CFP Exam Structure
The CFP exam comprise 170 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) to be solved within 6 hours. These 170 MCQs are from more than 100 topics related to financial planning. The overall areas focussed comprise financial panning principles, risk management, professional conduct and regulations, insurance, education planning, investments, retirement planning, tax planning and estate planning. Further, every topic has different weights are assigned, which you need to check in the CFP Board website. As per the CFP Board, in 2023, on an average around 67% of first-attempters passed the exam.
Remaining questions asked in the examination, test the applicant’s expertise in establishing relationship between the client and the financial planner and acquiring relevant information. Further, their potential to analyze, communicate, develop, implement and monitor the suggestions they offer to their clients.
Further details of the examination is as follows,
- On a single day the exam is held in two sessions. The candidates are allowed a 40 minutes break between the two sessions.
- This CFP exam is criterion-referenced evaluation, where the performance is calculated based on a pre-defined level of competency instead of relative scores of other examinees. This method avoids any advantages or disadvantage that might have occurred if other exams were more or less level of difficulty.
- You are allowed to take additional four attempts if you fail the first one.