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The Series 66 exam, known formally as the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam, covers the laws, regulations, ethics, strategies, and various topics important to the role of a financial adviser and offering financial advice, as well as the purchase and sale of securities and state laws pertaining to securities. This exam fulfills the requirements of both the Series 63 and Series 65, enabling the license holder to give financial advice and facilitate the purchase and sale of securities.
Despite commonly being called the "FINRA Series 66" it is more accurately a North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) exam administered by FINRA.
When you buy the Achievable Series 66 course, you'll get access to our extensive question bank of 1,200+ chapter quizzes and 26+ practice exams.
Our practice exams are carefully constructed to match what you'll see on the actual Series 66, based on over a decade of training experience. Furthermore, our math-based questions are templatized so that you see different numbers each time, ensuring that you're learning the underlying concept and not just the right answer.
The Series 66 exam - the Uniform Combined State Law Examination - is designed to test an individual's knowledge and ability to advise clients in the area of investing and how to solicit the purchase or sale of securities within a given state.
The Uniform Combined State Law Exam (a.k.a. the Series 66 exam) was created to qualify candidates as both securities agents and investment adviser representatives. It is considered a combination of the Series 63 and Series 65. The exam covers topics, both regulatory and strategic, that have been determined to be necessary to understand in order to provide investment advice to clients, as well as the purchase and sale of securities and state laws pertaining to securities.
Despite commonly being called the "FINRA Series 66" it is more accurately a North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) exam administered by FINRA.
The Series 66 exam is hosted by NASAA and costs $177 to register. Participants have 2 hours 30 minutes to answer 100 multiple-choice questions. The passing score is 73% (73/100).
The Series 66 does not have any prerequisites, and you do not need to be employed by or sponsored by a FINRA member firm in order to register for and take the exam. If you are sponsored, you will need to fill out and submit U4, otherwise, just enrolling/registering is sufficient. The form and registration can be found at and submitted electronically on FINRA's website.
While there are no prerequisites for the Series 66, the SIE and Series 7 are both corequisites, meaning that all three exams must be completed in order to obtain the registration.
The Series 66 exam is administered via computer. A tutorial on how to take the exam is provided prior to taking the exam.
Each candidate's exam includes 10 additional, unidentified pretest items that do not contribute toward the candidate's score. The pretest items are randomly distributed throughout the exam. Therefore, each candidate's exam consists of a total of 110 items (100 scored and 10 unscored).
There is no penalty for guessing. Therefore, candidates should attempt to answer all items.
Candidates will be allowed 150 minutes to complete the Series 66 exam.
Candidates are not permitted to bring reference materials to their testing session. Severe penalties are imposed on candidates who cheat or attempt to cheat on FINRA-administered exams.
All candidate test scores are placed on a common scale using a statistical adjustment process known as equating. Equating scores to a common scale accounts for the slight variations in difficulty that may exist among the different sets of exam items that candidates receive. This allows for a fair comparison of scores and ensures that every candidate is held to the same passing standard regardless of which set of exam items they received.
The methods used to analyze economic factors and businesses. Topics include time value of money concepts, descriptive statistics, and the interpretation and calculation of financial ratios and valuation factors.
The characteristics of different types of investment vehicles. Topics include cash and equivalents, fixed income securities and valuations, equities and equity valuation, pooled investments, derivative securities, and insurance-based products.
Developing a client portfolio, portfolio theory, and suitability. Topics include types of clients; client profiling, capital market theory; portfolio management; tax considerations; retirement planning; special accounts; trading securities; and performance measurement.
The state and federal securities acts and laws, rules, and regulations regarding investment advice. Topics include state and federal securities acts; rules and regulations for investment advisers; ethical practices; and fiduciary obligations.
Introduction to the Series 66 exam.
Financial products, their characteristics, and relation to suitability (benefits and risks). Primarily focuses on equity securities, debt securities, pooled investments, derivatives, alternative investments, and insurance products.
Understanding client profiles, portfolio strategies, capital market theory, tax considerations, brokerage accounts, retirement plans, estate planning, trading securities, and measuring security performance.
Time value of money concepts (IRR, NPV), utilizing descriptive statistics to accurately measure market and portfolio data, and interpreting financial and valuation ratios.
Rules and regulations related to broker-dealers, agents, investment advisers, investment adviser representatives (IARs), issuers of securities, prohibited practices, and ethical duties. Additionally covers regulatory powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and state administrator.
Series 66 resources
