Desk note
Series 79 and Series 63: why many banks have new analysts sit both, and in what order
Many firms have new bankers sit the Series 63 alongside the Series 79 (Investment Banking Representative Qualification Exam), but FINRA does not require it: the 79, with the SIE, is the qualification for investment banking work, and the 63 is a state-law exam whose need depends on what your firm does and where.
Short answer
Do investment bankers need the Series 63 as well as the 79?
FINRA asks for the SIE and the 79. The 63 is a question of state law, and your firm answers it.
Not under any FINRA rule. The registration for investment banking work, Investment Banking Representative under Rule 1220(b)(5), takes two exams: the SIE and the 79. The Series 63 sits outside that rule. It is the Uniform Securities State Law Examination, written by NASAA, the association of state securities regulators, and administered by FINRA, and it exists for registration with the states.
Many firms still have their bankers sit it, often in the same first months as the 79. Whether you are one of them depends on the firm’s business and where it does it. A bank that registers its bankers with the states puts the 63 on the list; one that does not leaves it off. The call belongs to the firm’s compliance team, and it tends to arrive in your onboarding pack rather than as a question.
That is why forum threads on this topic contradict each other so confidently. Each poster describes one firm, and each is right about that firm.
The stack
SIE, 79, 63: the usual licensing stack for new analysts
For an analyst joining an investment banking team, the stack has two fixed layers and one that varies by firm.
- SIE
- Securities Industry Essentials, FINRA’s general-knowledge exam and the corequisite for the 79. No sponsor needed, minimum age 18, valid for four years, so many analysts pass it before their first day.
- Series 79
- The banker’s qualification: 75 scored items across valuation, offerings and M&A. A sponsoring member firm enrolls you by filing Form U4, and you then have a 120-day window to sit it.
- Series 63
- The state-law layer, added when the firm registers you with the states. It has no corequisite.
A firm’s new-hire training programme may let you work on deals for up to six months before the 79 is passed, which is why the exam often lands a few months into the job rather than in week one. The Series 79 license page covers sponsorship, Form U4 and the enrollment window step by step.
New analyst
Licensing file
- SIE: FINRA, no sponsor
- Series 79: FINRA, sponsored
- Series 63: NASAA, if the firm asks
Plus the 7 or 82 for investor-facing work
Content
What the Series 63 covers, compared with the 79
Series 63 file
- Exam
- Uniform Securities State Law Examination
- Written by
- NASAA
- Administered by
- FINRA
- Corequisite
- None
- Format
- 60 scored + 5 unscored questions, 75 minutes
- Source
- FINRA’s Series 63 page, checked Oct 2026
The 63 is a law-and-ethics exam. FINRA describes it as covering state securities law for broker-dealer agents: how agents and firms register with a state, what a state regulator may do about them, and which sales practices count as unethical. It has no valuation in it and no deal mechanics.
The 79 is the opposite mix. Its outline gives 37 of the 75 scored items to collecting, analysing and evaluating data, meaning financial statements, ratios, DCF, comparables and accretion/dilution; 20 to underwriting, offerings and registration; 18 to M&A, tender offers and restructurings. Law shows up there as federal deal law: the Securities Act, Regulation D, Regulation M, the tender offer rules. The exam page has the format and scoring.
The overlap is thin. Both exams care about honest dealing with investors, and that is roughly where the shared syllabus ends, so studying for one gives you very little of the other.
Sequence
Which order to take them in
Rules fix the order of the first two exams loosely, and the firm fixes the third.
SIE, before or alongside
It is a corequisite, not a prerequisite, so it and the 79 can be passed in either order. Because it needs no sponsor, it is the one exam you can clear before the job starts.
Series 79, inside the window
Your firm files Form U4 and enrolls you; you then have 120 days to sit the exam at a Prometric test centre. Online delivery is only for candidates with an approved accommodation.
Series 63, when the firm schedules it
With no corequisite, it can go before or after the 79. The firm usually sets the date.
If the order is left to you, take the 79 first. It is the exam your investment banking registration depends on, it runs twice as long (150 minutes against 75), and its valuation half builds on work you are already doing at the desk. The 63 is shorter and mostly memory, which makes it a better second exam than a first: it fits into the weeks after the 79 without competing for the same arithmetic.
120
days to sit the 79 after enrollment
4
years an SIE pass stays valid
Difficulty
Is the Series 63 or the 79 harder?
150
minutes for the 79
75
minutes for the 63
For a banker, usually the 79, and the length is the smaller reason. The 79 makes you compute: build an enterprise value, discount a cash flow, test a deal for accretion, then find your number among four options built from the usual mistakes. That is technical finance against a clock.
The 63 is hard in a duller way. Its questions are short scenarios about agents, advisers and state regulators, and the difficulty lives in the wording: who counts as an agent, which transaction needs registration, which practice crosses the line. It rewards memory and slow reading over calculation. Bankers who are comfortable with the arithmetic sometimes trip on it for exactly that reason: it looks easy, so it gets one weekend.
Plan
Studying for the 79 and 63 back to back
Back to back works if the two exams do not share a week. Run them as separate blocks rather than alternating days: the 79’s arithmetic needs daily repetition, and the 63’s rules stick best in a short, dense final stretch just before the exam.
- Book the 79 early in the 120-day window, so one heavy week on a live deal cannot push it out
- Finish the 79, or at least its Function 1 valuation work, while the formulas are warm
- Open the 63 with its definitions: agent, broker-dealer, investment adviser, the exemptions
- Sit the 63 while the rule list is fresh, not a month after you last read it
For the 79 half, the study guide breaks the outline into its sub-sections, and the practice test keeps a ledger of answered and correct items per function next to the outline weight. Watch the Function 1 column: it carries 49% of the scored exam, so weakness there costs more than anywhere else.
The third exam
Where the Series 7 comes in
The 7 joins the stack when the job includes selling. Presenting a deal on a road show or soliciting investors directly falls outside the 79, so bankers who do it add the Series 7, or the Series 82 when the offering is private. An analyst who never meets an investor may need neither.
So the full answer to “79, 63 and 7?” is: the 79 always, for deal work; the 63 when the firm registers you with the states; the 7 when you sell. The Series 79 vs Series 7 comparison goes activity by activity, including the marketing-plan rule that catches Series 7 holders.
Questions people ask
FAQ
Is the Series 63 or 79 harder?
For a banker, usually the 79: it is twice as long (150 minutes against 75) and almost half of its scored items are data analysis and valuation. The 63 is shorter and law-based, and its difficulty is in the wording of the scenarios.
What exams do investment bankers take?
The SIE and the Series 79, for the Investment Banking Representative registration. Many firms also have bankers sit the 63, and bankers who sell to investors add the 7 or the 82. The Series 79 overview has the exam at a glance.
Do you need the Series 7, 63 and 79 to be a banker?
Not all three. The 79, with the SIE, is the one FINRA requires for investment banking work. The 63 depends on your firm’s state registrations, and the 7 is needed only if you sell securities or present to investors.
Should I take the Series 63 or the Series 79 first?
If the order is yours to pick, the 79 first. Your investment banking registration depends on it, and the 63, shorter and mostly memory, fits into the weeks after it. The 63 has no corequisite, so the firm can also schedule it either side of the 79.
Does the Series 66 count as the Series 63?
Not on its own. The Series 66 is NASAA’s Uniform Combined State Law Examination, covering both broker-dealer agents and investment adviser representatives, and FINRA lists the Series 7 as its corequisite. A banker who holds only the 79 cannot use it in place of the 63; which state exam you need is your firm’s call.
Reading about the exam is not the exam
The Series 79 practice app has the full bank, sorted by outline function and explained option by option — the part of the prep that looks like the exam.