Fees and rules
Retake waiting periods after a failed exam
Independent site, not affiliated with FINRA, NASAA or Prometric. Enrollment and scheduling happen only through FINRA and your firm.
Enter the exam, the date you failed it and how many times in a row: the calculator gives the first day you can sit it again, under the rule in force on that day.
Earliest date to sit it again
Earliest retake
December 10, 2026
| Waiting period | 30 days |
| Rule applied | FINRA Rule 1210.06 |
| Fee to sit again | $100 |
FINRA Regulatory Notice 26-18 cuts the waits to 15 and 60 days from January 19, 2027.
A candidate who fails a FINRA qualification exam must wait before taking it again. Under Supplementary Material .06 of FINRA Rule 1210, the wait is 30 calendar days after a first or a second failed attempt, and 180 calendar days after a third or any later failure. Only failures of that same exam in the last 2 years count, so an old failure drops out of the tally, and failing the SIE never delays a Series 7. FINRA has shortened these periods: Regulatory Notice 26-18, published on October 14, 2026, brings them down to 15 and 60 days from January 19, 2027, including for candidates whose waiting period is still running that day. The change covers FINRA exams only (SIE, Series 6, Series 7 and the others FINRA writes). The Series 63, 65 and 66 are NASAA exams, and NASAA's own periods of 30 and 180 days still apply to them. Each new attempt is paid in full.
Your score · SIE
0 / 0
0 / 5 answered
Choose an answer to begin
| Pass: scaled score of 70; here 4 of 5 correct (70%), an approximation |
| You can still miss 1 |
Practice questions written by Radif Partners from the official outline topics. They are not questions from the real exam. Progress is kept in this browser only (local storage) and never sent.
Questions, formats and fees by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
The rule today and from January 19, 2027
| Failed attempt (same exam, last 2 years) | FINRA exams until January 19, 2027 | FINRA exams from January 19, 2027 | Series 63, 65, 66 (NASAA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | 30 days | 15 days | 30 days |
| Second | 30 days | 15 days | 30 days |
| Third and later | 180 days | 60 days | 180 days |
The notice amends Supplementary Material .06 of Rule 1210 and takes effect on January 19, 2027; until then, the 30 and 180 day periods apply. It also restates two points that candidates often miss: failures more than 2 years old are not counted, and a waiting period only blocks the exam that was failed.
How the calculator decides
For a FINRA exam, it computes the date under the current rule and the date under the new one, never earlier than January 19, 2027, and keeps the sooner of the two. That is what the notice describes for candidates still waiting on the effective date: the window is adjusted to the shorter period. Three examples:
- A first failure on November 10, 2026: the wait ends after 30 days, so the retake is possible from December 10, 2026.
- A second failure on January 1, 2027: under the old rule the date would be January 31, 2027, but the new rule frees the candidate on January 19, 2027 already.
- A third failure on March 1, 2027: 60 days, so April 30, 2027.
For the Series 63, 65 and 66, NASAA's periods apply without change. The notice itself warns that exams administered for NASAA "may differ", so do not apply the 2027 dates to them.
Before you book the retake
Use the waiting period
Start from what the failed attempt told you about each part of the outline, then turn it into a plan: practice the weakest section first with the section menu of our quizzes, then sit a full timed mock again. The review page brings back every question you missed on this site, and the SIE and Series 7 passing score pages explain why a margin above the line matters.
Budget the fee again
A retake is a new enrollment with the full fee: $100 for the SIE, $395 for the Series 7, $187 for the Series 65 in 2026. The fee calculator adds retakes to a full exam plan. FINRA then opens a new 120-day window (scheduling page), which must start after the waiting period ends.
What the rule does not change
The waiting period does not touch the validity of exams you already passed: an SIE pass stays good for 4 years, and a Series 7 passed while you wait for an SIE retake stays on your record. It does not apply to continuing education either: the Regulatory Element is not a qualification exam, and its deadline is the subject of the continuing education page. The five practice questions above train the regulatory section of the SIE, where these rules sit in the outline.