Whew…This exam was quite a journey! I felt like I was on a roller coaster most of the time, but I passed on November 7, 2022. In this post, I share my study process and approach that helped me get there. -Jackie Cummings Koski, CFP®, MSPFP, AFC®
CAREER CHANGER
I retired early from my corporate job in 2019 to pursue my passion around financial literacy and education, so I guess that makes me a career changer. CFP® certification was not initially on my radar, but I knew I wanted to focus on personal finance. While pursuing my master’s degree at Kansas State University (Personal Financial Planning & Financial Therapy), I quickly realized that the first series of courses and capstone were part of the CFP Board approved education coursework requirement. As I approached graduation, I made up my mind to sit for the CFP® exam in November 2022 and continued sort of a “slow study” so that I would not forget too much. One other compelling reason I became so motivated to earn my CFP® certification was the low representation of women and minorities who are CFP® professionals.
AUDIO/VISUAL LEARNER
I started my review program with Danko in July, but only received reading material at that point (mostly printed books). I am an auditory and visual learner, so this was not a fun way to begin my studies. Review programs are an important component of exam prep, but I found other resources to be helpful as well. I supplemented partly by listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos (hosted by credentialed professionals like CFP® professionals, attorneys, CPAs, etc.) that kept my brain focused on relevant exam topics. This was a nice departure from the monotony of reading chapter after chapter in my review books and the lecture-style instruction later in the program. Here is a list of my favorites in case it’s helpful to anyone else.
STUDY GROUP & STUDY PARTNER
I had a small, close knit study group (5-6 people) and a study partner that kept me going, even on days I felt defeated. We were all from different review programs (Kaplan, Dalton, Danko, BIF) but our mission was the same. For many months, we exchanged brainpower as well as emotional support. For me, there is so much value in discussing and talking through these very difficult topics with others who don’t think exactly like me. I believe we gave each other virtual hugs nearly every day as we pushed through. I owe so many thanks to them because the psychology of this exam is real!
About 6 weeks before the exam, I also got with another group from my review program. We met once a week to review the final quizzes from each topic and that added another layer of preparation.
MY OWN TOOLS
I created some of my own learning, accountability and tracking tools to help keep my eye on the prize. I maintained a heat map of the 70 exam subtopics in Excel that I used to check off concepts as I learned them, eating the elephant one bite at a time. I slowly went from red (needed to improve) to yellow (making progress) to green (learned the topic well). Tracking my progress like this was motivating to me. I never got to 100% green but was close (about 90%) by the time the exam rolled around.
I also kept a digital log of notes and questions in a Google doc for the areas I was weak on and called it my “Pass eBook” because these were critical concepts I needed to learn if I wanted to pass this exam. My notes also included diagrams, infographics and links to short videos or podcasts. This was all accessible to me on my computer or iPhone if I wanted to study on the go.
I had digital flash cards from my review program that I used occasionally, but I did not find those as effective for my studying.
TIME SPENT STUDYING
Early on, I didn’t find it helpful to just burn through hundreds of questions each day. I started asking myself: What did I learn? Did it make sense to me? Did I really understand the concepts within the question, or did I just memorize? The honest answer to these questions most of the time was “No!” So that is when I adopted the philosophy of quality over quantity.
Some days I worked on full cases or blocks of difficult questions, maybe 60 or so, but I got better at those concepts by focusing more on the rationale and explanations. Next time, instead of it taking me 10 minutes to answer the question, it would take me only 2-3 minutes because I had a better understanding. This allowed me to progressively tackle more questions each day and that is when I found the Q-banks to be most valuable. As I gained a stronger command of the material, it helped me to answer questions with greater confidence, regardless of how it was asked. Within two weeks of the exam, I was probably averaging 50-100 mostly moderate to difficult level questions per day. I used a mix of questions from my review program quizzes, my education program Q-bank and questions from the Pocket Prep app. I practiced additional questions with my study partner and study group as well.
On average, I spent about 15-20 hours per week on exam prep in the 3-4 months (July- October) preceding the exam. About 2-3 weeks before the exam, it was more like 30 hours per week, mainly doing questions, mock quizzes, reviewing my “Pass eBook,” doing the second CFP Board Practice exam and filling in whatever knowledge gaps I still had left (mostly within the investments domain). It helped to have most of these resources accessible via my phone and computer using a Google folder.
CASE STUDIES
I was initially concerned about not having enough time to get through the cases on the exam because I'm used to reading slow for better comprehension. After weeks of practice with timing and strategy, this is how I decided to tackle them:
1) Quickly browse the narrative for key info (rather than read it word for word)
2) Read the questions (some could be answered without case information)
3) Go back with a laser focus on the information I was looking for within the case
There was gold in the footnotes of the case narratives and some of the answers to the questions would be in multiple places. I used the highlight, strikeout, and search features on the case and questions (see Prometric demo). That helped me get the information I needed and ultimately select my answer more quickly.
CFP BOARD RESOURCES
After it was all said and done, I felt some of the best resources were those put out by CFP Board, especially the two full-length Practice Exams. I did the first one about 5 weeks before the actual exam and the second about 10 days before the actual exam. Seeing their approach to the questions and rationale for both right and wrong answers was the closest I got to what the actual exam would look like. Plus, it helped remove some of the test anxiety I had by experiencing the look and feel of the exam. I knew the questions would not be the same, but the flavor, concepts, length, depth of thought required and mix would be similar. The CFP Board Practice Exams helped confirm my weak areas (investments and tax). I did not focus too much on the overall score. The first practice exam is free, and the second is available for purchase when you register for the exam. Most of the other CFP Board resources are free and openly available to candidates.
There are some things about the exam scoring that I was getting conflicting information on, but that was cleared up by reviewing the CFP Board website.
It was helpful to know that each question counts for 1 point and that passing is based on the total score across all sections (so a low score in one section won’t necessarily cause you to not pass). The two biggest areas on the exam are Retirement (18%) and Investments (17%) and I felt that those were critical for me passing the exam. I struggled with investments, so I knew I had to find a way to figure it out or I likely would not pass the exam.
CFP Board publishes some great content on their website and YouTube channel for exam takers. Early on, I read and watched nearly all of them. The online Prometric demo was something I reviewed a few times. It gave the same instructions as we get on exam day and walks through the exam layout (the highlight, strike out, and search features were extremely helpful).
EXAM DAY
About two weeks before, I was a bundle of nerves after taking a series of 8 final quizzes (60 questions per quiz) with my review program. These were ridiculously hard questions… all of them! The target score was 55-70 and my average score was 57, ouch! On top of that, I had a big event out of state that I was speaking at. I managed my study around the event (studied at the airport, on the plane and in the Uber) but didn’t expect the emotions I was feeling as the exam quickly approached.
I honestly did not feel fully ready on exam day, but I don’t know if I ever would. I came to the humbling conclusion that there would be questions on the exam that I did not know the answer to. I mentally gave myself the latitude to purely guess on 2 questions per quarter and just thought of it as gaining back some time to focus on the questions I did know. This reduced the pressure quite a bit. I had to remind myself that the short, two-sentence question counted the same 1 point as the six-sentence complex question.
It was down to testing strategy, how I would pace myself and remembering to breathe and remain focused during the test. I had four exam day reminders that I wrote on pink post-it notes and placed throughout my house:
1. Read the Full Question
2. Use Highlight
3. Use Strikeout
4. Read All Answers
A week before the exam I drove to the testing location around the same time I would on exam day so that I was familiar with where I was going and how long it would take to get there in traffic.
I took every minute of the exam time and was exhausted by the last quarter. I felt hammered with investment questions, but I think that was a psychological thing because it was my weakest area. I took a few deep breaths and looked away from the screen, attempting to regain my focus.
And finally, the big reveal… I almost fainted when I saw the “Pass” on the screen and couldn’t wait to check my email to make sure this was real. I’m just so thankful that I passed this thing the first time. Hands down, it was the toughest exam I’ve ever taken!
ADVICE
Based on my own experience, my best advice is to make this journey one that is tailored to YOU and the way YOU learn. No one review program is going to be perfectly designed to what you need because they are serving hundreds of students at the same time. If you are an auditory and visual learner like me, then reading books may not be enough to stimulate your learning process. Your learning style is paramount to understanding and applying concepts.
I cannot overemphasize the value of study groups and/or study partners (I had both). I felt so much better knowing that I had people going through this with me and tackling stuff together. Talking through concepts and asking questions of others without shame or judgment is comforting. When I was consoling a study mate after she just got a score of 42 on a Dalton quiz, that meant I wasn’t obsessing over my own insecurities (she passed the actual exam, by the way). There are many forums and communities with people posting about forming a group but if you’re not able to find one that suits you, then consider creating your own and invite others.
For all the candidates on your journey, you are going after the gold standard in financial planning, so of course it is hard. Nearly 100,000 others have earned this credential and I know you will soon join us. Just keep going and know that I am one of the many voices cheering you
Jackie Cummings Koski, CFP®, MSPFP, AFC®