appears nowhere in the scoring rule, and choices A and D both misread "required to pass" as "must be exceeded."

Question 6: Fees for two candidates

Two candidates each pay the SIE exam fee to register. What is the combined total they pay in fees?

  1. $80
  2. $120
  3. $160
  4. $200

Answer: C — $160. The SIE exam fee is $80 per candidate, so two candidates pay 2 × $80 = $160. Choice A is the single-candidate fee — a reminder to reread the stem for quantities before answering, a habit that pays off on the real exam's scenario questions.

Question 7: The passing threshold, revisited

The SIE exam contains 75 scored questions and requires a score of 70% to pass. What is the minimum number of scored questions a candidate must answer correctly to meet the passing threshold?

  1. 50 questions
  2. 53 questions
  3. 56 questions
  4. 60 questions

Answer: B — 53 questions. This is the same calculation as Question 3 with different distractors: 70% of 75 scored questions is 52.5, which rounds up to 53. Notice that this version hands you both inputs directly in the stem — the skill being tested is combining two published figures into one derived number. If you answered Question 3 correctly but hesitated here, drill the arithmetic until 53 is automatic.

Question 8: The sitting fee, one more time

What is the fee to sit for the SIE exam?

  1. $60
  2. $80
  3. $100
  4. $120

Answer: B — $80. This is the same fact as Question 1, asked without the budgeting scenario. Knowing the registration cost is part of understanding the practical logistics of pursuing securities qualifications — and a direct fact-recall item like this is a gift on exam day. Bank it in seconds and spend the saved time on calculation questions.

Question 9: Is 60 correct out of 75 a pass?

A candidate answers 60 of the SIE's 75 scored questions correctly. Given the 70% passing requirement, what is the outcome?

  1. Fail — 60 correct is below the passing threshold
  2. Pass — 60 correct exceeds the passing threshold
  3. The result cannot be determined from the information given
  4. Pass only if the unscored questions are also correct

Answer: B — the candidate passes. 60 ÷ 75 = 0.80, or 80%, comfortably above the 70% requirement. Choice D fails on the stem's own wording: the outcome is computed from the scored questions, which is exactly what the 75-question count refers to. Choice C is wrong because the stem supplies everything needed — the raw score, the total, and the threshold.

Question 10: The minimum passing score

An applicant is preparing to sit for the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam. What is the minimum overall score required to pass?

  1. 65%
  2. 70%
  3. 72%
  4. 75%

Answer: B — 70%. A score of 70% is required to pass the SIE exam. The 75% distractor deserves a second look: 75 is also the number of scored questions, and exam writers love reusing a true number in the wrong slot. When a familiar figure shows up in an answer choice, confirm it belongs to the quantity actually being asked about.

The one calculation to memorize

Questions 3, 7, and 9 all lean on the same two published figures — 75 scored questions and the 70% passing standard. The chain to internalize: 0.70 × 75 = 52.5, round up to 53 correct answers, which leaves at most 22 misses. If "53 to pass, 22 to spare" is automatic, every scoring question in this set becomes instant, and you will walk into the exam knowing precisely what your margin for error is.

Take a full-length practice test next

Ten questions confirm you know the exam's published logistics; they do not simulate 105 minutes of sustained focus. When you are ready, take a full free SIE practice test to rehearse pacing at the real 84-seconds-per-question rate across all 75 questions.