How Hard Is the Series 31? Pass Rate & Study Plan

What the Series 31 Exam Is

The Series 31 — officially the Futures Managed Funds Examination — qualifies a representative to solicit or supervise the solicitation of managed futures accounts, commodity pools, and managed funds. In practice, it is the license that lets a registered representative introduce clients to commodity trading advisors (CTAs) and commodity pool operators (CPOs), or supervise others who do. It sits at the intersection of securities and futures regulation, which is why it draws people who already work in brokerage but need to add a managed-futures capability.

Exam Format and Logistics

The Series 31 is a short, focused exam. Here is the structure you'll actually sit for:

• Questions: 45 scored questions.
• Time limit: 60 minutes.
• Passing score: 70 percent.
• Cost: $90.

With 45 questions in 60 minutes, you have about 80 seconds per question — comfortable pacing for a well-prepared candidate, but not so generous that you can afford to agonize over every item. Because the passing threshold is 70 percent, you can miss roughly 13 of the 45 questions and still pass, but leaving that little margin means a handful of careless errors can end your attempt. Aim in practice tests for the low-to-mid 80s so a bad day still clears the bar.

What the Exam Covers

The content centers on the rules governing the solicitation and management of futures funds and pooled accounts. Expect questions on the roles and obligations of CPOs and CTAs, disclosure documents and their required contents, promotional material standards, account-opening and suitability considerations for managed futures, and the supervisory duties that apply when representatives solicit this business. The recurring theme is disclosure and fair dealing — who must disclose what, when, and in what form — so orient your study around the regulatory obligations rather than trading mechanics.

How Hard Is It, and How Long to Study

Relative to comprehensive qualification exams, the Series 31 is narrow and short, which most candidates find makes it approachable — particularly those who already hold a securities registration and are comfortable reading regulatory language. The difficulty is less about volume and more about precision: the questions test whether you know the specific disclosure and supervisory rules, not general concepts. Candidates who treat it as a quick add-on and skim the material are the ones who get surprised.

A focused study plan that emphasizes the disclosure-document and promotional-material rules, backed by full-length practice exams under the 60-minute clock, is a sensible approach for most working professionals. Practicing timed is important precisely because the exam is short: there is no slack to recover from a slow start.

How to Pass: A Practical Approach

1. Master the disclosure rules first

Because the exam is disclosure-heavy, front-load your study on what CPOs and CTAs must disclose and the required contents of disclosure documents. This is the highest-yield material.

2. Learn the roles cold

Be able to distinguish a CPO from a CTA, and know each one's registration and supervisory obligations. Questions frequently hinge on attributing a duty to the correct party.

3. Drill promotional-material standards

Rules on advertising and past-performance presentation are a common source of tricky, detail-oriented questions.

4. Take timed practice exams

Simulate the real 45-question, 60-minute format. Target a practice score comfortably above 70 percent so the live passing bar feels routine.

5. Flag and move on

With about 80 seconds per question, mark anything that stalls you and return to it. Banking the easy points first protects your score.

Career Value

The Series 31 is a capability license: it opens the specific line of business of soliciting and supervising managed-futures and commodity-pool accounts. For a representative at a firm that offers managed futures, it is often a prerequisite to participating in that revenue stream at all. Its value is therefore concentrated — it matters intensely if managed futures is part of your firm's offering and your role, and less so otherwise. For roughly the cost of the $90 exam fee plus study time, it removes a hard gate on a distinct product area, which is a favorable trade when your book of business or your firm's strategy points toward managed futures.

Bottom Line

The Series 31 is a short, inexpensive, disclosure-focused exam — 45 questions, 60 minutes, a 70 percent passing score, and a $90 fee. Its brevity is an advantage, but its precision demands are real: study the disclosure and supervisory rules deliberately, practice under the clock, and you can reasonably expect to add a targeted managed-futures qualification to your registration.