Study guide
Series 79 study guide: the content outline, a free prep plan and function guides
This Series 79 study guide follows the FINRA content outline (© 2025) for the Series 79 (Investment Banking Representative Qualification Exam): three functions worth 37, 20 and 18 of the 75 scored items, a written guide for each of the first two, and a prep plan that covers all three. Everything here is free, and none of it asks you to log study hours.
Outline
The Series 79 content outline at a glance
Series 79 at a glance
- Exam
- Series 79 — Investment Banking Representative Qualification Exam
- Developed and run by
- FINRA; delivered by Prometric
- Where you sit it
- Prometric test centres (online only with an approved accommodation)
- Items
- 75 scored + 5 unscored pretest, 4 choices each
- Time
- 2 hours 30 minutes
- Passing score
- 73, on an equated scale
- Also required
- the SIE (corequisite) and a sponsoring member firm
- Outline
- F1 37 items · F2 20 · F3 18 (49 / 27 / 24%)
The outline is the closest thing the exam has to a syllabus, and it is free: FINRA publishes it as a PDF content outline. It splits the 75 scored items into three functions and tells you how many items each one carries. That split is the first thing a study plan should copy.
| Function | Scope | Items | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Collection, Analysis and Evaluation of Data | 37 | 49% |
| F2 | Underwriting/ | 20 | 27% |
| F3 | M&A, Tender Offers and Financial Restructuring Transactions | 18 | 24% |
Function 1 is 49% of the scored exam on its own, which is why it gets the most room in any sensible plan. Functions 2 and 3 are close in size, 20 and 18 items, but they test different habits: Function 2 is rules and sequence, Function 3 is deal structure and process. The five unscored pretest items can come from any function, and nothing on screen tells you which ones they are.
| Function | Sub-sections | What the items tend to ask |
|---|---|---|
| F1 · 37 items | 1.1 collection of data · 1.2 analysis and evaluation · 1.3 due diligence | Compute a ratio, a valuation or an accretion/dilution result, then pick the option that agrees with you; know which filing or diligence step answers which question |
| F2 · 20 items | 2.1 public offerings · 2.2 underwriting syndicate · 2.3 execution and distribution · 2.4 post-execution · 2.5 exempt securities · 2.6 exempt transactions | Which communication is allowed in which period, which commitment type fits the facts, which exemption a private deal relies on |
| F3 · 18 items | 3.1 sell side · 3.2 buy side · 3.3 fairness opinions · 3.4 signing to closing · 3.5 tender offers · 3.6 restructuring and bankruptcy | Sequence a sale process, read what a fairness opinion does and does not say, rank claims in a restructuring |
Sub-section names are condensed from the 2025 outline PDF; the PDF itself has the full lists and the rule index.
The format around the outline — timing, scoring, what happens at the Prometric centre — has its own page: inside the Series 79 exam.
The guides
Function guides
Each live guide walks one function sub-section by sub-section: what the exam asks, the high-yield points, and the traps our explanations keep running into. Function 1 comes with worked calculations; Function 2 lays the registered offering out as a timeline and puts the exemptions side by side in one table.
F1 · 37 items · 49%
Collection, Analysis and Evaluation of Data
Filings and sources, financial statements and ratios, DCF, comparables, precedents, accretion/dilution, WACC and due diligence — with worked examples, because this is where the arithmetic lives.
Open the Function 1 guideF2 · 20 items · 27%
Underwriting/New Financing Transactions, Types of Offerings and Registration of Securities
The registered offering from filing to effectiveness, syndicates and commitment types, pricing and stabilization, and the exempt-transaction table that keeps Regulation D and Regulation S apart.
Open the Function 2 guideF3 · 18 items · 24%
M&A, Tender Offers and Financial Restructuring Transactions
Sell-side and buy-side process, fairness opinions, signing to closing, tender offers and restructuring. Until its guide is written, the outline’s 3.1–3.6 list is the map.
Guide in preparation. Drill it now under the F3 tab of the practice test.
Start with the Function 1 guide unless you already build models for a living, in which case start with the Function 2 guide and find out how many Securities Act rule numbers you were quietly rounding off.
Prep plan
A free Series 79 prep plan
The plan below runs in the order the exam rewards: the heaviest function first, then the rules, then the deal process, then everything mixed together. It has no hour count on purpose. Prep providers publish their own estimates, and the right number for you depends on how much of Function 1 you already do at a desk every day.
Read the outline once, end to end
Mark every sub-section you could not explain to a colleague in two sentences. That list is your syllabus; the rest is revision.
Drill Function 1 calculations
Enterprise value bridges, EPS and the treasury-stock method, WACC, terminal value, accretion/dilution. Work each one once from a blank page, without the formula card; the wrong options are mostly what a half-remembered formula produces.
Learn Function 2 as a sequence
Pre-filing, waiting period, post-effective: for each period, what may be said and what may be sold. Then the syndicate, pricing, stabilization and the exemptions.
Walk Function 3 as a deal
Engagement letter to closing on the sell side, the buyer’s view on the other, then fairness opinions, tender offers and claim priority in a restructuring. The outline’s 3.1–3.6 list is your map here.
Switch to mixed practice
The exam does not group items by function, so stop doing it yourself. Run mixed sets and watch which function’s column stays weakest.
Review every miss, and every lucky hit
Read the note on each option, including the ones you did not pick. An item you got right for the wrong reason is a miss that has not been scheduled yet.
The SIE is a corequisite, so if you have not passed it yet, put it on the same calendar — the order of the two exams does not matter, but both are needed for the registration. Sponsorship, the SIE and the Form U4 side are covered on the license page.
Prep plan
Six phases
- Outline read-through
- Function 1 calculation drills
- Function 2 process and rules
- Function 3 deal flow
- Mixed practice
- Review the misses
no hour quota attached
Materials
What Series 79 study materials you actually need
- The FINRA content outline PDF (free)
- A question bank that explains every option
- A formula sheet you wrote yourself
- A notebook of misses, sorted by sub-section
Three things do most of the work, and one of them costs nothing. The FINRA outline tells you what can be asked. A question bank with explanations tells you how it gets asked. A formula sheet in your own handwriting tells you what you actually remember, which matters because the exam allows no reference materials.
A question bank with explanations
Volume is not the point; the explanations are. A good item has four plausible options, and the note on each wrong one names the slip that produces it — a WACC weighted at book value instead of market value, an indication of interest treated as an order, a precedent value expected below the comps. If a bank only tells you the letter, you learn the letter.
A formula sheet you build yourself
Write it from memory, check it against your notes, then rewrite it. Function 1 leans on a short list that keeps coming back:
Enterprise value
EV = equity value + debt + preferred + NCI − cash
Cost of capital
WACC = E/V × Re + D/V × Rd × (1 − t)
Gordon terminal value
TV = FCF × (1 + g) ÷ (WACC − g)
New shares in a stock deal
shares issued = price paid ÷ acquirer share price
Courses, training and review books
A Series 79 prep course, a firm training programme or a review book is a format, not a requirement. Whichever you use, check its outline against the FINRA PDF first: some third-party material still teaches the pre-2018 Function 4, or presents rules such as FINRA 5131 and Rule 163B as core outline topics, when neither appears in the 2025 outline’s rule index.
Practice
How to use practice questions while you study
Use practice items to find gaps, not to collect a score. The free practice test has 60 original items split 29 / 16 / 15 across the three functions, close to the outline’s 49 / 27 / 24. Each one locks when you pick an option and opens a memo with the reasoning and a note on every choice; Flag it marks the ones to revisit, and the closing ledger shows answered, right and flagged per function next to the outline weight.
- Early in the plan, work one function tab at a time and read every memo, even after a correct pick.
- In the mixed phase, run the All tab without notes and compare the ledger with the weights: a weak F1 column costs the most.
- Before the exam, go back through Next flagged until no flag survives a second look.
Five warm-up items follow, one from Function 1 and two each from Functions 2 and 3. They are not repeated anywhere else on the site, so treat them as a cold read before you open any guide.
Series 79 warm-up 5 items
Item 1 of 5
F1 · Data & valuation
A target company currently purchases raw materials from its majority shareholder at a 40% discount to the prevailing market rate of $100 per unit. The target consumes 500,000 units annually. In preparing a standalone DCF valuation for a buyout by a third-party private equity firm, how should the analyst adjust the target's unadjusted trailing EBITDA of $30.0 million?
Pick A–D (or press 1–4). The reasoning lands here, with a note on every option — including the ones that were only trying to look helpful.
| Function | Outline | Answered | Right | Flagged |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 Data & valuation | 49% | 0/1 | 0 | 0 |
| F2 Underwriting | 27% | 0/2 | 0 | 0 |
| F3 M&A & restructuring | 24% | 0/2 | 0 | 0 |
| Book | — | 0/5 | 0 | 0 |
Questions people ask
FAQ
How can I best study for the Series 79?
Copy the outline’s weights: Function 1 first and longest, because it is 37 of the 75 scored items, then Function 2 as a sequence of periods and rules, then Function 3 as a deal process. Switch to mixed practice once each function has been through once, and spend the last stretch reviewing misses. The prep plan above lays out the six phases.
How long should I study for the Series 79?
There is no FINRA figure. Prep providers publish their own estimates, but the honest answer depends on how much valuation work you already do. Run a diagnostic on the practice test and size the plan around your weakest function rather than a number of hours.
Is the Series 79 hard to pass?
It is technical. Function 1 alone carries 49% of the scored items, and most of those make you compute before you choose. FINRA publishes no pass rate, so the useful measure is your own accuracy by function.
What is on the Series 79 outline?
Three functions: Collection, Analysis and Evaluation of Data (37 items, 49%); Underwriting/New Financing Transactions, Types of Offerings and Registration of Securities (20 items, 27%); and M&A, Tender Offers and Financial Restructuring Transactions (18 items, 24%). Five unscored pretest items are added on top, for 80 in total.
Is there a free Series 79 study guide?
Yes. FINRA’s content outline PDF is free and is the reference every other guide should match. This page and the two function guides are free as well, and the home page links the rest of the site.
Do I need a Series 79 prep course?
No exam rule requires one. What you need is coverage of the outline, explained practice items and a formula sheet you can reproduce from memory; a course is one way to get those, not the only one.
Take the outline with you
The Series 79 practice app drills all three functions, with a note on every option.