Best Series 65 prep courses
NASAA Investment Advisers Law Examination
The exam for investment adviser representatives (IARs). It is the usual route into fee-based advisory work at an RIA, and, unlike the broker-dealer exams, is commonly taken without any firm sponsorship.
Series 65 at a glance
| Administered by | NASAA |
|---|---|
| Exam fee | $187 |
| Questions | 130 |
| Time limit | 180 minutes |
| Passing score | 92 of 130 scored questions |
| Sponsorship | No firm sponsorship required |
Rankings
- #13.0/ 4
Kaplan
The establishment pick, with the question bank other providers' students end up buying anyway
- #22.9/ 4
Knopman Marks
White-glove exam prep from the firm that trains Wall Street's new hires
- #32.9/ 4
Achievable
Budget-priced, reading-first exam prep on a genuinely modern platform
- #42.9/ 4
Securities Training Corporation (STC)
The 50-year incumbent whose practice finals candidates treat as the readiness benchmark
- #52.8/ 4
Pass Perfect
The 30-year question-bank shop, rebuilt with Solomon Exam Prep under one roof
- #62.7/ 4
Securities Institute of America
The textbook house: published question counts, a simple guarantee, and self-study basics at fair prices
How to choose for the Series 65
Career changers without firm sponsorship dominate the 65, which flips the rubric toward total cost (T2), beginner readability (R1), and practice realism, since there is no firm training desk to fall back on. This is also the series where realism reputations split the most between providers, so weigh candidate reports as heavily as feature lists.
The rankings above order providers by overall CHART score; the picks below map them to the situations we actually see for this exam.
Lowest total cost
Securities Institute of America
The cheapest 65 we track, with a published 4,000-plus-question bank and the simplest guarantee conditions in the market.
No finance background
The plain-language textbook plus adaptive review is the gentlest complete path for first-timers.
Worried about practice realism
Securities Training Corporation (STC)
Candidates repeatedly name its practice among the most representative for this series.
Want human help all season
Reachable faculty and live classes through a long study season, at premium prices with realism praise to match.
Series 65 FAQs
Yes. NASAA confirms unsponsored candidates who aren't registered through a firm can open an exam enrollment window themselves via FINRA. After passing, you have two years to register with a state before the result expires.
In many states, yes. NASAA lists approved designations, the CFP, ChFC (or MSFS), CFA, PFS, and CIMA, that can waive the Series 65 requirement (nasaa.org exam FAQs, accessed July 20, 2026). The waiver applies only to the Series 65; check your state's rules before relying on it.
Other exams
About the author
Brennan KolarSenior Financial Analyst · Founder & Lead Researcher
Brennan Kolar is a Senior Financial Analyst and the founder of the Atlas Index family of research sites, including Atlas CPA Index and Atlas Securities Index. He built the CHART methodology to make exam-prep comparisons transparent: every score traces to a published rubric, and every factual claim carries a source.
Full bio & editorial standards →