Series 7 Exam Changes 2026: What's Different Now

One change to the Series 7 took effect on 27 October 2025: FINRA cut the number of unscored pretest questions from 10 to 5. The exam is now 130 questions on screen instead of 135. Nothing about what is scored, how long you get, or what it takes to pass moved with it.

Does this affect you? Only in what you should expect to see on the day. If your test date is on or after 27 October 2025 you will sit 130 items; material written before it describes 135. If you are also taking the SIE, note that the same change applies there — FINRA announced the reduction for the SIE, the Series 7 and the Series 79 in one notice.

What moved

What did not change

• 125 scored questions. The scored portion is untouched; only unscored items were removed.
• 225 minutes. FINRA stated plainly that the duration of these exams would not change, and it did not.
• 72% to pass. The standard did not move.
• The SIE co-requisite. You still need both the Series 7 and the SIE for the General Securities registration, and the Series 7 still requires a sponsoring firm to register you.
• The content outline's job functions. The exam is still organised around the same four major job functions in the same proportions.

What to study differently

Nothing. This is an administrative change to the number of items FINRA is trialling on your sitting, not a change to the syllabus. A study plan built on the current content outline was correct before 27 October 2025 and is correct now.

The honest read on difficulty is that there is no evidence either way. Five fewer questions that never counted cannot make a scored exam easier, and FINRA has not said the standard moved. Treat anyone telling you the Series 7 got easier in 2026 as someone who has not read the notice.

The one real consequence is pacing: 130 questions in 225 minutes is about 104 seconds each, against about 100 under the old count. Four seconds a question is not a strategy, but it does mean older pacing drills are slightly conservative rather than wrong.

What to check on your own material

Use the question count as a freshness test. A guide that says 135 was written before October 2025, which tells you nothing about whether its content is wrong — but it does tell you nobody has revised that page in a year, and on a securities exam that is worth knowing before you trust its fee figures or its rule references.

The fee is the other number to verify. The Series 7 is $395 and the SIE is $100, so the exam-fee cost of the pair is $495. Any page still quoting the SIE at $80 predates this year's schedule.

Our free Series 7 practice test is built to the current outline. Sitting one is the fastest way to find out whether the material you own is describing the exam you are booked for.