Series 65 Requirements 2026: Who Can Sit the Exam and What It Costs
Before you can book a seat you have to clear NASAA, administered by FINRA’s eligibility gates. Here is exactly what they check, in the order they check it.
- 140Questions
- 3hTime limit
Table of Contents
What the Series 65 credential is
Series 65 - Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination is awarded by NASAA, administered by FINRA. It is not a course certificate you can buy your way into — NASAA, administered by FINRA decides whether you are allowed to sit the exam at all, and that decision is made before you ever see a question. Candidates who treat the application as a formality are the ones who lose a testing window to a paperwork problem.
The eligibility gates, in order
NASAA, administered by FINRA checks these in sequence, and failing any one of them stops the application. Work through them top to bottom before you pay a fee.
Gate 1
Enrollment requires sponsorship by a firm or by a state regulator approved to sponsor candidates for FINRA-administered exams
Gate 2
There is no SIE corequisite - the Series 65 is a NASAA law exam rather than a FINRA representative exam
This one publishes a raw pass count rather than a scaled score, so the arithmetic is unusually concrete: 38 wrong answers out of 130 is the entire margin, and the 10 unscored items are not part of it.
What it costs
NASAA, administered by FINRA sets fees per application cycle and changes them often enough that a figure quoted here would age badly. Check the official page linked in the sidebar before you budget — and budget for a retake as well, which is charged separately.
What the exam itself looks like
| Questions | 140 total — 130 scored, 10 unscored pretest items |
| Time limit | 180 minutes |
| Passing standard | You must answer at least 92 of the 130 scored questions correctly, which is about 70.8% |
How long the process takes
Three clocks run at once and candidates usually notice only two. The first is the experience clock: the hours or years in the gates above have to be accrued, and in most programmes accrued recently, so time spent in the wrong role does not count no matter how long you spent there. The second is the approval clock: transcripts, licence verification and reference checks are done by people rather than scripts, and they run in weeks rather than days. The third is the eligibility window: once approved you have a fixed period to sit the exam, and letting it lapse means reapplying and paying again.
Plan backwards from the date you want the credential in hand, not forwards from the day you decide to start. The paperwork is the part that is outside your control, so it should go first.
Why applications get sent back
The failure modes are boring and they repeat. Hours logged in a role that does not match the definition in the handbook. A transcript sent by the candidate instead of by the school. A licence that is current but carries a restriction. Experience that is genuine but falls outside the lookback window. None of these are judgement calls you can argue your way past — they are checkboxes. Read the eligibility page as though it were a contract, because for the purposes of your application it is one.
Once you are approved, the work is question volume. Practise Series 65 questions free and find out where you actually stand before you book a date.
FAQ
Who is eligible to sit the Series 65 exam?
Enrollment requires sponsorship by a firm or by a state regulator approved to sponsor candidates for FINRA-administered exams There is no SIE corequisite - the Series 65 is a NASAA law exam rather than a FINRA representative exam
How much does the Series 65 exam cost?
NASAA, administered by FINRA sets the fee per cycle. Check the official certification page for the current figure, and budget separately for a retake.
How many questions are on the Series 65 exam?
140 questions, of which 130 are scored and 10 are unscored pretest items.
How long does Series 65 approval take?
Verification is manual, so allow weeks rather than days between submitting an application and being cleared to schedule. Once you are approved a fixed eligibility window starts running, and letting it expire means paying to apply again.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from the certifying body, not from a third-party summary:
- https://www.finra.org/registration-exams-ce/qualification-exams/series65
- https://www.finra.org/registration-exams-ce/qualification-exams/enroll
Checked September 2, 2026. Fees and eligibility rules change; confirm against NASAA, administered by FINRA before you pay anything.