Common questions about FINRA Series 161, including how it fits inside Series 16, what Part I tests, and practical study strategy.
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Series 161 is Part I of the FINRA Series 16 Supervisory Analyst qualification. It is the communications-review half of the qualification.
No. Series 161 is only Part I. It should be understood as one half of the overall Series 16 path.
It focuses on reviewing and approving research analysts’ communications and on serving as liaison between research and other parties. The exam is heavily weighted toward communications review.
It is testing whether you can think like the supervisory reviewer who protects the published communication. The stronger answer usually asks what approval, revision, disclosure, or coordination step should have happened.
The communications-review function deserves the most time because it carries 68% of the exam.
Switch once you can quickly tell whether the issue is communications approval or liaison/boundary management. That split is the fastest way to clean up misses.