Series 65 exam prep: free practice questions, the 4 sections, and how to get licensed
The Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination) is the exam you pass to be registered by a state as an investment adviser representative, and this site is free self-study prep for it. The target: 92 right out of 130 scored questions in 180 minutes.
Series 65 at a glance
- Exam
- Series 65 — Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination
- Written by
- NASAA
- Administered by
- FINRA
- Delivered at
- Prometric test centers
- Questions
- 130 scored + 10 unscored
- Time
- 180 minutes
- To pass
- 92 of 130 scored questions
- Outline
- 15 / 25 / 30 / 30, effective June 2023
What the Series 65 is, and who needs it
The Series 65 qualifies you to give investment advice for a fee as an investment adviser representative (IAR): the person at an advisory firm who makes recommendations, manages client accounts or sells the firm’s advisory services. NASAA develops the exam, FINRA administers it, and you sit it at a Prometric test center. People often search for it as “FINRA Series 65”, but what it leads to is a registration with your state, not a FINRA license.
You need it if you will advise clients for a fee and do not hold the Series 7. There are no prerequisites and no firm has to sponsor you, so you can enroll on your own. Brokers who already hold the Series 7 often take the Series 66 instead.
With a current CFP, CFA, ChFC, PFS or CIMA designation, most states waive the exam. Older lists still show the CIC: NASAA’s model rule replaced it with the CIMA in May 2024, and states adopt the change on their own timetable, so check yours first.
Try 10 Series 65 practice questions
The sampler below takes 2 questions each from Sections I and II and 3 each from Sections III and IV, roughly the outline’s proportions. They are original practice items written for this site, with a note on every option, not questions taken from the exam.
Ten-question sampler · 10 questions
0 of 10 answered · 0 right
Question 1 of 10§ III · Strategies
Which of the following order types guarantees execution but not price?
Pick an answer. The reasoning, and a note on every option, appears here.
Keys: 1–4 or A–D answer · N next · S skip
| Section | Outline weight | Answered | Right |
|---|---|---|---|
| § I Economic Factors and Business Information | 15% | 0 / 2 | 0 |
| § II Investment Vehicle Characteristics | 25% | 0 / 2 | 0 |
| § III Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies | 30% | 0 / 3 | 0 |
| § IV Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines, including Prohibition on Unethical Business Practices | 30% | 0 / 3 | 0 |
Keys 1–4 or A–D answer, N moves on, S skips. A skipped question is parked until the first pass ends, the same habit to use on test day, where 180 minutes for 140 questions is about 77 seconds each. The docket marks each item right, wrong or parked, and the ledger under the card sets your answers against the outline weight. Nothing is kept after you close the page.
Ten is a sample. The free Series 65 practice test has 60 questions, split 9 / 15 / 18 / 18 across the four sections, with a filter for each section.
The 4 sections and their weights
The current outline (effective June 2023) splits the 130 scored questions 20 / 32 / 39 / 39. Sections III and IV together hold 78 of them, 60% of the score, so start there. The 10 unscored pretest questions can come from any section and are not marked.
§ I · 15% · 20 items
Economic Factors and Business Information
Business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, rates and yield curves, financial statements, time value of money, and the risk measures (beta, standard deviation, Sharpe) the other sections reuse.
Practice it in the 60-question practice test, under the § I filter.
§ II · 25% · 32 items
Investment Vehicle Characteristics
What each product is and how it behaves: cash equivalents, Treasuries and munis, bond pricing and duration, stocks, funds and ETFs, options, annuities and life policies, digital assets.
Practice it in the 60-question practice test, under the § II filter.
§ III · 30% · 39 items
Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies
Profiling the client, then building the recommendation: allocation and portfolio theory, taxes, IRAs and employer plans, ERISA, 529s and other special accounts, trading and performance math.
Read the Section III guide§ IV · 30% · 39 items
Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines, including Prohibition on Unethical Business Practices
The Uniform Securities Act, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, who registers where, fiduciary duty, custody, fees and the list of unethical business practices.
Read the Section IV guide
The Series 65 study guide takes the sections one at a time, and two of them have their own sheets so far: Section III, client recommendations and strategies, and Section IV, laws and unethical business practices. For timing, scoring and results, see the exam page.
From exam to license: the 3 steps
The exam is the middle step of three.
Enroll
No prerequisites, no sponsor. File Form U10 yourself through FINRA’s Test Enrollment Services, or a firm files a Form U4 for you. The fee is currently $187 per FINRA (checked Oct 2026). Enrollment opens a window, currently 120 days, to book and sit the exam.
Sit it at Prometric
You test at a Prometric test center. Online delivery has been limited to candidates with an approved accommodation since April 2022. A pass is 92 of the 130 scored questions.
Register as an IAR within 2 years
A firm files your Form U4 through CRD/IARD and the state registers you. If that has not happened within 2 years, the pass lapses. The Examination Validity Extension Program (EVEP) can stretch that to up to 5 years in participating jurisdictions.
Step 3 raises the most questions. How to get a Series 65 license goes through it form by form, state rules included.
How to prepare: free self-study in brief
Paid Series 65 prep courses and crash courses sell three things: the material, a question bank and a schedule. You can cover all three yourself if your hours follow the weights.
- Get NASAA’s free Series 65 exam overview and the content outline. Between them they name the laws and topics in scope.
- Start with Section IV: 39 questions, and the vocabulary (adviser, IAR, broker-dealer, agent) the rest of the exam leans on.
- Then Section III (39), Section II (32) and Section I (20), with time in proportion to the question count.
- Answer 10 questions cold before each reading session, and log every miss as a one-line rule.
- In the last week, do one timed run of 140 questions in 180 minutes, early enough to fix what it shows.
The Series 65 study plan turns this list into a week-by-week schedule.
Series 65 vs Series 66
The short answer: the Series 66 combines Series 63 and 65 content but counts only together with the Series 7, while the Series 65 stands alone. Without a Series 7, the 65 is the one exam that gets you to IAR registration. A designation that waives the 65 does not waive the 66.
Series 65 vs Series 66 compares the two in full, and shows where the 63 and the 7 fit.
How hard is the Series 65? The numbers
92
right answers to pass, of 130 scored
38
scored questions you can miss
77 s
per question: 180 minutes for 140
78
questions in Sections III and IV
60% of the score.
The pass line is a count, not a percentage, and the sections are weighted, so averaging section scores tells you nothing. The difficulty is breadth: in Section IV one word, exempt or excluded, can flip an answer.
Series 65 FAQ
What does a Series 65 allow you to do?
Once a state registers you as an investment adviser representative, you can give investment advice for a fee, manage client accounts and sell advisory services for an investment adviser firm. The pass alone does none of this: a firm files your Form U4 and the state registers you, within 2 years of the exam. Selling securities on commission is broker-dealer work, which needs the Series 7 and a sponsoring firm.
Is the Series 65 difficult?
It is broad rather than deep: 130 scored questions across four sections, 92 needed to pass, about 77 seconds a question. The law section is 30% of the score and rewards exact definitions more than general finance knowledge. A plan that follows the 15/25/30/30 weights covers it.
Which is harder, Series 7 or 65?
They test different jobs. The Series 7 is a FINRA exam of 125 questions in 3 hours 45 minutes on products and sales practice, and it needs a sponsoring firm plus the SIE. The Series 65 runs 180 minutes, needs no sponsor and puts 30% of its weight on adviser law. Which feels harder depends on your weaker side: product detail or legal wording.
Is Series 65 harder than CFP?
They are different kinds of test. The CFP is a professional designation with its own education, exam and experience requirements. The Series 65 is a single exam for state registration. In most states a current CFP waives the Series 65, so if you hold one, check your state’s rule before you study.
Do I need a sponsor or the Series 7 to take the Series 65?
No. The Series 65 has no prerequisites. You can enroll yourself on Form U10 through FINRA’s Test Enrollment Services, or a firm can enroll you through a Form U4. You need a firm only later, for the IAR registration.
Can I take the Series 65 online?
Only with an approved accommodation. Since April 2022 the standard way to take it is at a Prometric test center.
Is there free Series 65 exam prep?
Yes. NASAA publishes a free exam overview and the content outline, and everything on this site is free with no sign-up: the 60-question practice test, the study guide and the study plan.
Take the pad with you
Series 65 practice on your iPhone, for the commute and the ten minutes before bed.