FINRA Series 6 practice test and question strategy

FINRA's Series 6 exam contains 50 scored questions and five unscored pretest items. This original practice set is shorter than the exam and is not a scaled prediction. Use it to practice decisions across the four job functions and to find concepts that need review. Work the questions before reading the explanations, then record misses by concept rather than just by question number.

How to approach a Series 6 question

First identify what the question asks: product feature, customer profile, recommendation, disclosure, account authority, or transaction step. Then identify the facts that matter. A recommendation item needs customer goals and product features; an order item needs the actual instruction; a communication item needs the audience and claim. Eliminate choices that add unsupported guarantees, skip required information, or ignore the customer's stated need.

When a calculation appears, write the relationship and units before choosing an answer. For NAV, calculate net assets and divide by shares. For a sales charge, use the base specified by the question. Do not infer a breakpoint schedule or tax result if it is not given. A short calculation often becomes reliable when each number is labeled.

Original practice questions

Question 1: Variable product communication

A retail brochure says that a variable annuity's account value is protected from loss because an insurance company issued the contract. What is the best assessment?

1. The claim is accurate because every insurer guarantees investment subaccounts.
2. The statement is misleading unless a specific contract guarantee applies; subaccount values may fluctuate.
3. The claim is acceptable if the customer has a long time horizon.
4. The statement is accurate because tax deferral prevents market losses.

Correct answer: B. A variable annuity's investment value generally varies with its subaccounts. Any guarantee must come from a specific contract provision and depends on its terms and the insurer's ability to pay. A general insurance-company label does not guarantee investment returns. A longer horizon does not make a false claim accurate, and tax deferral affects taxation rather than market value.

Question 2: Customer profile

A customer wants to invest savings but has not said when the money may be needed. Which information is most important before recommending a product with a surrender period?

1. The customer's liquidity needs and expected time horizon.
2. The representative's preference for the product.
3. The last quarter's performance of the product's subaccounts.
4. Whether the customer prefers paper statements.

Correct answer: A. A surrender period can affect access to money, so the expected withdrawal date and liquidity need matter directly. The representative's preference is irrelevant. Recent performance does not establish suitability and may encourage performance chasing. Statement delivery preference may matter for account service but does not resolve the product's liquidity fit.

Question 3: Calculate open-end fund NAV

A mutual fund has $18.6 million in assets, $600,000 in liabilities, and 1.5 million shares outstanding. What is NAV per share?

Work: net assets are $18,600,000 - $600,000 = $18,000,000. Divide by 1,500,000 shares: NAV is $12 per share. Correct answer: $12. A result of $12.40 ignores liabilities. The question asks NAV, so do not add a sales load or multiply by an investor's planned purchase amount.

Question 4: Closed-end fund price

A closed-end fund has NAV of $20 per share and trades in the secondary market at $18.50. Which statement is correct?

1. The fund trades at a $1.50 premium to NAV.
2. The fund trades at a $1.50 discount to NAV.
3. The fund must redeem shares at $18.50.
4. The fund must adjust NAV to equal the market price immediately.

Correct answer: B. Market price is $1.50 below NAV, so the shares trade at a discount. A premium would mean the market price exceeds NAV. A closed-end fund trades between investors, so the investor generally sells at the market price rather than requiring the fund to redeem at that price. NAV and market price measure different things and need not match.

Question 5: Account authorization

An adult child calls to place an order in a parent's account. The child is not listed as an authorized person and has no power of attorney on file. What should the representative do?

Answer: Do not accept the instruction from the child as if it were authorized. Follow firm procedures to confirm the customer's authority and obtain the required documentation before acting. Family relationship or access to account information does not itself grant trading authority. The owner can provide the instruction or establish an authorized representative under the firm's process.

Question 6: Fund breakpoint

A customer is close to a mutual fund sales-charge breakpoint and owns additional eligible shares in the same fund family. Which step is appropriate?

1. Ignore prior holdings because they were purchased earlier.
2. Determine whether rights of accumulation apply under the fund's terms before calculating the charge.
3. Assume every share in the household qualifies for every breakpoint.
4. Recommend a variable annuity to avoid all charges.

Correct answer: B. Rights of accumulation may let eligible existing holdings count toward a breakpoint. The representative needs to apply the fund's actual terms and obtain relevant information. A may cause the customer to miss an available reduction. C overstates eligibility. D is wrong because a variable annuity has charges of its own and is not a universal substitute.

Question 7: Variable annuity recommendation

A customer wants current access to savings for a planned expense in one year. A variable annuity has a surrender charge during that period and investment subaccounts that can lose value. Which conclusion best follows?

Answer: The product's liquidity and market risks conflict with the stated near-term need and must be addressed before any recommendation. The representative should compare costs, access terms, and alternatives with the full customer profile. The answer is not that all variable annuities are always unsuitable, or that tax deferral overrides the customer's need for access.

Question 8: Order instructions

A customer enters a limit order to buy shares at no more than $31. The current offer is $31.20. What does the limit control?

1. The customer will pay no more than $31, but execution is not guaranteed.
2. The broker must execute immediately at $31.20.
3. The order guarantees a fill at the close.
4. The limit protects against the security's value declining after purchase.

Correct answer: A. A buy limit sets a maximum acceptable purchase price. If the market does not reach $31 or available quantity is insufficient, the order may remain unfilled. B and C incorrectly guarantee execution above the stated limit. D confuses a transaction instruction with protection against future market loss.

Question 9: 529 plan risk

A parent assumes a state-sponsored 529 savings plan guarantees the account's investment value. Which response is accurate?

Answer: State sponsorship does not by itself guarantee investment performance. The account value depends on the selected investment options and their costs. The parent should understand the program's risks, expenses, qualified-use rules, and consequences of nonqualified distributions. The particular plan documents define the options and features.

Question 10: Recommendation and disclosure

A customer asks whether a diversified equity fund can lose money. What is the most complete response?

Answer: Yes. Diversification can reduce company-specific concentration but does not eliminate market risk. The fund's NAV may fall if its holdings decline, and expenses affect returns. The representative should describe the product's investment objective, principal risks, and costs without calling it safe or guaranteed.

Review the distractors, not just the answer

For each wrong choice, name the mistake it represents. In Question 1, it is confusing insurance issuance with a guarantee of subaccount value. In Question 4, it is reversing premium and discount. In Question 8, it is treating a limit as a promise of execution. These labels help you catch the same error when an item uses different facts or wording.

If you answer correctly by guessing, add it to the review list. A lucky choice can hide a concept gap. Explain why the answer works and what fact would change it. For example, a variable annuity with a surrender period raises a strong liquidity concern for near-term funds, but the analysis still depends on other assets, the contract, and the customer's objective.

Use practice results carefully

This set is original and deliberately shorter than the FINRA exam. Its percentage is not an equated score and cannot predict a pass. FINRA's exam includes 50 scored questions and five unscored pretest items. Use your misses to plan the next study session, then complete new mixed practice across the four functions. A repeated concept error is more useful information than a single total score.

A productive review loop is: answer without notes, explain the reasoning, check the source material, write the rule in your own words, and solve a changed version after a delay. Change the numbers in a NAV question, give the customer a different time horizon, or change a market order to a limit order. If you can predict what changes and why, you are learning the concept rather than memorizing a key.

Sources and related practice

FINRA's Series 6 content outline defines the tested functions and content. The companion topic-weight and mutual fund/variable product pages provide the blueprint and technical concepts behind these original questions.