One-Page Cheat Sheet

This is the whole book at a glance. It assumes you have already worked through the units; each line is a memory jog, not a first lesson. If a line reminds you that you forgot something, go back to that unit's rapid-fire sheet.

Seeking Business & Communications (Function 1, 7%)

• Public Communications and Advertising: Classify by audience first: more than 25 retail investors is a retail communication, institutional-only is institutional, 25 or fewer is correspondence, and unscripted talk is a public appearance. Pre-approve every retail piece and file some with FINRA, keep everything fair and balanced, and layer on the product-specific disclosures for options, municipals, variable contracts, and research. Nail the numbers and the classification and this unit answers itself.
• New Issues and Underwriting: A new issue runs pre-filing (nothing), cooling-off (red herring, oral offers, indications of interest, no money) minimum 20 days, then post-effective (final prospectus, selling begins). A syndicate distributes it under firm commitment (buys the whole issue) or best efforts (unsold returns to the issuer), with the selling concession the biggest slice of the spread. Master the exemptions (Regulation D private placements, accredited thresholds, restricted-stock resale holding periods and volume limits, Regulation S) and the anti-manipulation lines, and this unit answers itself.

Customer Accounts & Suitability (Function 2, 9%)

• Account Types and Registration: Registration is the whole game: Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship and Tenants by the Entirety hand assets to the survivor and skip probate, Tenants in Common and individual accounts run through the estate, and a Transfer on Death beats a will every time. Day-trading accounts demand approval plus a risk disclosure, inherited securities step up to fair market value at death, and the receiving firm drives an Automated Customer Account Transfer. Lock the ownership, the probate result, and the numbers and this unit answers itself.
• Customer Screening and Documentation: Collect the four Customer Identification Program items before or at account opening, keep essential facts current under Know Your Customer, and escalate anything suspicious to compliance rather than filing or tipping off. Report cash over ten thousand dollars on a Currency Transaction Report and suspicion at five thousand on a Suspicious Activity Report, guard private data under Regulation S-P, and document every power of attorney, trust, and discretionary grant. Nail the four items, the two thresholds, and the discretionary trio, and this unit answers itself.
• Customer Investment Profiles and Suitability: Gather the customer investment profile (financial factors plus one of the four objectives), then clear reasonable-basis, customer-specific, and quantitative suitability, with each obligation standing on its own. Regulation Best Interest raises the bar for retail customers through Disclosure, Care, Conflict of Interest, and Compliance, while institutional customers stay under the FINRA suitability rule. Remember that explicit hold recommendations count, munis follow the MSRB rule, and accreditation opens the door but never guarantees suitability.
• Retirement Plans and Tax-Advantaged Accounts: Qualified plans meet Internal Revenue Code and ERISA rules and are creditor-protected; non-qualified plans skip those rules and favor executives. Defined benefit puts investment risk on the employer with a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation backstop, while defined contribution puts it on the employee. Nail the 2026 dollar limits, remember 457(b) has no 10% penalty, and taxation follows one line: pre-tax in means ordinary income out, after-tax in means tax-free out.
• Account Supervision and Approvals: A firm builds a reasonably designed supervisory system, staffs it with the right principals, writes it down in current written supervisory procedures kept at each Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction, and then tests it under the supervisory-control rule with an annual report to senior management. A registered principal approves new accounts, a Registered Options Principal approves options accounts, munis get daily review, and customer assets stay segregated under the SEC customer-protection rule. Learn who approves what and the inspection and hiring deadlines, and this unit answers itself.

Equity Securities (Function 3)

• Common Stock: Common stock is a voting, residual ownership interest that sits last in liquidation for the greatest risk and unlimited upside. Shares nest as authorized over issued over outstanding, with treasury stock issued but silent. Spinoffs split basis by fair market value while mergers carry it over, and any unlisted stock under $5 drags in the penny stock disclosure package and a signed suitability statement.
• Preferred Stock: Preferred stock is fixed-income-flavored equity: it pays a fixed dividend, ranks above common but below all debt, and usually cannot vote. Learn the five types, the conversion parity formulas, and the rule that fixed-rate preferred prices fall when rates rise, and this unit answers itself.
• Rights, Warrants, and ADRs: Rights are short-term and priced below market so existing shareholders can hold their proportionate ownership, while warrants are long-term sweeteners priced above market at issuance; neither is stock until exercised, and both create new shares. American Depositary Receipts let U.S. investors buy foreign companies in dollars on U.S. markets, but currency risk stays, just as it would with foreign ordinary shares. Lock in the below-versus-above price direction and the currency trap and this unit answers itself.
• Equity Tax Treatment: Split gains at the one-year line, net within each category before netting across, and let the survivor take the larger side's character. Fix cost basis for commissions, conversions, stock dividends, and gift-versus-inheritance rules, then choose first-in first-out, last-in first-out, or identified shares. Watch the wash-sale window and never let tax-deferred masquerade as taxable income.

Debt Securities (Function 3)

• Corporate Bonds: Every corporate bond starts at $1,000 par, pays semiannual interest, and is quoted as a percentage of par, with secured debt outranking debentures in bankruptcy and investment grade stopping at BBB-/Baa3. Convertibles trade off a lower coupon for the holder's option to swap into stock, taxes turn on discount versus premium, and the yield ladder climbs on discount bonds and dips on premium bonds. Lock the numbers and the yield order and this unit answers itself.
• US Government and Agency Securities: Treasuries are the safe base: bills sell at a discount, notes and bonds pay semiannual coupons in 32nds, and all escape state and local tax but not federal. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities and Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal Securities both throw off phantom income taxed yearly. On the mortgage side, remember Ginnie Mae alone carries full faith and credit, collateralized mortgage obligations redistribute prepayment timing risk while collateralized debt obligations redistribute credit risk, and Treasuries use actual/actual while everything else uses 30/360.
• Debt Yields and Pricing: Memorize the yield order first: on a discount bond yield to call leads and nominal trails, and on a premium bond that order reverses. Then remember prices and yields move opposite, every bond pulls to par at maturity, the longest low-coupon bond swings the most, and discounts and premiums each carry their own tax treatment. Nail the ordering and the pricing logic and this unit answers itself.
• Municipal Securities: General obligation bonds lean on taxing power and a voter referendum, while revenue bonds lean on project income, a feasibility study, and covenants like the rate covenant, with the net pledge assumed unless a gross pledge is stated. Interest is federally tax-exempt and triple tax-free in-state, so run every comparison through the taxable equivalent yield formula, divide by one minus the tax rate, and never treat capital gains or market discount as exempt. Lock in the numbers, know that the MSRB writes and FINRA and the SEC enforce, and the muni questions answer themselves.
• Municipal Analysis and Pricing: Analyze general obligation bonds on the tax base with debt-per-capita, debt-to-assessed-value, and collection ratios, and analyze revenue bonds on debt-service coverage and flow of funds, remembering gross pledge pays bondholders first. Price in dollar or yield terms on 30/360, amortize premiums and accrete discounts to par, and run taxable equivalent yield by dividing. Keep the tax rules straight: original issue discount accretion is tax-free, market discount is ordinary income, and premium amortization is mandatory.

Packaged Products & Alternatives (Function 3)

• Investment Companies and ETFs: Three types under the Investment Company Act of 1940: face-amount certificate companies, unit investment trusts, and management companies that split into open-end funds priced forward at net asset value and closed-end funds priced by the market. Sell within an 8.5% public-offering-price load using breakpoints, letters of intent, and rights of accumulation, redeem at net asset value within seven calendar days, and keep pass-through status by distributing at least 90% of net investment income. Master the pricing, share classes, and product boundaries and this heavily tested unit answers itself.
• Variable Annuities and Life Insurance: A variable annuity is a security and an insurance contract at once: the separate account holds the investments and the owner bears the risk, while the general account backs the guarantees. Accumulation units change in number and value, annuity units are fixed in number but fluctuate in value against the assumed interest rate, and annuitization is irrevocable. Tax it last-in first-out as ordinary income, deferred but never free, with a 10% penalty before age 59 1/2.
• REITs and DPPs: A real estate investment trust distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to escape entity-level tax, pays ordinary-income dividends, and passes no losses through, while a direct participation program flows both income and losses to partners on a Schedule K-1 with limited liability but almost no liquidity. Lock in the qualification percentages, the oil and gas inverse of risk and tax benefits, and the economic soundness test, and this unit answers itself.
• Hedge Funds and Asset-Backed Securities: Hedge funds are private, illiquid, accredited-only partnerships that skip registration, charge two and twenty over a high-water mark, and hand you a Schedule K-1 with possible phantom income. Asset-backed securities pool loans into tranches, where collateralized mortgage obligations slice timing risk (planned-amortization-class safest, companion riskiest, interest-only and principal-only strips moving opposite ways) and collateralized debt obligations slice credit risk from senior down to equity. Match the risk to the product and these questions answer themselves.

Options (Function 3)

• Options Fundamentals: A call is the right to buy and a put is the right to sell 100 shares at the strike, with rights on the buyer and obligations on the writer, all issued and guaranteed by the Options Clearing Corporation. Premium splits into intrinsic value (never negative) plus time value (highest at the money, gone at expiration), and moneyness flips between calls and puts. Lock in the position and exercise limits, the American-versus-European styles, the dividend-driven early-exercise setup, and the account-approval steps (options disclosure document at or before approval, signed agreement back within 15 days) and this unit answers itself.
• Basic Options Strategies: Buy an option for a full hedge with defined loss; sell one for only the premium as a cushion. Calls break even at strike plus premium and puts at strike minus premium, the protective put is the only full hedge for long stock, and currency and yield-based hedges flip the intuition (receive buys puts, pay buys calls, and long bonds buy yield calls). Track every cash flow, use the strike on exercise, and multiply by 100.
• Advanced Options Strategies: Spreads pair two same-class options and cap both ends, so debit spreads chase movement while credit spreads collect premium and want stillness, and every vertical's max gain plus max loss equals the spread width. Straddles pair a call and a put to bet on volatility, long profiting outside the breakevens and short between them, while naked call writing runs unlimited risk. Lock in max gain, max loss, and breakeven and the T-chart handles anything the exam throws at you.
• Options Taxation and Calculations: Calls add the premium to the strike and puts subtract it, buyer and writer share one breakeven, and a short put can only lose down to zero while a naked call loses without limit. Expired options give the buyer a loss and the writer a gain, exercise folds the premium into stock basis or proceeds with no option gain, and writers are always short-term. Broad-based index, currency, and yield-based options ride the 60/40 marked-to-market rule, escape most wash sales, and let losses carry back three years.

Analysis, Recommendations & Disclosures (Function 3)

• Investment Risks and Returns: Sort risk into systematic (whole-market, non-diversifiable, remember PRIME) and nonsystematic (company-specific, diversifiable), then match returns to their tax treatment, from return of capital to total return. Disclose every material fact, know the fee layers that eat returns, and remember the temporary-hold clock (15, then 25, then up to 55 business days) that protects specified adults. Nail those and this unit answers itself.
• Portfolio Theory and Asset Allocation: Profile the customer as a whole and let the most restrictive factor win, then diversify to wipe out company-specific risk while market risk stays behind. Beta measures that leftover market sensitivity (1.0 tracks the market), the Capital Asset Pricing Model sets the return you should demand for it, and alpha tells you whether the manager beat that benchmark. Modern Portfolio Theory ties it together on the efficient frontier, the best return for each level of risk.
• Fundamental and Technical Analysis: Fundamental analysis reads the statements and ratios to judge intrinsic value, so undervalued is a buy and overvalued is a sell, while technical analysis reads price and volume through trendlines, support and resistance, patterns, and moving averages. Lock in the ratio formulas, remember the contrarian sentiment indicators and the Bond Buyer indexes, and respect the tender-offer insider rules. Nail those and this unit answers itself.
• Tax Considerations and Estate Planning: Ordinary income is taxed up to 37% while long-term gains and qualified dividends get 0/15/20%. Gift and estate tax share one 40% system with a single $15 million lifetime exclusion and a $19,000 annual per-donee gift exclusion, gifts carry over the donor's basis while inheritances step up to fair market value at death and are always long-term, and firms can hold suspicious disbursements or trades for specified adults for up to 55 business days.
• Account Communications and Records: Confirmations disclose capacity by settlement date, statements run quarterly unless there is activity, and only realized gains are taxable. Account transfers move through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service on a one-then-three business-day clock, address changes ping the old address within thirty days, and records keep for lifetime, six, four, or three years. Nail the capacity split, the transfer clock, and the retention ladder, and this unit answers itself.

Trading & Settlement (Function 4, 11%)

• Order Types and Execution: Market orders guarantee execution but not price, and limit orders do the reverse; buy limits and sell stops sit below the market while sell limits and buy stops sit above it. Firms owe non-delegable best execution as agent or principal, short sales need a locate before execution under Regulation SHO, and market-wide circuit breakers halt trading at 7%, 13%, and 20% declines. Lock in the placement logic and the numbers, and this unit answers itself.
• Market Making and Quotations: The NYSE auction runs one Designated Market Maker per stock with paired affirmative and negative obligations, while Nasdaq and over-the-counter markets use competing dealers, and only firm quotes bind. Customers take the worse side of the spread, Regulation NMS routes to the national best bid and offer, circuit breakers stop the whole market at 7%, 13%, and 20% while Limit Up-Limit Down pauses one security, and each trade reports to its own system: TRACE for corporates, EMMA for munis, and the Trade Reporting Facility for stocks.
• Settlement and Delivery: Regular way is trade date plus one business day, cash is same-day, and a late offering priced after the close is trade date plus two. Under the one-day cycle the ex-date and record date fall on the same day, so buy before the ex-date to collect the dividend. Know good delivery, the delivery-versus-payment and receive-versus-payment simultaneous exchange, which system reports which security, and that a fail keeps the trade binding, and this unit answers itself.
• Margin Accounts: Regulation T sets initial margin at fifty percent, FINRA maintenance sits at twenty-five percent long and thirty percent short, and the account floor is two thousand dollars. Long equity is market value minus the debit balance and short equity is the credit balance minus market value, with trigger prices at debit over point seven five and credit over one point three. Lock in that the Special Memorandum Account is a line of credit that never shrinks when the market falls, and the calculations answer themselves.
• Complaints and Dispute Resolution: Trade errors get corrected internally with a cancel and rebill and the firm swallows the loss, while a price far off the market is a clearly erroneous transaction that only FINRA or the exchange can break. Complaints get reported to the supervisor, recorded at the Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction, and disclosed on Form U4 once claimed damages or settlements cross their thresholds. Mediation is the voluntary, non-binding step; arbitration is the final, binding one; and class actions always head to court.

That's the whole exam on one page. If you can read each line and hear the full unit behind it, you're ready.