Do analysts/associates have to take the series 7?

Depends on what you do.

I know Ops guys that have taken the 7 and 66, ER guys that have taken the 7, 63 and either the 86/87 combo or the CFA (L3) and the 87 combo. Honestly, it depends on what you are doing. Any research, depending how they decide to group it (EQ vs. FI under S&T or under IBD or as AM) just about requires the 7 and 66. The entire reason for having those two designations is so you can effectively speak to people as a representative of the firm and deal with clients. The 7 is the prerequisit exam required for just about any kind of basic interaction in "Client Facing" finance, be it S&T, Buy or Sell Side advising and investing, or PWM, just to name a few. This covers just about every basic product registration exam there is that is offered by FINRA except for insurance related, but I believe that's on a state level, and the 3 (Commodities and Futures). With the 7 you can technically sell munis, options, stocks, bonds, Limited partnerships, etc. You can't formally sell them in certain states until you have been registred with the state. This is why you take the 66 (Combination of the 63 and 65, which cover Blue Sky laws and state licensing issues).

The 7 does not apply to supervisory exams, and you need to take a whole different series if you want to be a supervisor in addition to the 7.

Your best bet is to look on the Finra website and see what the exams are and if they apply to you and your job. If they do, then you should discuss signing up for them with your boss. This will mean taking a minimum of 1 exam (The 3 at the very least), although the reality is you will be taking the 7 + 66 and whatever qualifiers you need.

Any questions, pm me.

I'm going into CorpFin (M&A and capital raising) as an Analyst and will have to pass the Series 7/63 during summer training. I figure we get it for the IPOs and follow-on offers that we'll work with, but I guess it depends on the bank in the end. I'll be working at a MM bank.

warmpi, thx. I appreciate it.

Powermonkey, well said.

Dosk, I'm going to disagree on the amount of time it should take to cover the 7. With a hardcore regiment, you should be able to pass in 2 weeks (that is all you do, day in and day out is study for the exam 8 hrs a day, 7 days a week for 2 weeks at a minimum). The recomended min. study time is 100 Hrs, so unless you devote 15 hrs a day and take the test on day 8, a week is a little unbearable to do it in. 2 weeks is managable if you aren't working and a month is more than reasonable to cover the materials. The 66 however, is a different matter. Since I didn't take the 63 or 65, I can't compare those two to the 66, but the 66 took me a month (15 days of burnout recovery from the 7 and 15 days dedicated to the 66). While it's not as much material as the 7, the big difference between the 7 and the 6X series are who the exam is written by. The 7 is for bankers by bankers, while the 6X is for bankers by the legal profession.

The Series 7 is something that you should take a week class for. Reading the study materials before and then taking the class makes the Series 7 a joke. It takes about 3 weeks including the class if you nip away at it. A lot is common sense and general industry knowledge will get you by on must of it. If you learn options and ethics it is easy. Series 66 was a harder test in my opinion, even after taking the 7. Even though I got a higher score on the 66, I actually was clueless on a handfull of questions. But overall there is nothing to worry about because if you go to the class and do the practice problems (some of which were basically the same question), you will get above 70%. There is no extra credit for a 99% pass rate.

thanks to everyone for chiming in

you need the 7 and 63 if you ever want to have any kind of contact with the client. at my bank we got 1 weekend and then had to take the test on monday

Many banks set aside 2 weeks during training to prepare and take both the 7 and the 63. Sort of a mini bootcamp teaching to the test.

I had to take the 7 after I began working. It was semi-tough to prep for just because I was busy with actual work, and I didn't have time to sit in on classes. So, I self-taught (a lot of it was review, luckily) and took a bunch of practice tests and it was fine. Nothing to totally stress over, but I'd take it seriously. You don't want to be the guy who fails.

A buddy of mine does Ops at UBS as part of their Ops Analyst program. They put them through a 6 week boot camp for everything. There was a 5 day class on the 7 and a 2 day class on the 66 with stipulations for failure. IF anyone failed the 7, they were immediately dropped from the program and had to return the signing bonuses paid to them in full. According to my friend, three of the people in his program failed and were dropped the friday after they failed. The 66 wasn't so bad though. He said a few people failed the 66 on their first try and were not awarded bonuses for their first year. Call it a small price to pay for screwing up on the lesser of two exams.

That said, if given an option for exam to fail... I'd rather not fail the 7 and come back with my tail between my legs or the potential for worse and fail the 66 instead, not as many negative impact ramifications.