The desk
About Lucite Desk
Lucite Desk is a free, independent practice site for the Series 79 (Investment Banking Representative Qualification Exam): original practice items with a note on every option, plus plain guides to the exam, sorted by the three functions of FINRA’s outline.
Readers
Who the site is for
60
items in the practice test
all three functions, in outline proportion
12
items per function drill
on the Function 1 and Function 2 guides
The reader is someone a FINRA member firm has sponsored for the Series 79: usually an analyst or associate who has passed, or is about to pass, the SIE, and who now has a 120-day window and a full-time job that does not care about either.
The site is built for that schedule. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to install. Open the practice test, answer one item, read why the other three options are wrong, and close the tab before the next turn of comments on the model lands in your inbox.
The desk
What you will find here
Everything starts from the front page, and everything is laid out by the outline FINRA publishes: Function 1 is 37 of the 75 scored items, Function 2 is 20, Function 3 is 18.
- a 60-item practice test with tabs for each function;
- the format, timing and scoring on the exam page, and sponsorship and enrollment in order on the license page;
- a study guide with full guides to Function 1 and Function 2;
- Function 3 has no guide here yet; its items sit in the F3 tab of the practice test.
Method
How the practice items are written
Each item is written from scratch against a sub-section of FINRA’s content outline. None is taken from the exam, whose content FINRA keeps confidential, and none should be read as a preview of it.
Every item comes with the reasoning and a note on each option. The wrong options are meant to be wrong for a reason you can name: the Section 5 period that sounds right but is not the one the stem describes, the terminal value that was never discounted back to today. A distractor nobody would ever pick teaches nothing, so there are none on purpose.
Facts on the guide pages come from FINRA’s own exam page, the outline and FINRA’s registration rules, and anything that changes, such as the fee, is printed with the month it was checked.
Plainly
Independent, and free
FINRA develops and administers the Series 79; Lucite Desk has no connection to FINRA and speaks for nobody there. For anything binding, such as enrollment, rules or your own record, the source is FINRA’s Series 79 page and your firm’s registration team.
The site is made by the team behind the Series 79 practice app for iPhone and iPad, which is where the “Get the app” button in the header leads. The pages here stay free whether or not you ever tap it.
Spotted a wrong key or a stale fact? The contact page explains how to report it.
Questions people ask
FAQ
Is Lucite Desk free?
Yes. Every page and every practice item on the site is free, with no account and no sign-up.
Are these items taken from the Series 79 exam?
No. They are original practice items written against FINRA’s published outline. The exam’s own content is confidential.