Series 23 FAQ for the FINRA General Securities Principal Sales Supervisor Module, including exam format, passing score, route fit versus Series 24, co-requisites, scope, and study strategy.
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Series 23 is the General Securities Principal Exam Sales Supervisor Module. FINRA describes it as an alternative to Series 24 for a candidate who is already registered as a General Securities Sales Supervisor and wants to register as a General Securities Principal.
Series 24 is the broader general-securities-principal route. Series 23 is the narrower module path for someone who is already in the general securities sales supervisor lane. That is the first real route fit question. If you do not already sit in the right underlying path, Series 23 is not the clean answer.
FINRA states the path is SIE + Series 7 + Series 9 and 10. That is why Series 23 should be treated as a principal-upgrade exam rather than a stand-alone principal entry point.
FINRA lists Series 23 as 100 multiple-choice items with a 150-minute time limit.
FINRA’s Series 23 outline lists the passing score as 70%.
No. Series 23 builds on that supervision lane. It does not erase the need for the underlying sales-supervisor route that FINRA attaches to the exam.
Series 23 tests whether someone who already understands sales supervision can think like a broader principal across registration and personnel, general broker-dealer activities, customer supervision, trading and market making, and investment banking and research.
It is testing whether you can move from a branch-sales supervision mindset into principal-level oversight across multiple business lines. The stronger answer usually asks what broader control, escalation, restriction, or approval the principal owes.
Trading and market making, and investment banking and research deserve the most time because they are the two largest functions and the areas where candidates with only a sales-supervision frame often look weakest.
No. There is overlap, but Series 23 is shaped by its route logic. It assumes an existing sales-supervisor base and then tests principal expansion into the broader business-line functions.
The biggest trap is answering like a sales supervisor after the facts have moved into principal territory. The better answer usually identifies the business line, then chooses the broader approval, restriction, escalation, surveillance, or documentation step.
Tag each miss by business line first, then by control error. The useful categories are: wrong line of business, wrong principal response, wrong escalation timing, or wrong role assumption.
Switch once you can quickly recognize which business line the question belongs to. Series 23 gets more realistic once customer, trading, and banking facts are mixed together.