CFP Board Candidate Open Forum

  • 1.  Exam Reflections

    Posted 07-17-2018 09:35
    Hello Again All,

    Following up on my post from last month, I am excited to share that I successfully passed the exam this past Friday afternoon. After coming up short on my first attempt in March, it was such an unbelievable relief and validation of the hard work I had put in to receive the preliminary pass message upon hitting submit.

    First, I wanted to echo so many others in saying thank you to everyone on this forum for your support and guidance over the past couple of months. I am so appreciative of all the caring and supportive folks that reached out publicly and privately to offer words of wisdom, candid advice, and encouragement. THANK YOU! This forum is a great support network and a great tool to be utilized as part of your exam prep. I was a bit hesitant to put myself out there and share my insecurities last month, but am so glad I did. I felt so much less alone leading up to last week!

    I also would echo others in stressing the value of a review course leading up to the exam. I went through Brett Danko's online review both times and found his roadmaps, short hand references, study schedule, and mock exams / cases to be invaluable resources. As I mentioned in my prior post, I am a career changer, so the sheer quantity of new information to learn was, at times, overwhelming. Brett was able to put that in perspective for me, help devise a strategy for identifying my strengths and weaknesses, and aided me in learning a tremendous amount in a limited period of time. I am so grateful to him and the entire team at the Boston Institute of Finance.

    The main reason I'm posting, though, is to share what may have been the biggest takeaway for me in this entire process: the importance of staying positive and persevering. For me, the process was almost more a test of my resilience, resolve and mental fortitude than it was a test of my knowledge of financial planning. Don't get me wrong: I studied my behind off, and would not have been successful without learning a ton between March and now. My understanding of the concepts was night and day going in to the exam on Friday, and, after feeling completely lost a few months ago, I was so much more comfortable with the material time around. However, I would argue, just as Brett reiterates throughout his review, that the test does "weird stuff" with your head. 

    I'm not necessarily the first person to subscribe to the notion that "You've got to stay positive," as I've always been more of the opinion that I will succeed through sheer effort and will power. But there really is something to it: the process of passing the CFP® exam is a roller coaster and is filled with highs and lows. My study habits were obsessive and often neurotic over the past seven months, and I'm so lucky and grateful to have had a supportive and patient wife beside me throughout. I wrestled constantly with concerns that I wasn't learning enough: was I studying hard enough, was I studying smart enough?! And, constantly, in the back of my mind, I was berating myself for wasting time and energy thinking this way. I know... not productive.

    I share all of this to say that I think it's totally normal to have those doubts. I've never wanted something so badly in my professional life than to pass this exam. I had a couple of folks reassure me that, not only were my feelings and anxieties normal, but they simply illustrated how badly I cared and, ultimately, how successful I will be in serving my clients in the future. Picking myself off the mat after getting walloped by the exam in March, and doing my best to stay positive and not get cynical as I rededicated myself to those cursed review books in April, May and June was a tremendous challenge. But I learned a ton about myself through that failure, about my mental toughness and what I'm capable of when faced with true adversity. And I'm certain this will aid me in every facet of my life moving forward, as a professional, as a husband and a father.

    Lastly, I'd just reiterate that this exam is passable! You can, and will, do this. Heck, if a liberal arts English major / former screenwriter / former Kindergarten teacher / community activist and dad of twin toddlers can pull this off, and live to reflect about it, you're practically guaranteed to pass. Best of luck to everyone, congratulations to those that have already succeeded, and let me know if I'm totally nuts...

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    Mike Primiani
    Barrington RI
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  • 2.  RE: Exam Reflections

    Posted 07-17-2018 11:00
    MIKE! I knew you could do it! I wondered about you, and I'm really happy to see your personal growth through this experience. Savor the moment, and go enjoy yourself. (FYI, it's been over a year and a half since I passed and the Board hasn't called or emailed to tell me it was a clerical error and I have to retest. That doesn't mean it still isn't an irrational fear of mine, but so far so good.) 

    I don't think you're nuts. My exam experience was transformative and taught me way more about myself than it ever could about, say, inherited RMD rules. 

    Congratulations again. Happy for you.

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    Bryan Ruiz
    Kahler Financial Group
    Rapid City, SD
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  • 3.  RE: Exam Reflections

    Posted 07-17-2018 15:14
    Congrats Mike!

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    Robert Rea
    None
    None
    Montclair VA
    703-946-1198
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  • 4.  RE: Exam Reflections

    Posted 07-19-2018 09:30
    Hi Mike,
    Thank you for sharing your insight and congratulations!!
    When you had to reset the second time, what strategy that you take? Read all the books again? 
    Sima

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    Sima Alefi
    Financial Advisor
    Serenity Financial Planning
    Escondido CA
    (925)786-1490
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  • 5.  RE: Exam Reflections

    Posted 07-20-2018 14:12
    ​Hi Sima,

    Thank you for your kind words. Regarding your question about my strategy before retesting, I largely continued to review the material. I found that it made a lot more sense to me as I went through Brett Danko's prestudy books, and then the live review, a second time. I would chalk some of my success this time around to nothing more than spending more time with the material.

    This being said, I did make some changes to my study behavior, namely:

    • I wrote all of my own flashcards this time around, rather than depending on the app that I had purchased back in February. I handwrote 300 or so flashcards and reviewed them constantly right up until the morning of the exam.
    • Rather than just photocopying Brett's awesome flowcharts, I handwrote all of them, and spent extensive time scribbling notes all over them and "making them my own." I actually taped them up on the wall in my basement - it looked like something out of Criminal Minds down there - and studied them constantly.
    • I listened to Danko's live review over and over again leading up to the exam. I actually recorded it onto my phone from the videos that he sent out after our review, and listened to the audio recordings on my way to work, while I would take a walk at lunch, while doing yard work, before bed, etc.
    • And lastly, about three weeks or so before the exam, I basically put the review books aside and committed myself to taking a ton of practice questions, reading the explanation for the answers regardless of whether I got the question right or wrong, rinse, repeat. I tried to complete over 100 questions a day from any of the materials Brett had provided. I retook the mock exams multiple times until I was comfortable with the scores I was getting and felt that I truly understood the questions.

    I hope this helps. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Best of luck and thank you again for your kind words!

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    Mike Primiani
    Barrington, RI
    (540) 223-0639
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