Free Series 65 practice test: 60 questions across all 4 sections
This is a free Series 65 (Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination) practice test: 60 original questions across all four sections, mixed 9 / 15 / 18 / 18 to follow the 15/25/30/30 outline, each with the reasoning and a note on every option.
Start the Series 65 practice test
Practice pad · 60 questions
0 of 60 answered · 0 right
Question 1 of 60§ III · Strategies
Which of the following client profile factors would have the GREATEST impact on asset allocation recommendations?
Pick an answer. The reasoning, and a note on every option, appears here.
Keys: 1–4 or A–D answer · N next · S skip
| Section | Outline weight | Answered | Right |
|---|---|---|---|
| § I Economic Factors and Business Information | 15% | 0 / 9 | 0 |
| § II Investment Vehicle Characteristics | 25% | 0 / 15 | 0 |
| § III Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies | 30% | 0 / 18 | 0 |
| § IV Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines, including Prohibition on Unethical Business Practices | 30% | 0 / 18 | 0 |
How to use the practice pad
The pad above holds 60 Series 65 practice questions and shows them one at a time. Give it about 77 minutes for a full pass, which is the exam’s own pace: 180 minutes for 140 questions works out to roughly 77 seconds each.
Pick the scope
Leave All on for a mixed run of 60, or tap a chip (§ I to § IV) to drill one section of 9, 15, 18 or 18.
Answer or park
Commit, or press Skip to the second pass. Parked questions return after the first pass, the same two-pass habit worth using on test day.
Read all four notes
Answering locks the question: the key gets a navy box and a ✓, a wrong pick is struck through, and the reasoning plus a note on every option opens below. In the docket, filled navy is right, struck is wrong, dashed is parked.
Finish the second pass
With no open question left, Next shows the pass summary and offers a second pass over what is still unanswered.
How the real exam asks questions
The Series 65, often called the FINRA Series 65, is developed by NASAA, administered by FINRA and taken at a Prometric test center; online delivery has been limited to approved accommodations since April 2022. You get 140 multiple-choice questions in 180 minutes, closed book, and each form is assembled from a pool, so the candidate at the next desk sees different questions.
Five question shapes cover most of what you will meet:
- Scenario stem
- Two to four sentences about a client, an adviser or an agent, then: what is allowed, required or most suitable? Sections III and IV lean on this shape.
- NOT / EXCEPT
- Three options are true; you want the false one. Read the last line of the stem before the options.
- MOST / BEST / GREATEST
- Several answers are defensible; the deciding fact (time horizon, tax bracket, risk tolerance) sits in the stem.
- Rule without a name
- “Under the Uniform Securities Act…” may test a NASAA model rule the stem never names. The state law tested is the 1956 Act as amended by NASAA, not the 2002 revision.
- Short calculation
- Current yield, tax-equivalent yield, ratios, time- vs dollar-weighted return, the Sharpe ratio. The trap is picking the wrong yardstick.
Questions by section: what to expect from each
The pad scales the 130 scored questions down to 60 and keeps the outline’s proportions, so a full run gives every section its fair share of your attention.
| Section | Weight · scored on the exam | In this pad | What the questions turn on |
|---|---|---|---|
| § I Economic Factors and Business Information | 15% · 20 | 9 | business cycle, rates, inflation, financial statements, ratios, beta, systematic vs unsystematic risk |
| § II Investment Vehicle Characteristics | 25% · 32 | 15 | bond yields and duration, preferred and convertible stock, fund share classes, ETFs, options, annuities |
| § III Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies | 30% · 39 | 18 | client profile, portfolio theory, taxes, retirement plans, ERISA, ownership and estates, performance math |
| § IV Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines, including Prohibition on Unethical Business Practices | 30% · 39 | 18 | who must register and who is excluded, state vs federal covered advisers, Administrator powers, fees, custody, unethical practices |
Weights and item counts are from the NASAA content outline effective June 2023, checked October 2026.
Sections III and IV carry 78 of the 130 scored questions between them, so most of your misses will matter there. Each has its own guide with a 12-question drill: client recommendations and strategies and laws, regulations and unethical practices. The study guide maps all four.
Reading your score by section
Under the card, the section ledger shows how many you answered and got right in each section, next to that section’s outline weight. Read it by section, never as one overall number.
92 right — the pass line
38 more scored questions you can miss
+10 unscored pretest questions, not marked as such
- § IV ledger
- 12 right of 18
- § I ledger
- 6 right of 9
- Both rows show the same thing: a third of the questions missed.
- § IV has 39 scored questions on the exam. A third of 39 is 13.
- § I has 20. A third of 20 is about 7.
Same miss rate, nearly twice the exposure: next week goes to § IV. Weight every weak row by its scored-question count before you pick what to study.
Sample questions vs full-length practice exams
Short sets of Series 65 sample questions teach; a full-length practice exam rehearses. You need both, at different points in the plan.
| Sample set (this pad) | Full-length timed run | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 60 mixed, or one section of 9–18 | 140: 130 scored + 10 unscored |
| Clock | none, so you can read every note | 180 minutes, about 77 seconds a question |
| Feedback | after each answer | only once you finish |
| When it pays | content weeks, 10 cold questions a session | the final week or two |
Put one timed full-length run early in your last week, so you still have days to act on what it shows; the study plan sequences the weeks around it. For a quick warm-up, the home page has a separate 10-question sampler with no overlap with this pad.
There is no PDF of this test, on purpose: a printed set loses the note on each option. If you keep flashcards, write them from your misses, one card per rule; 40 cards from your own wrong answers beat 400 downloaded ones.
FAQ
What questions are on the Series 65 exam?
140 multiple-choice questions, 130 of them scored, across four sections: economics and business information (20), investment vehicles (32), client recommendations and strategies (39), and laws, regulations and ethics (39). The exam page covers the format in full.
How many questions do I need right to pass Series 65?
92 of the 130 scored questions. The 10 unscored items do not count, but you cannot tell which they are. The cut has been 92 since the current outline took effect in June 2023.
How difficult is the Series 65 exam?
Neither NASAA nor FINRA publishes a current pass rate, so no published benchmark exists. The weight sits in Sections III and IV, 78 of the 130 scored questions, and Section IV turns on definitions where one word (agent or adviser, exclusion or exemption) decides the answer.
How to study for Series 65 for free?
Start with NASAA’s content outline and free study guide, which names the laws tested. Then work this test by section, log every miss, and take the order from the study plan.
Is the Series 65 or 7 harder?
No one publishes a comparison, and they test different work: the Series 7 qualifies a broker-dealer representative, the 65 an investment adviser representative under state law. The 65 has no prerequisite; the other adviser route, the Series 66, needs the Series 7 alongside it.
Are these real Series 65 exam questions?
No. They are original practice items written for this site, each solved blind before its key was checked, and written to the June 2023 outline. Treat any source that promises live exam questions with caution.
Take the pad with you
Series 65 practice on your iPhone, for the commute and the ten minutes before bed.