CFP Professional Competency Examination study plan
CFP Professional Competency Examination · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Financial planning practice and ethics
Map the seven-step financial planning process and write, from memory, the purpose and output of each step
Draft a one-page summary of the CFP Board Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct principles and practice standards, citing where each applies in a client engagement
Classify ten short vignettes as ethical or unethical and justify each ruling against a specific standard
Build a personal glossary of 25 ethics and practice terms with a one-line definition for each
Your checkpoint
A 2-page ethics and process cheat sheet covering all seven planning steps, the practice standards, and your ten vignette rulings with justifications
Financial planning practice and ethics & Financial planning competency and professional standards
Apply the fiduciary duty of care and loyalty to three written fact patterns and identify each breach
Distinguish the financial planning engagement from modular and limited-scope engagements and state the disclosure each requires
Outline the elements of a client engagement letter and a written disclosure statement
Explain the role of the practice standards in defining the scope of an engagement
Your checkpoint
A sample engagement letter template plus a comparison table of full, modular, and limited-scope engagements with required disclosures
Financial planning competency and professional standards
Identify the competency requirements for CFP professionals, including continuing education and reporting obligations
Analyze five disciplinary scenarios and determine the likely sanction under the Code of Ethics
Describe the complaint and disciplinary review process from intake through public sanction
Differentiate the roles of the CFP Board, the certificant, and the employer in enforcing standards
Your checkpoint
A 1,000-word case analysis of three disciplinary scenarios with the standard violated and the sanction rationale for each
Financial planning competency and professional standards & Client interests and best interest advice
Explain the best interest standard and how it differs from suitability in practice
Apply the duties of care and loyalty to a comprehensive client scenario involving competing goals
Identify conflicts of interest in compensation, referral, and product arrangements and propose mitigation
Evaluate the documentation a planner should keep to evidence best interest advice
Your checkpoint
A 60-question practice set on professional standards and best interest, scored and reviewed with a written error log
Client interests and best interest advice
Construct a client profile that captures goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, and constraints
Compare at least three advice alternatives against the client's stated objectives and justify a recommendation
Identify when a recommendation should be declined or referred out to protect the client's interest
Draft the disclosure language for a material conflict of interest in plain language
Your checkpoint
A full best interest recommendation memo for a hypothetical client, including alternatives considered, rationale, disclosures, and documentation checklist
Client interests and best interest advice & Compliance with laws and regulations
Map the key regulatory bodies and their jurisdiction over financial planning activity
Summarize the core obligations under securities, fiduciary, privacy, and anti-money-laundering rules that touch planning advice
Identify recordkeeping and supervision requirements and how they affect advice documentation
Analyze three compliance failure scenarios and prescribe the corrective control
Your checkpoint
A regulatory map one-pager linking each regulator to its rules, plus three scenario write-ups with proposed corrective controls
Compliance with laws and regulations & Financial planning practice and ethics
Apply privacy and data protection obligations to client information handling in a planning practice
Evaluate advertising and marketing materials for compliance with standards on misleading claims
Integrate ethics, best interest, and compliance into a single decision framework and test it on five scenarios
Review your error log from weeks 1 through 6 and close the top five recurring gaps
Your checkpoint
A consolidated decision framework flowchart plus a revised error log showing each gap closed with a written explanation
Financial planning practice and ethics & Financial planning competency and professional standards & Client interests and best interest advice & Compliance with laws and regulations
Complete two timed full-length mock exams under exam conditions
Score and categorize every missed question by domain and root cause
Rehearse the highest-frequency weak concepts until you can explain each aloud without notes
Finalize a one-page pre-exam review sheet of formulas, standards, and regulatory triggers
Your checkpoint
Two scored mock exams with a domain-by-domain performance report and a final one-page review sheet
Milestones
Week 2: Can explain the seven-step process and the fiduciary duties of care and loyalty without notes and score at least 70% on a 20-question ethics quiz
Week 4: Score at least 70% on the 60-question professional standards and best interest set and have every missed item logged with a root cause
Week 6: Can map each major regulator to its rules and correctly resolve all three compliance scenarios in writing
Week 8: Score at least 75% on both timed mock exams with no domain below 65%, and hold a completed final review sheet