What Is the FINRA Series 79?
The FINRA Series 79 (Investment Banking Representative Qualification Examination) is a 75-question, 2.5-hour exam that qualifies you to advise on and facilitate securities offerings and corporate transactions: debt and equity underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, and financial restructuring. Passing takes 55 of the 75 scored questions, a 73% bar. It is the standard license for investment banking analysts and associates.
The Series 79 carves the banking job out of the broad Series 7. A banker raising capital and advising on deals does not need to be licensed to sell options to retail customers, and the Series 79 reflects that: it is narrower than the Series 7 and squarely focused on the work an analyst actually does.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Governing Body | FINRA |
| Exam Format | Computer-based, multiple choice |
| Scored Questions | 75 (plus 5 unscored pretest items, 80 on screen) |
| Duration | 2 hours 30 minutes (150 minutes) |
| Passing Score | 73% (55 of 75) |
| Registration Fee | $395 (FINRA, 2026) |
| Prerequisite | SIE exam (corequisite) plus FINRA member firm sponsorship |
Series 79 vs Series 7
Both are FINRA representative licenses, but they map to different jobs. The Series 7 is built for retail brokers: recommending and trading a broad menu of products for clients. The Series 79 is built for investment bankers: capital raising, valuation, due diligence, and deal advisory.
If you are starting in an investment banking analyst or associate role, your firm will almost always register you for the Series 79, not the Series 7. The Series 79 is the license that matches the desk.
Who Takes This Exam?
Typical Series 79 candidates are first-year investment banking analysts, associates, and professionals moving into capital markets, M&A, or restructuring groups. Like the other representative exams, it requires firm sponsorship, so you sit it after a bank hires you, usually during your first months on the desk.
The SIE (Securities Industry Essentials) is a corequisite. Many candidates clear the SIE while still in school or recruiting, since it needs no sponsorship, and then knock out the Series 79 once they start.
Exam Structure and Format
FINRA organizes the Series 79 around the investment banking workflow:
- Collection, analysis, and evaluation of data - financial statements, financial modeling and valuation (DCF, comparable companies, precedent transactions), and due diligence
- Underwriting and new financings (debt and equity offerings) - the registration process, types of offerings, syndicate mechanics, and the regulatory framework around raising capital
- Mergers, acquisitions, tender offers, and financial restructuring - deal structures, fairness opinions, tender-offer rules, and restructuring and reorganization mechanics
The analytical core (modeling, valuation, and the accounting behind it) is where most of the difficulty lives, and it is the part that overlaps most with what you do on the job.
What Topics to Focus On
Financial Modeling and Valuation
Discounted cash flow, comparable company analysis, precedent transaction analysis, and accretion/dilution. Know how each method works and when each is the right lens.
Accounting and Financial Statements
The three statements and how they link, adjustments and normalizations, and the accounting that drives a model. The exam assumes real fluency here.
Underwriting and Securities Offerings
The registration process under the securities laws, types of offerings (IPOs, follow-ons, debt issues), the role of the syndicate, and communications rules during an offering.
Candidates from a pure modeling background often underprepare on the regulatory and offering-process material. The Series 79 is as much a rules exam as a finance exam, and the registration and tender-offer rules carry real weight.
M&A and Restructuring
Deal structures (asset versus stock, mergers versus tender offers), fairness opinions, and the mechanics of financial restructuring and reorganization.
Pass Rates and Difficulty
FINRA does not publish an official Series 79 pass rate, so any figure you see is an estimate. The exam is widely regarded as demanding because it tests genuine investment banking fluency (modeling, valuation, accounting, and the regulatory mechanics of deals) rather than rote recall.
Most candidates prepare in 80 to 120 hours, often compressed into the first weeks on the desk. The highest-leverage prep is working scenario questions on valuation and the offering and M&A rules, not rereading notes.
Cost and Registration
The Series 79 registration fee is $395 (FINRA, 2026), usually paid by the sponsoring firm, which files your Form U4. A failed attempt triggers a 30-day waiting period before you can retake; after three failures the wait extends to 180 days.
Free Series 79 Practice
FreeFellow hosts more than 1,100 free Series 79 practice questions across every FINRA function area, each with a step-by-step solution. Start with the free diagnostic to find your weakest area, drill the Series 79 practice page by topic, and keep the formula sheet open for the valuation math. No signup is needed to browse.
If you are sequencing the licensing: the SIE overview covers the corequisite entry exam, and the Series 7 overview explains the broader retail license for comparison.
FreeFellow is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by FINRA. The Series 79 and SIE exams are administered by FINRA.