The CFP exam is for the financial industry what the bar is for the legal industry. Being a certified financial planner, or CFP, is largely considered the gold standard in financial planning. Of the approximately 321,000 financial advisors in the U.S., the CFP Board says only 104,808 are CFPs.
In a world where clients are increasingly cognizant of the type and quality of advice they receive, becoming a CFP is one of the best ways you can distinguish yourself in a crowded industry. But the path to obtaining the coveted acronym behind your name is far from easy.
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When Ollisha Fisher, assistant financial advisor and CFP with Wescott Financial Advisory Group, first sat for the CFP exam, she relied heavily on video lectures and rote memorization. It’s a strategy that gets many college students through their education, but it proved to be insufficient for the beast of a test that is the CFP exam. She found herself unprepared for the exam’s scenario-based questions and didn’t pass.
“Armed with lessons from my first attempt, I completely revamped my study strategy,” she says. She found a mentor, joined a study group and shifted her focus from memorization to true comprehension. “The blend of guided mentorship, collaborative learning and intense self study made a huge difference in passing the second time around.”
As Fisher learned, preparing to take the CFP exam begins months or even years before you actually sit to take the test. And it often requires a depth of study that makes your hardest college course look like a walk in the park.
To successfully pass the CFP exam, you must get yourself in the proper mindset. That mindset begins with knowing what to expect from the CFP exam.
— About the CFP exam.
— CFP exam eligibility requirements.
— CFP exam topics.
— CFP exam passing score.
— How to prepare for the CFP exam.
— Taking the CFP exam.
About the CFP Exam
The CFP exam is a computerized six-hour, 170-question beast of an exam designed to test your ability to apply a range of financial planning
knowledge in real-life situations. It’s offered for eight days, three times per year — in March, July and November — at 265 testing sites across the U.S.
The exam is broken into two three-hour sessions with a mandatory 40-minute break in between for lunch and to restore your mental sanity. You can’t return to the questions in part one after you start your break.
Break commences when you complete the first section or time runs out, whichever comes first. It ends exactly 40 minutes later, whether you are back in your seat or not. You can take more breaks throughout the exam, but your exam clock won’t stop when you do.
The only thing you can take with you into the exam itself is a battery-powered, non-programmable financial calculator. The rest of your life must be checked at the door, where there will be lockers for safekeeping.
While you can’t bring your own notes, you will have access to formulas and tax tables provided by the CFP Board. You can download these tables from CFP.net to use while studying.
CFP Exam Eligibility Requirements
To take the CFP exam you must first complete the CFP Board’s education requirement. While you can register for the exam before completing the necessary education, you can’t actually sit for the test until the CFP Board has verified that you have completed the requisite education. The CFP Board also requires you obtain a bachelor’s degree within five years of passing the exam.
You can satisfy the CFP exam education requirement by completing a CFP Board-approved program or equivalent coursework.
Alternatively, if you hold one of the following approved professional designations, you may be able to take advantage of the CFP Board Accelerated Path, which allows you to sit for the CFP exam sooner:
— Doctor of business administration.
— Ph.D. in business administration, economics or finance.
— Licensed attorney or certified public accountant (even if currently inactive).
— Chartered financial consultant.
— Chartered life underwriter.
— Chartered financial analyst.
— CFP certification outside of the U.S. from the financial planning standards board.
The CFP Board approves registered education programs but doesn’t offer the education itself, nor does it express an opinion on providers. It’s up to candidates to do their own research in selecting the right CFP education provider for them.
CFP Exam Topics
The CFP exam is written with an emphasis on problem-solving and critical thinking as opposed to textbook theories. This is why Fisher struggled to pass the test until she changed her approach from straight memorization to comprehension.
Each of the 170 multiple-choice questions is linked to one or more of the CFP Board’s eight Principal Knowledge Topics. To determine these topics, the CFP Board surveys certified financial planners about their job and what you need to know to be a CFP approximately every five years.
“CFP Board continuously reviews CFP certification exam content and updates it as necessary,” says Chia-Li Chien, CFP Board’s managing director of professional practice. “For example, when laws change, such as the SECURE 2.0 ACT of 2022, these may be included among our knowledge topics.”
The latest version of the CFP exam is structured as follows:
— 18% retirement savings and income planning.
— 17% investment planning.
— 15% general financial planning principles.
— 14% tax planning.
— 11% risk management and insurance planning.
— 10% estate planning.
— 8% professional conduct and regulation.
— 7% psychology of financial planning.
Once the exam topics have been identified, the CFP Board invites CFP volunteers to question-writing workshops where the actual questions are written. This is both the science and the artistry of the exam: The questions are developed by people in the industry — with some oversight by test experts, of course. Each question undergoes a multiple-stage review process, the culmination of which is a final review by the CFP Board’s Council on Examinations.
The CFP exam will also test you on the following day-to-day job tasks:
— Establishing and defining client-planner relationships.
— Gathering information necessary to fulfill the engagement.
— Analyzing and evaluating the client’s current financial status.
— Developing the recommendation(s).
— Communicating the recommendation(s).
— Implementing the recommendation(s).
— Monitoring the recommendation(s).
— Practicing within professional and regulatory standards.
CFP Exam Passing Score
The CFP exam is a pass-or-fail exam. The passing score is determined through a psychometric process used to determine the minimum competency to be a CFP. This can be frustrating for test takers because it means there’s no clearly articulated score needed to pass. You’ll find out if you passed or failed, and if you failed, what areas you scored low in, but beyond that the details are vague to protect the integrity of the exam.
If you fail and want to retake the exam, you must wait for the next testing window. You’ll also need to pay the exam fee and take the entire exam for each retake. You can take the exam three times in one 24-month period up to a lifetime maximum of five times.
How to Prepare for the CFP Exam
CFP exam study tips:
— Give yourself more time to study than you think you need.
— Get your support system in place.
— Study smarter, not just harder.
— Take practice tests. Lots of practice tests.
— Go to a live review.
— Test drive the exam site.
1. Give yourself more time to study than you think you need.
Plan to spend at least three to six months preparing for the exam. “This gives you time to absorb the material, reinforce concepts and build exam readiness without burnout,” Fisher says. “Maintaining a consistent study schedule will help” you integrate the concepts you learn and “enter exam day feeling more prepared.”
You may need to adapt your life to fit in the necessary study time. “Since most exam takers have full-time jobs, it’s not reasonable to assume you can live your normal routine and squeeze in study time,” says Kathryn Berkenpas, CFP Board’s managing director of corporate growth. “Think about what you have to do, and what you want to do but could change temporarily in order to study.” For example, maybe you cut your gym routine down from five days a week to only three, just until exam day.
2. Get your support system in place.
Taking the CFP exam is a bit like raising a child: best undertaken with a village of support.
“Let your family, friends, boss and coworkers know you’ll need their encouragement and understanding while you prepare,” Chien says.
She also recommends forming a study group of “ideally no more than four members” and to meet “weekly to review what you got wrong on practice exams and hold each other accountable.”
Fisher found her study group to be a key asset in her success and helped form a sense of community as she prepared. “Together, we balanced each other’s strengths and weaknesses, making the process less daunting,” she says.
She also found a mentor through her network who she met with at at least twice a week. If you don’t have a connection to your potential mentors already, the CFP Board has a mentorship program that can pair you with a CFP professional and aligns with the exam schedule.
3. Study smarter, not just harder.
If there’s one lesson to be learned from people who have gone and failed before you, it’s that simply studying isn’t enough to pass the CFP exam. You need to study the right way.
“Focus on mastering the concepts and avoid cramming,” Fisher says. She leveraged on-the-job tasks designed around the concepts she wanted to master to help her comprehension. For example, to better understand estate planning, she’d read through and summarize estate planning documents.
While pure memorization is likely insufficient, repetition can be your best friend. “Even if you feel you won’t retain everything, reading the review books at least twice is essential,” Fisher says. “Repetition reinforces key concepts and improves recall, which is critical since the CFP exam tests applied knowledge across a broad range of financial planning areas.”
She suggests taking at least 100 practice questions each day once you’re within six weeks of exam day. “This serves two purposes: identifying weak areas that need more attention and building rhythm and speed.”
4. Take practice tests. Lots of practice tests.
Hand-in-hand with repetition are practice tests. “Take full advantage of practice exams from multiple sources, including those offered by CFP Board,” Chien says.
The CFP Board’s website provides two 170-question online practice exams using questions from previous exams. The practice exams offer immediate scoring and complimentary feedback. You can even create your own practice exam as you study by collecting questions that could be asked on the test.
These will help you become familiar with the type of questions and format of the actual test. They’re also a great opportunity to practice pacing yourself. To combat the physical fatigue of the actual exam day, you might even do practice exams for the exact time the real exam would take, complete with true 40-minute breaks.
“Be sure to practice using your calculator,” Fisher adds. “Being comfortable with your calculator will save valuable time during the exam.”
She also suggests being familiar with how to reset them, as some testing centers require you to do so.
5. Go to a live review.
While the CFP Board doesn’t require taking a live review course, it highly recommends it. Live review courses are typically held one month before the exam date and often last three to four days.
“A live review course is more condensed, exam-focused and strategically structured to reinforce key concepts that will likely be on the exam,” Fisher says. They also provide practice exams and question banks designed to help you pass the exam.
“Get away from the office and home, and put all your focus on exam prep,” Berkenpas says. “It’s worth the time and cost.”
6. Test drive the exam site.
You may also want to take a dry-run of the actual test format and test center. Prometric, which proctors the CFP exam, also allows test takers to do a 30-minute “test drive” of the test center, which lets you walk through all check-in and testing procedures for $30.
Even if you don’t test drive the actual test center, do a test drive of your commute to it. Drive to the exam site the day before. Locate where you’ll park and how to pay for it. And pay attention to traffic on the way.
“If your commute is 40 minutes or longer, consider booking a hotel near the testing center the night before,” Fisher says. “A shorter commute can help reduce stress and ensure you’re well rested.”
Taking the CFP Exam
On exam day, the best advice is to arrive early and confidently. You’ve done everything you can. Don’t dwell on what could go wrong on the test itself. Instead, focus on taking it one question at a time.
“Each question on the CFP exam is worth the same number of points, so it’s essential to manage your time wisely,” Fisher says. “If you think a question will take more than two minutes to answer, mark it for review and move on.” This will save you from wasting precious time on a single question that could be spent answering several others.
She also suggests taking the easier test first, then going back to answer your marked questions from earlier.
“Unless you’re certain you misread a question or made a mistake, stick with your first answer,” she says. “Your initial answer is likely the correct one.”
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CFP Exam 101: Everything You Need to Know to Pass the CFP Test originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 08/13/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
