Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam (Series 65): Full Comparison

The Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam) and the Series 66 (Uniform Combined State Law Exam) are both NASAA state-securities exams administered through FINRA, and they overlap heavily in the investment-adviser law they test. Choosing between them comes down to one question: do you already hold (or plan to hold) the Series 7? The Series 65 is a standalone qualification with no prerequisite, while the Series 66 is designed as a companion to the Series 7 and assumes you have that securities-product knowledge elsewhere.

This page compares the two head-to-head so you can pick the right path before you register.

At a glance

Both exams qualify you to act in an advisory capacity under state law, but they are built for different starting points. The Series 65 stands on its own; the Series 66 is meant to be paired with the Series 7.

Series 65 exam facts

• Questions: 130 scored questions.
• Time limit: 180 minutes.
• Passing score: at least 92 of the 130 scored questions.
• Cost: $187.

Scope

The Series 65 covers the full body of knowledge an investment adviser representative needs: economics and analysis, investment vehicle characteristics, client recommendations and strategies, and the laws, regulations, and ethical guidelines governing investment advisers. It does not assume any prior securities licensing.

The Series 66 covers state law, ethics, and regulation for both investment adviser representatives and securities agents, but it deliberately omits the product and analysis material that the Series 7 already tests. In practice this means the Series 66 leans more heavily on the legal and regulatory content, since the underlying investment-product knowledge is expected to come from the Series 7.

Prerequisites

• Series 65: no prerequisite exam — you can sit for it without holding any other license, which is why it is popular with fee-only advisers, RIAs, and career-changers.
• Series 66: commonly taken alongside the Series 7; the Series 7 is treated as a corequisite for the underlying product knowledge, so the Series 66 alone is not intended to stand as a complete qualification.

Difficulty

Because the Series 65 must cover investment products and analysis in addition to law, it carries a broader body of knowledge for a candidate with no prior securities background. The Series 66 assumes that product knowledge lives in the Series 7, so it can concentrate on law and ethics — but a candidate must still pass the Series 7 to complete the pairing, so the combined effort is greater. Which feels harder depends heavily on whether you already have the Series 7 foundation.

Who each is for

• Choose the Series 65 if you want a standalone path to becoming an investment adviser representative without first passing a securities exam — typical for fee-only financial planners, RIAs, and those entering advisory work directly.
• Choose the Series 66 if you are (or will be) a registered representative who already holds or is pursuing the Series 7 and wants to add both investment-adviser and securities-agent state qualifications in a single, more focused exam.