A Kavanah Course — Free · 11 modules · Comprehensive
Series 7: The General Securities Representative Exam
Fifty-five lessons covering the securities broker licence, mapped to FINRA's published content outline and sourced to the rules themselves.
A complete preparation course for the Series 7, the exam that — together with the SIE co-requisite — produces the General Securities Representative registration. It covers every product family the exam tests: equities, corporate and government debt, municipal securities, packaged products, options, margin, new issues, customer accounts, taxation and the conduct rules. Every claim is traced to a primary source — the FINRA and MSRB rulebooks, the Code of Federal Regulations, the Internal Revenue Code — rather than to a second-hand summary, and the module weighting follows the exam's own published item allocation rather than what is comfortable to teach.
An Introduction
The Licence, and How to Earn It
What this course covers, how it is weighted, and how to use it.
The Series 7 is the broadest representative-level qualification in the United States securities industry, and passing it is most of what stands between a new hire and the ability to do business. It is also a large, unglamorous body of knowledge that resists cramming: 125 scored questions drawn from a specification that runs to twenty pages and names several hundred rules. This course teaches that body of knowledge in the order it makes sense, rather than in the order the specification lists it.
What this course is
Fifty-five lessons across eleven modules, built directly against FINRA's published content outline for the exam. Each lesson is ten to fifteen minutes of reading, ends with the key takeaways in the form the exam tests them, and cites the primary sources behind every outside-world claim it makes — the FINRA and MSRB rulebooks, the Code of Federal Regulations, the United States Code, TreasuryDirect and the SEC's own investor-education material.
That sourcing is a deliberate choice and it changes how the course reads. Exam preparation material has a long tradition of confident assertion: numbers that were true a decade ago, rules that were amended, mnemonics whose underlying logic has been lost. Where this course states a number, you can go and check it, and where a rule has recently changed — the settlement cycle, the exam retake waiting periods, the continuing education cadence — the current text is what is taught here.
What this course is not: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or produced in cooperation with FINRA, the SEC, NASAA or the MSRB, and it contains no live exam questions. Reproducing actual exam content is a serious violation that has cost people their registrations.
How it is weighted
FINRA publishes the item allocation, and it is lopsided. Function 3 — providing customers with information about investments, making recommendations, transferring assets and maintaining records — carries 91 of the 125 scored items, or 73 percent. Functions 1, 2 and 4 carry 9, 11 and 14 items respectively.
So the modules here are weighted to match. Five product modules — equity, debt, municipals, packaged products and options — account for twenty-six of the fifty-five lessons, because Function 3.2 is the largest single section of the outline. Municipal securities gets a full module of its own, because it is the subject candidates most reliably avoid and the one that most reliably decides the result. Options gets six lessons, because partial competence with options is worse than none: the exam asks for maximum gain, maximum loss and breakeven on positions you have not seen before, and only practice to the point of automaticity survives that.
Module 1 covers the exam and the licence themselves; Module 11 covers the exam room and what happens after you pass. Modules 7 through 10 cover markets and settlement, new issues, customer accounts and margin, and the conduct and records rules.
How to use it
Read in order. The modules build: municipal analysis in Module 4 assumes the yield arithmetic from Module 3, and the options strategies in Module 6 assume the fundamentals lesson that opens it. The whole course is roughly eleven hours of reading, which is a small fraction of the study time the exam actually requires — the rest is practice questions, and lesson 1.5 explains why that ratio is correct rather than lazy.
Two lessons carry a Kavanah-in-practice block: lesson 1.5, on how to study, and lesson 11.2, which turns the whole syllabus into a ten-week plan you can run as real work with scheduled revisits. The rest do not, because inventing a product step for a lesson about revenue bond covenants would be filler.
One prerequisite worth settling early: the Series 7 requires a sponsoring FINRA member firm to request it on a Form U4. The SIE co-requisite does not — anyone eighteen or over may sit it. If you are reading this without a sponsor, the SIE is the part of the credential you can go and earn now, and Module 1 explains how the two fit together.
The securities business runs on a body of rules that were each written after something went wrong. Learning them as a list is possible and miserable; learning them as a set of answers to specific failures is faster, sticks better, and is what makes the difference between passing the exam and being useful on the desk afterwards. That is the bet this course makes.
Module 1
The Licence and the Exam
What you are studying for, and how the exam is built
5 lessons · ~1 hr
The registration category, the exam's published structure and weighting, the SIE and the registration process, the regulators, and the study method that actually works for a syllabus this size.
Lesson 1.1 · 11 min
What the Series 7 Actually Licenses You to Do
The General Securities Representative registration, and its edges
Start lesson
Lesson 1.2 · 12 min
The Exam, Precisely
125 scored items, four functions, and what the weighting tells you
Start lesson
Lesson 1.3 · 11 min
The SIE, the U4, and the Path to Registration
How two exam results become a registration
Start lesson
Lesson 1.4 · 13 min
The Regulatory Map
Who writes the rules, who enforces them, and who protects the customer
Start lesson
Lesson 1.5 · 13 min
How to Study for an Exam This Size
Retrieval, spacing, and why re-reading feels like learning
Start lesson
Module 2
Equity Securities
Common, preferred, rights, warrants and the restrictions on a share
4 lessons · ~51 min
Shareholder rights and voting arithmetic, preferred stock features, the rights and warrants formulas, conversion and parity, ADRs, Rule 144, and the corporate actions that change a position.
Lesson 2.1 · 13 min
Common Stock and the Rights That Come With It
Authorized, issued, outstanding — and what a share actually entitles you to
Start lesson
Lesson 2.2 · 11 min
Preferred Stock
Equity in form, fixed income in behaviour
Start lesson
Lesson 2.3 · 13 min
Rights, Warrants, and Convertibles
Three ways to buy stock at a price set in advance
Start lesson
Lesson 2.4 · 14 min
ADRs, Restricted Stock, and Corporate Actions
Foreign shares, Rule 144, and the events that change a position
Start lesson
Module 3
Debt Securities
Pricing, yields, corporate structures, governments and securitization
6 lessons · ~1 hr 14 min
The quotation and accrual conventions, the four yields and the ordering rule, the corporate bond taxonomy, Treasuries and agencies, money market instruments, structured notes, and CMOs.
Lesson 3.1 · 13 min
Bond Fundamentals and Pricing
Par, coupon, quotation conventions and accrued interest
Start lesson
Lesson 3.2 · 12 min
The Four Yields
Nominal, current, yield to maturity, yield to call — and the ordering rule
Start lesson
Lesson 3.3 · 12 min
Corporate Debt
What secures a bond, and the taxonomy the exam expects
Start lesson
Lesson 3.4 · 13 min
Treasuries and Agencies
Bills, notes, bonds, TIPS, STRIPS — and the agencies that are not the Treasury
Start lesson
Lesson 3.5 · 12 min
Money Market and Structured Products
The short end, and the instruments that only look like bonds
Start lesson
Lesson 3.6 · 12 min
CMOs and Asset-Backed Securities
Tranches, prepayment risk, and the rules written specifically for them
Start lesson
Module 4
Municipal Securities
The subject candidates avoid and the exam rewards
5 lessons · ~1 hr 5 min
General obligation and revenue analysis, notes and refundings, the tax treatment that explains the whole market, and the MSRB rules and primary-market process that govern it.
Lesson 4.1 · 12 min
General Obligation Bonds
Taxing power as security, and the ratios that measure it
Start lesson
Lesson 4.2 · 13 min
Revenue Bonds
Flow of funds, coverage, and the covenants that stand in for taxing power
Start lesson
Lesson 4.3 · 12 min
Municipal Notes, Special Structures and Refundings
Short-term paper, the odd security types, and how a municipality refinances
Start lesson
Lesson 4.4 · 14 min
Municipal Taxation and Market Analysis
Why the exemption exists, what it is worth, and the traps around discount and premium
Start lesson
Lesson 4.5 · 14 min
MSRB Rules and the Municipal Market
Fair dealing, the official statement, and how a municipal issue reaches the market
Start lesson
Module 5
Packaged Products
Funds, exchange-traded products, variable contracts and partnerships
5 lessons · ~1 hr 6 min
The Investment Company Act's structural rules, mutual fund arithmetic and the named sales-practice violations, ETFs and REITs, variable annuities and variable life, and direct participation programs.
Lesson 5.1 · 13 min
Investment Company Basics
The 1940 Act, the three types, and the rules that shape every fund
Start lesson
Lesson 5.2 · 14 min
Mutual Fund Sales Practices
NAV, POP, breakpoints, share classes — and the four ways to get fined
Start lesson
Lesson 5.3 · 12 min
ETFs and REITs
Exchange-traded structures, and the pooled vehicle that owns property
Start lesson
Lesson 5.4 · 14 min
Variable Annuities and Variable Life
Insurance products that are also securities, and the rules for selling them
Start lesson
Lesson 5.5 · 13 min
DPPs, Hedge Funds and Private Vehicles
Where losses flow through, and where liquidity does not
Start lesson
Module 6
Options
The densest arithmetic on the exam
6 lessons · ~1 hr 18 min
Contract mechanics and the OCC, long and short positions, spreads, straddles and hedges, non-equity options, and the account rules, position limits and taxation that surround them.
Lesson 6.1 · 12 min
Options Fundamentals
The contract, the OCC, and the vocabulary everything else is built from
Start lesson
Lesson 6.2 · 12 min
Buying Calls and Puts
Maximum gain, maximum loss and breakeven for the two long positions
Start lesson
Lesson 6.3 · 13 min
Writing Calls and Puts
Covered and uncovered, and the only unlimited risk on the exam
Start lesson
Lesson 6.4 · 14 min
Option Spreads
Four variants, one pattern, and the arithmetic that makes them quick
Start lesson
Lesson 6.5 · 13 min
Straddles, Combinations and Hedges
Positions on volatility, and options used around stock
Start lesson
Lesson 6.6 · 14 min
Non-Equity Options and Option Account Rules
Index, currency and yield-based contracts, and everything that surrounds an options account
Start lesson
Module 7
Markets, Trading and Settlement
How an order becomes a completed transaction
5 lessons · ~1 hr
Market structure and participants, order types and tickets, capacity and best execution, the settlement cycle and good delivery, and short sales under Regulation SHO.
Lesson 7.1 · 12 min
Market Structure and Participants
Where a trade happens, and who is standing on each side of it
Start lesson
Lesson 7.2 · 12 min
Order Types and Order Tickets
Where each order sits relative to the market, and what the record must show
Start lesson
Lesson 7.3 · 12 min
Capacity, Quotes and Best Execution
Agent or principal, what may be charged, and the duty owed in finding a price
Start lesson
Lesson 7.4 · 12 min
Clearance and Settlement
T+1, good delivery, and moving an account between firms
Start lesson
Lesson 7.5 · 12 min
Short Sales and Regulation SHO
Selling what you do not own, and the rules that make it possible
Start lesson
Module 8
New Issues and the Primary Market
Registration, underwriting, exemptions and allocation
4 lessons · ~51 min
The Securities Act timeline and what may be said at each stage, underwriting structures and the spread, the exemptions from registration, and the rules governing who may buy a new issue.
Lesson 8.1 · 13 min
The Securities Act of 1933
Registration, the three periods, and what may be said in each
Start lesson
Lesson 8.2 · 13 min
Underwriting Mechanics
Commitments, syndicates, the spread, and stabilization
Start lesson
Lesson 8.3 · 13 min
Exemptions and Private Placements
Exempt securities, exempt transactions, and who counts as accredited
Start lesson
Lesson 8.4 · 12 min
New-Issue Allocation Rules
Who may not buy an IPO, and why the rules exist
Start lesson
Module 9
Customer Accounts, Margin and Tax
Opening, documenting, financing and taxing a relationship
7 lessons · ~1 hr 32 min
Account opening and the standard of care, registration types, discretion and third-party authority, retirement and education accounts, the margin arithmetic in both directions, and investment taxation.
Lesson 9.1 · 13 min
Opening a Customer Account
The record, the identity check, and the standard of care
Start lesson
Lesson 9.2 · 12 min
Account Registrations and Ownership
Who owns the account, who may instruct it, and what happens on death
Start lesson
Lesson 9.3 · 11 min
Discretion and Third-Party Authority
What counts as discretion, what it requires, and how it is supervised
Start lesson
Lesson 9.4 · 14 min
Retirement and Education Accounts
The tax-advantaged wrappers, and what belongs inside them
Start lesson
Lesson 9.5 · 14 min
Margin Accounts: Long Positions
The equation, Regulation T, SMA and buying power
Start lesson
Lesson 9.6 · 14 min
Margin Accounts: Short Positions and Maintenance
The credit balance, the maintenance thresholds, and computing a call
Start lesson
Lesson 9.7 · 14 min
Taxation of Investments
Basis, holding periods, wash sales, and gifts and inheritances
Start lesson
Module 10
Conduct, Records and Resolution
The rules that decide whether a career lasts
5 lessons · ~1 hr 6 min
Communications with the public, the prohibited practices and their statutory basis, books and records, confirmations and statements, complaints and arbitration, and how a recommendation is actually built.
Lesson 10.1 · 13 min
Communications with the Public
Three categories, three approval regimes, and the content standards
Start lesson
Lesson 10.2 · 14 min
Prohibited Practices
Fraud, manipulation, insider trading, and the conduct rules a career turns on
Start lesson
Lesson 10.3 · 12 min
Books, Records, Confirmations and Statements
What is created, what is sent, and how long everything is kept
Start lesson
Lesson 10.4 · 12 min
Complaints, Arbitration and SIPC
What happens when a customer says something went wrong
Start lesson
Lesson 10.5 · 15 min
Analysis and Recommendations
Economics, fundamentals, technicals, and building a recommendation that fits
Start lesson
Module 11
Passing the Exam
The exam room, the plan, and the day after
3 lessons · ~36 min
The question patterns and the arithmetic worth automating, a ten-week study plan you can actually run, and what registration, continuing education and the state exams require once you have passed.
Lesson 11.1 · 13 min
Question Patterns and Exam Math
The shapes the questions come in, and the arithmetic worth automating
Start lesson
Lesson 11.2 · 12 min
A Ten-Week Study Plan
The whole syllabus, scheduled, with the revisits built in
Start lesson
Lesson 11.3 · 11 min
After You Pass
Registration, the state exams, continuing education, and keeping the licence
Start lesson
The first lesson is free to read. The rest of the course is free for members.
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