CFP study plan

Your step-by-step plan

1. Map the domains and book the window

   Week 1

   Read the CFP Exam Candidate Handbook and the Principal Knowledge Topics list, and note which domains carry the most weight. Register for a specific testing window now: the windows are fixed rather than on demand, so an unbooked plan drifts to the next one. Take a diagnostic set across all eight domains in the first few days so your plan is built on measured weakness rather than assumed weakness.

2. Get the calculator and the fundamentals automatic

   Weeks 2-3

   Drill time value of money until begin mode, end mode, uneven cash flows, net present value and inflation-adjusted rates are reflex rather than recall. Work the personal financial statements and ratios from raw client facts. Every later domain reuses this machinery, so slow arithmetic here costs marks in retirement, investment and estate questions you would otherwise have got right.

3. Take the heavyweight domains in depth

   Weeks 4-8

   Work retirement, investment, tax and general principles properly, in that order of time spent. These carry the most weight and supply most of the case-study material. Use scenario questions from the start rather than saving them for revision, because reading a client fact pattern is itself the skill being trained.

4. Cover insurance, estate, conduct and psychology

   Weeks 9-11

   Work through risk management, estate planning, professional conduct and the psychology of financial planning. Conduct and psychology are the smallest by weight but among the most reliable marks available, because their questions reward reading the Standards and the counselling principles precisely rather than accumulating technical depth. Read CFP Board's published Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct directly.

5. Practise integration on case studies

   Weeks 12-13

   Move to item sets tied to case studies and to mixed-domain sets. Force yourself to identify which domain each item is really testing before answering, because the exam will not tell you. Read the explanation for every option, including on questions you answered correctly, since the reasoning that eliminates a distractor is what the exam scores.

6. Close the measured gaps

   Week 14

   Use per-domain accuracy to drill the two or three weakest areas rather than re-reading what already feels comfortable. Rebuild any calculation you got wrong from first principles rather than re-reading the worked answer, and re-test on fresh questions in that domain a few days later.

7. Sit a full timed mock and review it

   Week 15

   Take at least one complete timed mock across both sections to rehearse pacing, the break structure and flag-and-return discipline. Treat the result as a per-domain readiness signal rather than a score, and review every missed item before exam day.

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