Tag Archives: Series 66

Series 66 Exam

This exam is required by certain states for an individual who wants to register as an investment adviser representative and securities agent.  Passing the Series 66 would be equivalent to passing both the Series 63 and Series 65 exams.  Additionally, individuals are required to pass the Series 7 exam as a prerequisite for taking the Series 66.  This post will provide an overview on the Series 66 exam and some thoughts on both taking and passing the exam.

The Series 66 Basics

What: The exam has a time limit of two hours and 30 minutes and a total of 110 questions, 10 of which are “pretest” questions and do not count in your final score.  The exam covers the following topics: Economic Factors and Business Information; Investment Vehicle Characteristics; Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies; and Laws, Regulations, and Guidelines, including Prohibition on Unethical Business Practices.  You must earn at least 75% to pass the exam.

Where: You can take the exam at most Pearson VUE or Prometric testing centers.

When: You should probably sign up for the exam at least a week prior to taking it, and you can choose the time and date on either the Pearson or Prometric website when you register.

Why: The exam is required for those individuals who want to become both securities agents (generally brokers) and investment adviser representatives.

How to sign up

You can register for the exam by submitting a Form U-4 or Form U-10 through the IARD system online.  Please not that, effective September 15, 2010, FINRA requires individuals to use either their CRD number or FINRA ID number in order to schedule an exam and no longer accepts social security numbers.  If you have any questions regarding registering for an exam, be sure to ask your law firm, compliance consultant, or feel free to contact us.

The cost to take the exam is $128.

How to study for the exam

It is recommended that you obtain a study guide and thoroughly read the entire guide.  NASAA (North American Securities Administration Association) provides a study guide available for download on their website.  Also, Kaplan provides a useful study guide that presents the study material in a simple and easy-to-understand way, and their practice questions are very similar to questions you are likely to see on the actual exam.

Take at least two to three practice exams prior to taking the test, possibly more.  Use memory refreshers such as note cards or other review materials.  Do not cram the morning of the test, as this will probably only make you more anxious.  In fact, it is recommended that you take the exam in the morning after a full night’s rest.

Day of exam

Arrive at the testing center at least 45 minutes prior to taking the exam to allow yourself time to review some of your notes beforehand.  The proctor will require you take off your jackets and place your belongings, including your study material, in a provided locker.  Be sure to have woken up early enough to eat breakfast beforehand and be fully alert during the test.

The exam

The exam is computer-based and will initially instruct you on how to properly answer and mark the following questions.  Note that the beginning of the exam will most likely include the easiest questions, and then the questions will get harder as you reach the middle.  Always attempt to make the most educated guess on questions you do not understand.

The length of the exam might require you to pause and use the restroom or take a break.  Allow yourself time to step away from the computer for a moment, take a drink, and gather your thoughts.  When you encounter difficult questions, you always have the option of marking the question for review.  Never spend an extended period of time on a question, as you will just waste time on answering other questions you might know better.

After you have completed the questions, you will have the option of changing any of your answers.  After completely answering everything, you will receive your score immediately.

If you don’t pass

A number of managers who take the exam do not pass or only come close to passing.  If this is the case, you will need to wait another 30 days before re-taking the exam.  If you do not pass the exam the second time, you will need to wait another 60 days before taking the exam.  If you do not pass either the third or fourth attempt, you will need to wait at least 180 days before taking the exam again.  There is no limit on the number of times allowed for taking a test.

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Other related hedge fund law articles:

Bart Mallon, Esq. runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog and provides hedge fund start up and legal services through Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP. He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.

Securities Exam Changes in 2010

Series 63, Series 65 and Series 66 Changed as of January 1, 2010

In an earlier post, we discussed that the passing grades for the Series 65 and 66 have increased.  Below is further information from the Securities Training Corporation on the changes to the securities exams in 2010.

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The Series 63, 65, and 66 Examinations Are Changing

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the organization responsible for designing the Series 63, 65, and 66 Examinations, has informed us that the composition of these examinations will change as of January 1, 2010. The most significant impact will be on the Series 66 Examination, in which the balance of the questions will change significantly. In comparison, the changes to Series 63 and Series 65 are relatively minor.

Series 66

The Series 66 Examination currently consists of 100 questions, 80 of which test the candidate’s knowledge of Legal and Regulatory Issues (including Unethical Business Practices). The remaining 20 questions cover Investment Analysis, Recommendations, and Strategies.

The revised Series 66 will still contain 100 questions. As of January 1, 2010, however, there will be 50 questions covering Legal and Regulatory Issues and 50 questions testing Investment Recommendations, Strategies, and Products.

NASAA is also adding new topics to the Series 66 outline concerning specific Investment Products and Strategies, such as Annuities, much of which we already cover in our materials. NASAA stated that these changes are “based on responses to the survey indicating that dually licensed individuals should have enhanced testing in the areas of Economic Factors and Business Information, Investment Vehicle Characteristics and Client Investment Recommendations and Strategies.”

Series 65

The Series 65 Examination currently has 130 questions.  Of these questions, 45 test Legal and Regulatory Issues, while 80 questions cover Economic Concepts, as well as Investment Products, Recommendations, and Strategies. The new examination will still have a total of 130 questions, but the number of questions devoted to Legal and Regulatory Issues will decrease from 45 to 40. In addition, there will be a few questions on Capital Markets Theory and specific types of accounts, such as College Savings Plans.

Series 63

NASAA has not added new topics to the Series 63 Examination, and the test will continue to contain 60 questions. The distribution of these questions, however, will change on January 1, 2010.  There will be 3 more questions covering business practices (now called Ethical Practices and Fiduciary Obligations). There will also be an additional 6 questions devoted to the Registration and Regulation of Broker-Dealers, Agents, Investment Advisers, and Investment Adviser Representatives. The number of questions covering the Registration and Issuance of Securities will be decreased correspondingly.

STC will have supplemental material available in late November for students who anticipate taking one of these examinations in January. Our online practice examinations will be updated by January 1.

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Other related hedge fund law articles:

Bart Mallon, Esq. of Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog.  He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.

Series 65 and Series 66 Passing Grade Increased

IA Exams Pass Rates Expected to Plummet

The North American Securities Administrators Association (“NASAA”) recently announced that the two central investment advisor exams (the Series 65 and the Series 66) will become even more difficult.  Starting January 1, 2010 candidates will need to attain a score of 72% in order to pass the Series 65 exam and a 75% in order to pass the Series 66 exam.  NASAA did not make any statements on its website or at its Annual Conference earlier this year about the change or the reason for the change.

I had a chance to talk with Chuck Lowenstein of Kaplan Financial Education about the announcement.  “The exams have been oddities,” said Lowenstein, “everything else in the business requires a 70% to pass and the 65 had been kind of weird at 68.5% and the 66 as well at 71%. With these new numbers, NASAA has entered new territory. I suspect pass rates will plummet, unless they feel that the new exams will be so much easier (never happened in the past) that they need to bump up the minimum.”

Chuck went on to discuss the likely future performance for people taking the exams.  “Based on our students’ performance, this will have a devastating effect on the overall pass rate. A significant percentage of exam takers pass with little room to spare and bumping the requirements by 4 or 5 questions on these exams (the 68.5% on the 65 was 89 correct – 72% is 93.6 questions so they’ll either round up to 94 or down to 93, that has not yet been disclosed) is going to catch many exam takers.”

We do not recommend that exam takers study any differently for the exam, but we urge all potential exam takers make sure they are adequately prepared.  If an applicant does not pass the 65 or 66 on the first try, they will need to wait 30 days to take the exam again which will obviously have an effect on the timing of a hedge fund launch.

For more information please see NASAA’s post on the Series 65 and Series 66 exams.

Thank you to Chuck Lowenstein for bringing this issue to my attention.

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Other related hedge fund law articles:

Bart Mallon, Esq. of Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog.  He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.

Comments on the Series 65 and Series 66 Exam

I received a couple of comments regarding my posts on the Series 65 exam and the Series 66 exam which I would like to share with the community.  Both comments were made by Chuck Lowenstein, a Senior Editor – Securities at Kaplan Financial Education.

Regarding the post Differences between the Series 65 and Series 66 Exam, I received the following comment:

I must take issue with the statement that the Series 66 exam is easier to pass than the Series 65 for those with a Series 7 registration. Our experience with many thousands of students who have taken these tests indicates differently. An applicant with a Series 7 license will almost always have an easier time passing the Series 65 than the 66 and there are several obvious reasons for this.

1) Passing score on the 65 is only 68.5% while it is an industrywide high requirement of 71% on the Series 66.

2) The “extra” material added to the Series 65 is on subjects very familiar to most Series 7’s. For example, there are questions on common and preferred stock, mutual funds, options and limited partnership programs; all topics thoroughly covered on an Series 7 training program. There is extensive coverage of economics and analysis, but very little that is not part of the Series 7 exam.

3) 80 of the 100 questions (80%) of the Series 66 are based upon state and federal laws, while only 45 questions (35%) of the Series 65 cover this topic. Because these questions deal with the intracies of the law, these are typically the most difficult questions for students to handle.

The real advantage in taking the Series 66 is that, for those who will be selling securities as well as giving advice, is that it “kills two birds with one stone”. That is, instead of being required to sit for both the Series 65 and the Series 63 (Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination), taking the Series 66 covers one for both.

Regarding the post The Series 65 Exam, I received the following comment:

Hi:

Thanks for the kind words about the Kaplan course. I have recently taken the responsibility for editing the Series 63, 65 and 66 exams and was amazed at the number of errors. Although most were typographical in nature, there were far too many where one would mark the correct answer to a question only to be told that it was wrong.

Our 4th Editions of the Series 65 and Series 66 are just released and I believe I have caught virtually all of these mistakes. In addition, our new platform allows us to post errata on our website on a daily basis so, just in case there is something that I overlooked, it will be posted for all to see.

Differences between the Series 65 and the Series 66

Hedge fund managers who must register as investment advisor representatives with the SEC (through notice filings) or the state securities commission will need to have the proper FINRA exam licenses. Generally this means that the hedge fund manager will need to have passed the Series 65 exam within two years of registration (or the license must not have been inactive for two years prior to the registration).

However, if a manager has a Series 7 exam license, he will only need to take the Series 66 exam instead of the Series 65. This would generally be a good idea because the Series 66 exam is easier than the Series 65 exam and managers should be able to pass the Series 66 with less effort than the Series 65. I have detailed below the different requirements for the Series 65 versus the Series 66

Series 65 Exam

  • 140 multiple choice questions
  • 10 pre-test; 130 count towards score
  • 180 minutes to take the exam
  • Must achieve a 72% to pass
  • Test covers: economics and analysis; investment vehicles; investment recommendations and strategies; and legal and regulatory guidelines, including prohibition on unethical business practices.
  • NASAA test outline link.

Series 66 Exam

  • 110 multiple choice questions
  • 10 pre-test; 100 count towards score
  • 150 minutes to pass the exam
  • Must achieve 72% to pass
  • Test covers: much of the material included on the Series 65, but it does not include the product, analysis and strategy questions that are a large part of the Series 65.
  • NASAA test outline link.

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If you have any questions, please contact us.

What licenses do you need to start or manage a hedge fund?

Question: What licenses do you need to start or manage a hedge fund?

Answer: This is a question that comes up quite often. Many people wonder whether they need a series 7 license or the series 65 license or the series 3 to manage a hedge fund. First, a potential hedge fund manager does not need to have a series 7 license in order to manager a hedge fund. The series 7 license is the general securities representative licese which allows an individual to be a representative (broker) of a FINRA registered member firm (brokerage firm or broker-dealer). The series 7 allows a representative to take and place trades for a customer. It is also a prerequisite for many of the other FINRA exams (such as the series 24). Because the hedge fund in not regulated as a broker, a hedge fund manager does not need to have a series 7 license (assuming that the manager is also concurrently acting as a broker-dealer representative).

Second, a start up hedge fund manager may need to have a series 65 license in order to become registered as an investment adviser. There are two potential ways a hedge fund manager would be required to register as an investment adviser – under the federal rules (the Investment Advisers Act of 1940) or under the various state rules (commonly referred to as the state blue sky laws). If a manager is required to register with the SEC under the Advisers Act* then, for federal purposes, the manager will not need to have taken the Series 65. However, the Advisers Act allows states to impose certain requirements on all federally registered investment advisers with a place of business in their state. Generally the states will require all federally registered investment advisers to “notice file” in their state which entails paying a fee to the state. The state can also require that all investment adviser representatives have the series 65 license. This means that anyone who talks to clients/investors or makes any trading decisions or analysis will need to have this license. The definition of investment adviser representative basically encompasses every employee or owner of the investment adviser other than secretary type employees. If you are a federally registered investment adviser you should discuss whether members of your team need to be licensed as representatives at the state level.

If you are not a federally registered investment adviser (generally all managers with less than 30 million of assets under management) then you will need to determine whether your management firm needs to be registered as an investment adviser at the state level. Many states require investment advisers with a place of business** in the state to register. Some popular states that require investment adviser registration are California, Texas, Washington and Colorado. However, there are many states which have exemptions from the registration requirements. Some popular states that have exemptions (through regulation or special order) from investment adviser registration for hedge fund managers are New York, Connecticut, Florida and Georgia. Again, you should speak with your legal counsel or compliance professional to determine whether your hedge fund management firm will need to be licensed as an investment adviser in the state.

Finally, if the hedge fund trades futures or commodities then the manager may need to be registered as a commodity pool operator with the National Futures Association. In order to register as a commodity pool operator at least one person at the management company will need to take the Series 3 exam. For more information on the Series 3 exam and this part of the registration process please read how to register as a CPO or CTA.

* Many potential hedge fund managers are confused with whether a management company will need to be registered as an investment adviser with the SEC. The answer is that in most cases a hedge fund manager will not have to be registered as an investment adviser with the SEC because of an exemption provision within the investment advisers act. Section 203(b)(3) of the Advisers Act specifically exempts from the registration provisions “any investment adviser who during the course of the preceding twelve months has had fewer than fifteen clients and who neither holds himself out generally to the public as an investment adviser nor acts as an investment adviser …” The term “client” in the hedge fund context means a “corporation, general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, trust …, or other legal organization … to which you provide investment advice based on its investment objectives rather than the individual investment objectives of its shareholders, partners, limited partners, members, or beneficiaries…”

This means that as long as a hedge fund manager will not need to count the investors in the hedge fund as his “client” and that the hedge fund itself is the only “client.” You will probably recall that a couple of years ago the SEC proposed a change to the rules under the Advisers Act that required a manager to count all of the investors in the hedge fund as clients. Under the proposed rule hedge fund managers would have been required register with the SEC (if they had at least $30 million under management), but Phillip Goldstein successfully challenged the SEC in court. His successful challenge to the rule change allows hedge fund managers to escape SEC regulation.

** “Place of business” of an investment adviser means: (1) An office at which the investment adviser regularly provides investment advisory services, solicits, meets with, or otherwise communicates with clients; and (2) Any other location that is held out to the general public as a location at which the investment adviser provides investment advisory services, solicits, meets with, or otherwise communicates with clients.