Series 28 Cheat Sheet.
The night-before summary, built like the exam.

The numbers to remember

• 95 multiple-choice questions total, distributed across four content functions
• 2 hours (120 minutes) time limit for the full exam
• 69% passing score
• $195 exam fee
• No prerequisite, no corequisite exam required to sit for the Series 28
• Must be associated with and sponsored by a FINRA member firm to be eligible
• Failed attempts: 15 calendar days wait to retake (standard); 60 calendar days wait after a third consecutive failure

Content domains and weights

• Function 3 — Net Capital: 31 questions, the single largest function on the exam
• Function 2 — Operations, General Securities Industry Regulations, and Preservation of Books and Records: 30 questions, the second-largest block
• Function 4 — Customer Protection, Funding and Cash Management: 18 questions
• Function 1 — Financial Reporting: 16 questions
• All four functions add up to the full 95-question total — there is no unscored or filler content.

High-yield review areas

• Net capital calculation mechanics — which assets are allowable versus excluded, and the underlying purpose of the requirement: ensuring adequate liquid capital to meet obligations to customers and counterparties.
• Books and records preservation obligations — what records must be kept, in what form, and the broader operational compliance rules tied to day-to-day recordkeeping.
• Customer protection mechanics — how customer funds and securities are safeguarded, alongside how the firm funds itself and manages its own cash position.
• Financial statement preparation and reporting fundamentals, since this function underpins the net capital computations tested in the largest function.
• Practice full computational problems repeatedly rather than just reviewing definitions — net capital and customer reserve math rewards speed built through repetition.

Top traps

• Treating Net Capital and Financial Reporting as unrelated silos — they draw on the same underlying financial-statement knowledge, so weakness in one usually signals a gap in the other.
• Under-practicing computational speed. Net capital and customer reserve questions tend to require multi-step arithmetic, and the fixed 2-hour window leaves little room to work slowly through them.
• Forgetting the sponsorship requirement — you cannot register independently; you must be associated with and sponsored by a FINRA member firm, so confirm this with your firm's registration team well before your target date.
• Miscounting the retake clock — the wait is 15 calendar days after a standard failure but jumps to 60 calendar days after a third consecutive failure, which can derail a rescheduling plan if overlooked.
• Under-weighting Operations and Books and Records because it feels less technical than Net Capital — at 30 questions it is nearly as large and just as scoreable.