Our Methodology: How We Verify Every Question
Every question on this site is checked against a primary source (the FINRA rule, the SEC release, or the IRS page that governs the fact being tested) before it’s published, then re-checked by a second, adversarial review, and re-audited on a quarterly cycle. That’s the whole process in one sentence. The rest of this page is the detail, so you can judge it rather than take it on faith.
How a question gets built
We build this bank the slow way: the public SIE Content Outline open in one window, the primary source (the FINRA rule, the SEC release, the IRS page) open in the other, for every single question. Along the way we kept a running list of every “fact” in circulating prep material that failed the check against its own source. That list became our fact base: one verified table of exam-relevant values (fees, limits, dates, thresholds) each entry tied to a primary source and re-audited quarterly.
Every question is an original work based on that public outline; none reproduces exam content, and every explanation ends with its provenance, in the form “Verified against: FINRA Rule 3220.”
The adversarial second review
Writing a correct answer isn’t the hard part. Writing one that’s still correct after someone tries to break it is. Each question faces a second review whose only job is to prove the stated answer wrong using current rules. That pass exists because the stale-content problem in SIE prep is specific and measurable: rules change, effective dates pass, and prep material that isn’t re-checked quietly goes stale while still looking authoritative.
Three stale facts we’ve caught (verified July 2026)
Some of what’s still being taught in circulating SIE prep material is simply out of date. Three concrete examples our process has caught:
| Fact | What’s outdated | What’s current |
|---|---|---|
| Ex-dividend date | Set one business day before the record date | Under T+1 settlement (in force since May 28, 2024), the ex-dividend date now generally falls on the record date itself |
| FINRA gift limit (Rule 3220) | $100 per person per year | Raised to $300 per person per year, effective March 30, 2026 |
| Pattern day trader rule | Still taught as an active margin requirement | Repealed under the FINRA Rule 4210 amendments, older margin chapters haven’t caught up |
Rules mid-change get tracked, not guessed
Some rules are mid-change, which is worse than changed outright: the old rule is still technically in force even though a new one is filed. For example, FINRA has filed to shorten the exam retake waiting periods from 30/30/180 days to 15/15/60 (SR-FINRA-2026-014, filed June 2026), but until FINRA announces the operational date, the old waits still apply. Our Current-Fact Watch tracks exactly this kind of transition, and the SIE retake rules and waiting periods page carries the current state of that rule, dated.
What happens when we get one wrong
We get things wrong sometimes. This bank is written and checked by people, not by an infallible process. When it happens, we fix it in public: an erratum goes up within 48 hours of confirmation, stating what was wrong, what’s right now, and the source that settles it. See the corrections log for the live record of that promise.
Why this matters for you
A practice question with a wrong answer doesn’t just cost you a missed question: it teaches you the wrong rule, which costs you a missed question again on test day. That’s the entire reason this process exists: verification is slower to build than a question bank without it, but it’s the only version of “practice questions” worth your study time. For the exam this process supports, see what the SIE exam is; if you’re weighing a paid course against this free, verified bank, our honest comparison of SIE prep courses covers that too.