License Requirements

How To Get A Series 66 License

How to Get a Series-66 License

The Series 66 exam, formally called the Uniform Combined State Law Exam, qualifies prospective securities industry professionals as both investment adviser representatives and state securities agents once they are registered with a firm at the representative level.

The Series 66 exam is developed and maintained by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and is administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

What Are the Requirements to Get a Series 66 License?

To obtain your Series 66 license, you must pass both the Series 66 exam AND the Series 7 General Securities Representative Qualification Exam. The Series 7 exam is a corequisite to the Series 66 exam. There is no specific order in which these exams must be taken as long as both exams are successfully completed.

If you already have a sponsoring firm, talk to your firm for help in determining which representative level exam you should take. You are required to have a sponsoring firm to be eligible to take the Series 7 exam.

To obtain a Series 7 license, you must also pass the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam. The SIE and Series 7 are corequisites. There is no required order and both exams are developed, maintained, and administered by FINRA.

You are not required to have a sponsoring firm to take the Series 66 exam. For additional help to determine the registration that you need, you can consult the Permitted Activities of Registered Representative’s page.

1. Complete a Series 66 Exam Prep Course

To prepare for the Series 66 exam, we recommend you take a Series 66 exam prep course. A.D. Banker offers an online course that will prepare you to successfully pass your licensing exam on your first attempt. The course includes videos, practice exams, audio, activities, key facts, and can be supplemented with flashcards, study manuals, and web classes.

Start your Series 66 Training Course Today

Series 66 Testable Topics

The knowledge required to pass the Series 66 exam includes the general knowledge of federal and state securities regulations, regulation of broker-dealers, agents, investment advisers and investment representatives, ethical guidelines and business practices, prohibited practices, administration of the Uniform Securities Act (U.S.A.), communication with clients, custody of funds, evaluating of customers and risks, investment recommendations, customer accounts, economics and analytical methods, investment vehicle characteristics, securities trading, portfolio management strategies and techniques, estate planning techniques, cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection.

The A.D. Banker Series 66 online course covers all testable information you need to study to pass the exam, and is based upon the NASAA Series 66 content outline, which provides a comprehensive list of testable topics.

2. Schedule Your Licensing Exam

In order to enroll for the Series 66 exam through a sponsoring FINRA member firm, your firm must file a Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer, also known as the U4, via FINRA’s Central Registration Depository (CRD) system. You will also be required to provide your Social Security number and submit fingerprints.

Once you are enrolled and eligible to take the exam, FINRA will issue a CRD number and open a 120-day window in which to schedule an appointment with Prometric to take and pass your exam.

If you are not sponsored by a FINRA firm, you must follow the self-enrollment procedures as an individual. This will require you to create an account with FINRA, enroll and pay for the Series 66 exam through FINRA, and schedule an appointment with Prometric to take and pass your exam. The cost of the Series 66 exam is $177.

You will schedule an appointment to take the Series 66 exam through Prometric. You must take the exam at a Prometric test center. You can schedule an appointment to take the exam at a local test center through Prometric or by calling (800) 578-6273. Online exams will only be available for candidates requiring testing accommodations.

Upon scheduling your exam, you will need to provide:

Your name and FINRA ID # or assigned unique ID number
The exam name or identifying series ID (Series 66)
A telephone number for you or your employer
An email address where they can send the appointment confirmation

Once you have scheduled your exam, you will receive an email from the testing provider with the schedule date and time, the test center location, and the test-day procedures.

3. Pass the Licensing Exam

The Series 66 exam consists of 110 multiple-choice questions, of which 100 questions are scorable. These 10 additional questions are “pretest” questions that are randomly distributed throughout the exam and do not count for or against your score. Once these questions have sufficient statistics to be considered valid questions, they will be added to the testing provider’s pool of scored questions. As a test taker, you will never know which questions are pretest and must answer all questions to complete the exam, so you should treat every question as if it counts.

Candidates will be given 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete the exam and must correctly answer at least 73 of the 100 scorable questions to achieve a passing score of 73%.

Testing Procedures

On the day of the exam, you will be required to provide an unexpired government-issued photo ID to be admitted to the exam.

Information about taking your exam at a test center:

Arrive 30 minutes before your appointment
You will be required to sign in and agree to the NASAA Qualification Examinations Rules of Conduct
The center takes a photo of you and/or collects your biometric info (thumb/palm print)
At the beginning of your appointment, you will have 30-minutes to take a tutorial to familiarize yourself with the exam format.
No personal items will be allowed in the testing area. All personal items must be placed in the center-provided storage prior to entrance.
Personal calculators are not allowed; the testing center will provide a calculator for you to use

Exam Results

Upon completing your exam at a test center, you will receive your results on the computer screen after you complete your exam, and you will also receive a printed copy of your pass/fail results report.

Candidates must wait 30 days after a first failed exam attempt and 30 days after a second failed attempt before retaking the exam. After a third failed attempt, as well as any attempts after that, the waiting period is 180 days. These waiting periods mirror the FINRA-sponsored exams.

In order to become a licensed investment adviser representative, you must first apply through the investment adviser firm with which you are affiliated for registration with a state securities regulator. Contact your state securities regulator for specific requirements.

What Other Exams May Be Taken as an Alternative to Series 66?

The Series 66 is a combination exam that may be taken as an alternative to both the Series 63 Exam and the Series 65 Exam. If you do not pass the Series 66 exam, you can take the Series 63 and 65 exams individually without waiting 30 days between your failed exam.

The Series 63, Series 65, and Series 66 are national exams developed and maintained by NASAA and administered by FINRA. For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to the difference between the Series 63, 65, and 66.