Series 10 study plan: A 4-week schedule, week by week

You can prepare for the Series 10 in about four weeks at an hour a day. Spend the first two weeks working through the six chapters of Achievable’s Series 10 course, from supervision and registrations to the federal rules. Then take the course’s three full-length practice exams about five days apart, using the days between them to review what each one turned up. The plan below lays that out week by week, using the same time estimates as the study planner in our app.

The 4-week Series 10 study plan at a glance

Each week’s time covers reading, the review questions at the end of each section, and the practice exams, all at the planner’s estimates. Each full practice exam is 145 questions with 4 hours on the clock, the same as the real exam.

Week-by-week breakdown

Week 1: Supervision, registrations and client issues

Start with the introduction and chapter 1, the longest in the course. It covers supervising people (hiring and associating representatives, their working lives and outside activities), supervising the firm (record retention, supervising representatives, and unethical and prohibited activities) and sales supervision. Chapter 2 covers registrations: Forms U4 and U5, the registration categories and the exemptions. Then start chapter 3 on client issues: communications with the public, account types (single and multiple owner, and retirement accounts) and orders. Answer the review questions at the end of each section, and read the explanation for any you miss.

Week 2: Products, margin and federal rules

Finish chapter 3 with confirmations, and know-your-customer and suitability rules. Chapter 4 reviews investment products, from basic and complex securities to investment companies, open-end funds and ETFs, and chapter 5 covers margin accounts and the margin math. Chapter 6 covers the federal rules and regulations: the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Nasdaq and OTC markets, MSRB rules, Regulation NMS, additional FINRA, SEC and NYSE rules, and the Codes of Procedure and Arbitration. At the end of the week, take your first full practice exam in a single, timed 4-hour session, as on test day.

Week 3: Review and the second practice exam

Spend the first days going back through every question you missed or guessed on in the first exam, and reread the sections they came from. Thirty to sixty minutes a day is enough. Then take the second full practice exam, about five days after the first, and review it the same way.

Week 4: The third practice exam and final review

Take the third practice exam about five days after the second. Your results across the three show where you’re consistently losing points; give those sections your last review sessions. When your scores sit comfortably above the 70% passing mark, rather than just reaching it, you’re ready to book or keep your test date.

How the plan is built

The course’s work comes to about 27 hours: about 12 hours of reading, including the review questions at the end of each section, and about 14 hours for the three practice exams, at the planner’s estimate of each exam’s 4-hour time limit plus a fifth for reviewing your answers. Over four weeks, that averages about an hour a day. The reading weeks run at about an hour a day; the practice exam days are long, nearly 5 hours with review, so put them on days off.

The Series 10 course has three fixed practice exam forms rather than an unlimited bank, so the plan spaces them out. Each one tells you more when you’ve reviewed the last one properly. If you’re also preparing for the Series 9, or it’s been a few years since your Series 7, give yourself more time: see our guide to preparing for the Series 9 and 10.

Adjust the plan to your schedule

Four weeks at about an hour a day leaves room for a full-time job, but the plan stretches or shrinks:

• More time: at 30 to 45 minutes a day, the reading takes about three weeks; keep the last two weeks for the practice exams and review.
• Less time: at 2 hours a day, you can read the course in a week and take the three exams over the next ten days.
• Weekends only: read on weekends for three or four weeks, then take one practice exam each weekend.
• Taking the Series 9 too: you need both exams for the General Securities Sales Supervisor registration. The Series 9 study plan covers the options half in another four weeks.
• Practice scores stuck below passing: add a week or two. Reread the chapters behind most of your missed questions before your next exam.

The last few days before the exam

Don’t start new material in the last two or three days. Go back over your notes on the questions you missed across the three practice exams, and get a full night’s sleep before a 4-hour exam. The day before, confirm your appointment: the test center or online setup, the ID you need, and the time. You’ll see your result on screen when you finish.

Build your own Series 10 plan in Achievable’s study planner

This calendar is a fixed version of what the study planner in Achievable’s Series 10 course does for you. Enter your exam date and choose which days you’ll study (every day, weekdays or weekends), and it lays out every textbook section and practice exam across those days, with a time estimate for each. As you check tasks off, it shows whether you’re on track for your date, and you can print the plan.

The course includes the online textbook with review questions in every section, and the three full-length practice exams. You can also try a free Series 10 practice exam before you start.

About the Series 10 exam

The Series 10 exam is the general half of FINRA’s General Securities Sales Supervisor qualification. It has 145 scored multiple-choice questions plus 10 unscored ones, you have 4 hours, and the passing score is 70. The SIE and Series 7 are corequisites, you also need the Series 9 for the registration, and you need a sponsoring FINRA member firm to take it. The questions come from four supervisory functions:

• Supervise sales practices and general trading activities: 36% (52 questions)
• Supervise the opening and maintenance of customer accounts: 34% (49 questions)
• Supervise associated persons and personnel management activities: 19% (28 questions)
• Supervise communications with the public: 11% (16 questions)

See our Series 10 exam information page for more, and FINRA’s page on scheduling your exam when you’re ready.

Key takeaways

• Four weeks at about an hour a day is enough to prepare for the Series 10 if your Series 7 knowledge is current.
• Spend two weeks on the six chapters, with the most time on supervision and the federal rules.
• Take the three full-length practice exams about five days apart, and review each one before the next.
• Book your test once your practice scores are comfortably above 70%.
• Achievable’s study planner builds this kind of plan around your own exam date and study days.