Series 82 · Guide
What is the Series 82 exam?
The Private Securities Offerings Representative exam — the license to solicit and sell private placements.
| Scored questions | 50 (plus 5 unscored pretest) |
| Time limit | 1 hour 30 minutes |
| Passing score | 70 |
| Administered by | FINRA |
| Sponsor / corequisite | Firm sponsorship required; SIE is a corequisite |
What it covers
A private placement is sold under an exemption rather than a registration statement, and the exam is built on that distinction. You are tested on Regulation D and the conditions each rule imposes, who counts as an accredited investor, when an offering may be generally solicited and when it may not, the resale limits that make these securities illiquid, and suitability for an investment that may not be sellable at all.
Half the exam sits in one function — seeking business from customers — so that is where the study time belongs.
The exemption is conditional, and that's the exam
Candidates lose marks by treating an exemption as a permanent property of the offering. It isn't: it is a set of conditions, and breaking one can cost the exemption for the whole offering rather than for a single sale. Sourcing an investor from a publicly advertised event, paying an unregistered person transaction-based compensation, or accepting self-certification where verification is required are all failures of the same kind — the security was exempt, the conduct was not.
The related trap: an exemption for the securities never exempts the people selling them from registration.
Where it fits
The Series 82 is deliberately narrow — it licenses private placements and nothing else. If your firm also sells listed securities or public offerings, the Series 7 is the broader license. The SIE comes with either. For difficulty and timeline, see is the Series 82 hard and how long to study, or take a free Series 82 practice test.
Prep for the Series 82.
Original, exam-level questions on Regulation D, accredited investors and resale limits — every answer explained with the reasoning behind the exemption. Start free.
Disclosures
Finance Exam Pro is not affiliated with FINRA or the SEC. Practice questions are original and are not actual exam questions. Exam specs can change — confirm current details with FINRA.