The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has announced that it will implement updates to the Series 63, Series 65 and Series 66 examinations on July 1, 2016.
The changes are aimed at better aligning the skills and knowledge required by professionals in the securities industry.
The new exam outlines are similar to the current exam outlines, but some significant changes have been made.
What has changed?
Series 63
- The weighting of the exam sections has been modified to put more emphasis on the registration of broker-dealers over investment advisers
- Several new topics have been added which reflect an emphasis on communications with customers and cyber-security. Specifically, the following topics have been added or amended:
- Exceptions for foreign B-Ds
- B-D supervision of agents
- Prospectus delivery requirements
- Types of customer accounts
- B-D and agent commissions
- Cyber-security and data protection
- Outside securities accounts
- Due diligence for B-Ds
- Regulation A amendment
- Regulation D amendment
Series 65
- The weighting of the exam sections has been modified to put slightly more emphasis on the characteristics of investment vehicles and slightly less emphasis on rules and regulations.
- Several new topics have been added which expand the types of investment products and add regulations on electronic communications, cyber-security, pay-to-play and anti-money laundering. Specifically, the following topics have been added or amended:
- Valuation of equity securities
- Real estate investments
- Viatical and life settlements
- Structured products
- Commodities and precious metals
- QDROs
- High frequency trading
- Regulation A amendment
- Regulation D amendment
- Electronic communications and social media
- B-D and agent commissions
- Cyber-security and data protection
- Pay-to-play rule
- Anti-money laundering
- Business continuity plans
Series 66
- The passing score has been lowered from 75% to 73%.
- The weighting of the exams sections has been modified to put slightly more emphasis on the characteristics of investment vehicles and slightly less emphasis on rules and regulations
- Several new topics have been added which expand the types of investment products and add regulations on electronic communications, cyber-security, pay-to-play and anti-money laundering. Specifically, the following topics have been added or amended:
- Valuation of equity securities
- Technical analysis
- Real estate investments
- Viatical and life settlements
- Structured products
- Commodities and precious metals
- QDROs
- High frequency trading
- Regulation A amendment
- Regulation D amendment
- Electronic communications and social media
- B-D and agent commissions
- Cyber-security and data protection
- Pay-to-play rule
- Anti-money laundering
How will this affect my Solomon Exam Prep products?
Solomon Exam Prep will be updating all products offered for the NASAA exams. For those students that currently have materials and are testing after July 1, 2016, we have added an addendum to their Resources folder (located on their student account), that includes all rule changes and updates.
Our Online Exam Simulator has already been adjusted to reflect the new changes, so students will see an option to take full exams structured prior to July 1 or after July 1 – this will allow for any and all students to utilize our products regardless of their anticipated exam date. We are always adding new questions to our database and that will be reflected in the Online Exam Simulator.
In the coming weeks we will also be releasing a new/ updated digital Study Guide that will reflect the upcoming changes. Any current students will have the option of having their digital Study Guide changed to the new edition at that time, or they can continue to study with our current edition and the supplied addendum.
If you have any questions about the changes or our materials, please do not hesitate to call our office at 503.601.0212 or email info@solomonexamprep.com.
