An independent, unofficial guide to five securities exams in the FINRA/NASAA licensing family — not affiliated with or endorsed by FINRA, NASAA, or the SEC.
Two registration paths: SIE and Series 65 are open to any individual 18 or older, with no firm affiliation required — reachable by a student or recent graduate right now. Series 7, 63, and 66 instead require sponsorship by a FINRA member firm before you can even register to sit for them — reachable once you've accepted an offer from a sponsoring firm (common for finance-track hires completing onboarding), not before. All five are covered here, with sponsorship status called out per exam. Technical note: none of these are really "SEC exams" — SIE, Series 7, and Series 66 are administered by FINRA, Series 63 and Series 65 by NASAA (delivered through FINRA's test centers); the SEC itself doesn't administer licensing exams.
75SIE scored Q · 105 min
125Series 7 scored Q · 225 min
60Series 63 scored Q · 75 min
130Series 65 Q · 180 min
100Series 66 scored Q · 150 min
SIE — No sponsorship requiredSeries 65 — No sponsorship requiredSeries 7 — Sponsorship requiredSeries 63 — Sponsorship requiredSeries 66 — Sponsorship required
Exam
Administered by
Sponsorship
Pass line
Focus
SIE — Securities Industry Essentials
FINRA
Not required
70%
Broad, entry-level knowledge of markets, products, trading, and regulation. A co-requisite paired with a representative exam later, not a standalone license.
Series 65 — Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam
NASAA
Not required
72%
Investment adviser law, ethics, portfolio management, and quantitative concepts — the standard path to becoming an investment adviser representative.
Series 7 — General Securities Representative
FINRA
Required
72%
Product knowledge and, above all, applying the suitability standard to specific customer scenarios. The core registered-rep license.
Series 63 — Uniform Securities Agent State Law
NASAA
Required
70%
State-level agent registration, ethical practices, and the Uniform Securities Act — usually paired with Series 7.
Series 66 — Uniform Combined State Law
NASAA
Required
73%
Combines Series 63 + Series 65's state-law content into one exam, for candidates who already hold Series 7.
How this platform's mock exams differ
The real exams run anywhere from 65 questions (Series 63) to 135 questions (Series 7) delivered, over 75 to 225 minutes. This platform's mock exams are focused 10-question testlets across all five — enough to check pacing and concept recall without pretending to replicate a multi-hour sitting.
A note on scoring
Unlike some professional exams, FINRA and NASAA don't publish a proprietary scaled-score curve for any of these five — each is reported as a straightforward percent-correct against a stated pass line (70–73% depending on the exam). This platform mirrors that directly rather than inventing a curve.
Study Guide
Strategy notes for SIE, Series 7, Series 63, Series 65, and Series 66 — general test-taking approaches, written for this platform.
Practice Bank
Untimed, with explanations. Filter by exam or question type, answer, then reveal the explanation whenever you're ready.
Mock Exams
Choose an exam below to take a focused, timed, 10-question testlet.
Once you start, the clock runs continuously and auto-submits when it hits zero. Explanations are withheld until you finish.
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15:00
Flashcards
Untimed recall practice built from the same question bank as Practice Bank and Mock Exams — read the question, try to answer it yourself, then reveal the answer and mark whether you had it.
Score History
Saved on this device only (browser local storage) — nothing is sent anywhere.