Career Compass

Series 65 Overview

An independent, unofficial guide to the Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination) — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by NASAA or FINRA.

Format last checked: September 2026. The Series 65 is developed by NASAA (North American Securities Administrators Association) and administered by FINRA at Prometric test centers. It qualifies individuals as investment adviser representatives (IARs) in most states, and — unlike the Series 63 and Series 66 — is generally not a prerequisite-based exam: it does not require the SIE or any other exam first. NASAA's test specifications were last substantively updated effective June 12, 2023. Verify current fees, eligibility, and scheduling against NASAA's own Series 65 exam page before registering to sit for it.
140Questions delivered (130 scored + 10 pretest)
180 minTotal testing time
92/130Passing score (≈70.8%, not a flat %)
4Content domains

Economic FactorsInvestment Vehicles Client Recommendations & Strategies Laws, Regulations & Ethics

DomainQuestionsWeight
Economic Factors and Business Information~20~15%
Investment Vehicle Characteristics~32~25%
Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies~39~30%
Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines Including Prohibition on Unethical Business Practices~39~30%

Independently researched from NASAA's publicly released Series 65 Exam Content Outline and test specifications — verify current figures against NASAA's own materials before relying on them for study or scheduling. All 220 practice questions on this page are original content written for this platform, not reproduced from any official NASAA exam, FINRA materials, or third-party prep-vendor question bank.

Two ways to practice here

Pick a single domain below for a focused, timed testlet (up to 15 questions, paced at the exam's overall average of about 1.4 minutes per question) — good for drilling one topic at a time. Or take the Full Series 65 Mock Exam: a fresh 130-question set drawn and shuffled every attempt, proportioned to match each domain's published exam weight, timed at the real exam's full 180-minute duration.

A note on scoring

NASAA states the Series 65 pass line is a raw score — 92 of 130 scored questions correct — not a calculated percentage, though 92/130 works out to about 70.8%. This portal reports plain accuracy (percent correct) against that same ~70.8% benchmark, with a study-signal label — useful for tracking progress, not a prediction of your actual result.