Module 1
Capital markets and participants
Issuers, investors, broker-dealers, regulators, offerings, trading, and settlement.
United States · Original 101PD learning guide
SIE Exam Preparation and Securities Foundations Guide
An original exam-preparation pathway covering market structure, products, risks, customer accounts, prohibited practices, and the limits of an SIE result.
The SIE is broad rather than role-specific. Learners need a durable market map, not a pile of disconnected definitions, and must understand that the SIE is only one part of the registration process.
Skills you will practice
- Security classification
- Risk comparison
- Market-structure reasoning
- Customer-account analysis
- Prohibited-practice recognition
Prerequisites
- No firm sponsorship is required to take the SIE; passing it alone does not create registration.
Designed for
Securities-industry candidates · Finance students · Career changers exploring registered roles
What a learner should be able to do
- Outcome 1
Organize major securities, pooled products, derivatives, and risks into a working market map.
- Outcome 2
Explain trading, settlement, regulatory, and customer-account fundamentals.
- Outcome 3
Recognize prohibited conduct and common examination traps.
- Outcome 4
Build a study plan from diagnostic performance by exam domain.
Original curriculum architecture
The final course will expand these modules with original explanations, realistic cases, practice questions, and source review.
Module 2
Products and risks
Equity, debt, municipal, options, packaged products, and risk relationships.
Module 3
Accounts and conduct
Customer accounts, communications, records, privacy, and prohibited practices.
Module 4
Exam execution
Domain diagnostics, mixed practice, time control, and error review.
Applied portfolio exercise
Securities product-and-risk map
Build a comparison tool that links product structure, investor objective, principal risks, taxation questions, and regulatory concerns.
- Product matrix
- Risk vocabulary sheet
- Personal study dashboard
Sources and boundaries
Sources establish current requirements and standards. They do not supply 101PD’s lesson text, scenarios, assessments, or project work.
- FINRA Securities Industry Essentials exam
Official purpose, eligibility, enrollment, and exam information.
- FINRA qualification exams
Official exam and registration boundaries, including sponsorship requirements where applicable.
- 101PD original-work standard
101PD develops its own explanations, examples, assessments, and applied projects.