Series 22 · Guide
Is the Series 22 hard?
Short answer: it's short but concentrated — most of the exam sits in one dense subject area. Here's exactly what you're up against, and how to make it manageable.
What makes it challenging
The Series 22 (Direct Participation Programs Representative exam) is 50 scored questions over 1 hour 30 minutes, and you need 70% to pass. It's a shorter, narrower exam than the Series 7 or Series 65 — but the difficulty isn't length, it's depth. Nearly all of it (88%) sits in two functions: seeking business from customers (34%) and, above all, providing customers with information about investments, making recommendations, and maintaining records — 54% of the exam on its own. That function is where real estate, oil and gas, equipment leasing, and limited partnership programs live, and it rewards knowing the mechanics cold: who bears which liability, how a sharing arrangement allocates costs versus revenues, and how each program type is actually taxed.
The fastest way through it
- Prioritize Function 3. At 54% of the exam, DPP structures, tax treatment, and recordkeeping deserve most of your practice time.
- Don't skip Function 1. Seeking business — communications rules, offering types, due diligence — is another 34%. Together the two are 88% of the exam.
- Practice more than you read. Doing questions and reviewing why each answer is right or wrong builds recall far faster than re-reading a manual.
- Simulate test day. Full-length, timed mock exams tell you when you're actually ready.
That's exactly how Finance Exam Pro is built — adaptive practice that resurfaces what you miss, every answer explained, and section-weighted mock exams.
Before you can sit for it
The Series 22 has the SIE as a corequisite, and you must be associated with and sponsored by a FINRA member firm to register for it. Not sure which exam you need? Read our license guide.
Make the Series 22 manageable.
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Disclosures
Finance Exam Pro is not affiliated with FINRA. Practice questions are original and are not actual exam questions. Exam specs can change — confirm current details with FINRA.