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Exam Prep Resources

CFP® Exam: Practice Exam

Set yourself up for exam success with CFP Board's Practice Exams. 69% of those who passed the CFP® exam took a CFP Board Practice Exam during their preparation. There are two, full-length, 170-question Practice Exams made up of questions retired from previous CFP® exams, as well as some newer questions based on current content.

An Essential Part of Your Exam Prep

See what's included in your practice exam, and how it helps to set your expectations and create a study plan for taking the real CFP® exam.

170 Unique, Authentic CFP® Exam Questions

Most questions have appeared in previous exams, and are now retired for inclusion in the practice exam. The questions represent the full range of topic areas of the current CFP® exam.

Online Access

So you can access it at your convenience, whether studying night or day, on the road, at the office or at home. (The practice exam works best with Internet Explorer.)

Instant Feedback Upon Completion

You'll receive a result report upon completing your exam. The result report will provide your performance relative to the Principal Knowledge Domains.

Timed Clock for Realistic Practice

The clock for the practice exam is set for 3 hours per session, 6 hours total: the same amount of time that is allotted for the 170 questions on the real exam.

Highlighting & Marking Questions

To aid your study, you can highlight passages, strike out answer choices.

solutions

You can view the solution to each question on the practice exam by selecting the Solution button below the question text. Once the practice exam is submitted, the solutions are no longer available.

Practice Exam FAQs

Answers to frequently asked questions about the practice exam.

  1. From your CFP Board account, click the access practice exam link under the exam tab.
  2. Click the get practice test button to retrieve your practice exam.
  3. The system will take 20 seconds to retrieve your practice exam eligibility.
  4. Once you retrieve your practice exam eligibility, you will have 24 hours to access the practice exam.
  1. Do not click the finish exam button.
  2. Instead, close the browser to exit the exam. This will stop the exam timer and allow you to resume the exam later without losing time.
  1. Wait two minutes before trying to re-access practice exam. The system needs a few minutes to recognize that your previous practice exam session is no longer in use.
  2. Click the Resume button from the Access Your Practice Exam customer account screen. The system will prefill with the candidate’s name and access code.
  1. Click the finish test button.
  1. Candidates will receive an email with a result report that shows percentage proficiency in each principal knowledge domain. Candidates will not receive an overall score.
  2. Candidates who submit the exam for scoring by clicking the finish exam button can no longer access the practice exam.
  3. The practice exam result will not be available in your CFP Board account.

Each practice exam includes 170 unique, authentic CFP® exam questions.

Most of the questions have appeared in previous CFP® exams, and are now retired for inclusion in the practice exams. Although these actual questions will not appear on any future CFP® exam, they are typical of the types of questions asked and represent the full range of topic areas covered on the current CFP® exam.

Practice exams are accessible online in your CFP Board Account Dashboard. Select “Access Your Practice Exam” under the Exam section. The practice exam works best with Internet Explorer.

 

One 170-question practice exam, CFP Board Practice Exam I, (a $249 value) is complimentary with your CFP® exam registration. If you choose not to add the practice exam to your account at the time of the exam registration you can later purchase it for $249. A second full-length Practice Exam, CFP Board Practice Exam II, is available for purchase now in your online account for $249. Take the second version and see how far you’ve come!

Once you access a practice exam, there are instructions available as well as a tutorial and a sample question to try before you start the actual practice exam.

No. Although you can start and stop while you’re taking a practice exam, once you have completed the exam and submitted it for scoring by clicking “End”, you will not be able to take the exam again.

No. There are two different CFP Board practice exams, CFP Board Practice Exam I and CFP Board Practice Exam II, for you to use during your preparation (total of 340 unique questions). Each practice exam contains the same 170 questions each time it is added to your account.

Yes. There is an option for you to select so that you may see the correct answers with explanations once you have marked your answers.

Yes. While taking the practice exam, you can go back to earlier questions that you have answered in each subsection. Similar to the live exam, once a subsection is complete, you are not able to return to the previous subsection. There is also a solutions button located below the tax tables and formulas that provides the rationale for the correct response for each exam question.

Yes. There is a clock in the upper right hand corner of the screen while you are taking the exam. The clock will stop if you pause or leave the exam for any reason. Once you start your exam again, the clock will restart at the point where you left off.

The practice exam timer is set for 3 hours per session, 6 hours total, which is the same amount of time that is allotted for the 170 questions on the real exam.

The practice exam features the ability to highlight passages within a question, to strike out answer choices, and to mark questions to return to for later review. You can also review the solutions to the questions.

No. The practice exam is designed to assist candidates in their preparation for any administration of the CFP® exam based on the current Job Task Domains and Principal Topic areas. Completing the practice exam provides first-hand experience with the computer-based exam format used for the CFP® exam, and can help identify the Principal Topic area(s) one needs to review further to improve proficiency.

You can take the practice exam at any point leading up to an exam. However, taking the practice exam early in the preparation process can maximize the usefulness of the study tool by helping to identify which topic areas(s) you need to focus your study on.

A second full-length Practice Exam, CFP Board Practice Exam II, is also available. Take the second version and see how far you’ve come!

The practice exam was not designed to be printed, and the online interface does not include a print option.
No. The practice exam is copyrighted by CFP Board and cannot be copied, shared or duplicated.

Start Prepping Early: Use the Practice Exam

Taking the practice exam is the closest thing to taking the actual CFP® exam, and a great tool to add to your study plan. One practice exam, CFP Board Practice Exam I (a $249 value), is complimentary with your CFP® exam registration. A second full-length Practice Exam, CFP Board Practice Exam II, is available for purchase in your online account. Take the second version and see how far you’ve come!

Learn More About Registration
about the practice exam: 

Disclaimer: CFP Board's practice exam contains copyrighted material. CFP Board makes the material available to candidates in an effort to provide candidates with an opportunity to gain exposure to types of sample exam questions they may encounter on the CFP® exam. The practice exam also gives candidates the opportunity to gain exposure to taking an exam in a computer-based format. Use of the practice exam is optional. CFP Board is not making a claim to indicate that the material on the practice exam is the best or only means for preparing adequately for the CFP® certification examination.

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