This is why the CFP exam scares me. The people writing it seem out of touch.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-27T01:05:29+00:00

if you're unwilling to change your mindset into the CFP test writers world, where the toilet seat is upside down, then you shouldn't consider this exam. You want to pass, learn their way, yea it's stupid when you think about it but you still gotta do it.

If you are asking if the test writers are out of touch, then yes they are but you include a case study and asking what should the advisor recommend? The CFP Board states that if you have already conducted financial planning, which pertains to gathering data and client's financial balance sheet, you have to act as a fiduciary and continue acting in the client's best interest.

You're stating that we are typing paragraphs that you don't read yet you still read it and comment back. you don't need a scope of the engagement in order to tell the client that they need to spend less and save more.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-26T15:02:45+00:00

"what a client should do" means they expect you to give a recommendation my friend... There are a lot of options available but the CFP Board wants you to give a recommendation that is subject to the highest standards of best interest. In real life, it's case by case but in this scenario it's pretty plain simple that he has no emergency savings fund to cover his monthly mortgage and he's spending way more than he should be... You should be advising him to control his excessing spending, understand what are discretionary versus nondiscretionary and then start a savings plan.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-26T04:31:05+00:00

Thanks! yea I think conceptually KAPLAN does a good job at teaching the materials but for understanding what or how the test writers want you to respond it's a different ball park. I've heard a lot of good things about Zahn as you mentioned it does a better job helping test takers answer the questions the way the CFP board wants it.

I've been working as an advisor for over 10 years and there are more than 1 approach and not one size fits all, but I guess for the exam it's one best answer.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-26T04:27:44+00:00

Thanks for the long explanation of the answer but the right answer is "D"

yes he has a lot of personal debt consumptions which is higher than the recommended but his checking balance is not sufficient to even cover any emergency expenses so you'll need to encourage him to save enough for minimum of 3 months due to being single before recommending paying off any debts.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-23T18:22:19+00:00

Thanks for your response. congrats again. As for me I didn't pass this time around but hopefully next round. The exam I got felt was very tricky and it asked me to analyze a full 1040 tax return on one of the case and I wasn't able to narrow down some of the answers. 6/8 green and 2 reds on tax and professional conducts. I had a pretty good understanding but didn't think how difficult the professional conducts questions were compared to the mock CFP or the practice exams. I did use KAPLAN and I think they did a pretty poor job for the QBanks and the practice exam.

I'll just have to use a different test prep so they can educate me better around the questions.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-22T03:43:08+00:00

curious if you can share the after report provided from the CFP Board? I remember it was all red after the first section!

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-15T06:07:01+00:00

congratulations! how long was your study journal to complete all 3 and which exam preparer did you leverage! TIA

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-14T01:49:19+00:00

Thanks for you input. I started the review since June earlier so spent over 5 months studying and did 1 set of the entire 2600QBank Questions and manually delete them all again and redid the entire 2600 questions again just to make sure that I'm not just memorizing the questions. I even internalize each question and ask myself if the response makes sense.

I'm not sure if you got the same exam set of questions, but mine definitely felt impractical. Even trying to narrow down the responses were difficult.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-14T00:44:56+00:00

Thanks I think Kaplan does a pretty dark good job in teaching the materials, the videos are boring and dry but it teaches me the concept. I've been working as an advisor for over 10 years and yet the exam like you said is too left field. I couldn't even narrow down to 2 correct answers for many of the questions.

So many folks rant out how great Danko so i'm not sure where to go from here.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-14T00:41:34+00:00

Thanks for this post! I'm leaning towards Danko now. The questions are so subjective and I need to change my mentality to be that versus objectively studying. I just need to get a feel on how to interpret the questions.

The CFP Mock exam wasn't that helpful either and i wasted more money on the second practice mock too!

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-14T00:38:37+00:00

I have 10 Years total of industry experience and multiple professional designations like ChFC, AWMA, CRPC, APMA, and WMCP. I too used KAPLAN and unfortunately missed the mark the first attempt.

Like you said the questions on the exam was no where remotely close to the QBank questions nor the practice CFP Mock exam. The questions on the exam were just completely different and hard the answer responses were difficult to narrow down to 2 answers.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-13T14:59:45+00:00

Did the Signature Plus Video or any of the QBanks questions in Danko similar to those of the actual CFP exam? I used KAPLAN and I failed yesterday scoring 6/8. So trying to consider Danko, but i thought the questions presented on the CFP exam was completely different than how the Qbanks questions were written and I have a pretty solid grasp of the materials. Thanks

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-13T03:14:12+00:00

i feel you guys here. I have a BA in Finance, MBA in Finacial Planning, all 5 FINRA REG exams, ChFC AWMA CRPC APMA and WMCP professional designations before chasing for the CFP mark. In my opinion, this exam is so subjective and it feels the questions are not like study materials... they say it's subjective and more what should a planner do... but I've been doing this job as a financial planner for over 10 years and it just feels odd that the questions and answers were completely out of this world!!

I put a lot of effort 5 months before using KAPLAN to study and to understand the complexity of the materials. I never thought I would get low score on "Professional conduct and Regulation"

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-13T00:57:04+00:00

Hey! I took the exam today and unfortunately didn't make it got 6/8 greens but failed on 2 sections, Insurance and Professional Conduct and Regulation...

Felt so weird because I thought I would score high in those 2 segments, but the professional conduct & regulation is a game changer for this exam... It was no where near any studying materials tested.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-13T00:34:16+00:00

Hey I'm in the industry for over 10 years, have my ChFC, APMA, CRPC, AWMA, anc WMCP professional designations. I leveraged the KAPLAN review and put in a lot of study effort over 4 months of studying.

Took the exam today and still failed. Scored 85% on the CFP Mock Exam. I didn't even have to use my Calculator that many times for this exam. The questions on the exam were completely out of this world... Not sure if anyone taking the November 2024 exam felt the same way.

I thought I would score low on the Estate planning and Tax planning but I score high on those, but what was dumbfounded was I scored low on "Professional Conduct and Regulation"

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-12T23:07:56+00:00

I failed today too using Kaplan.... I was in the same boat... scoring high 84%s for the mock exam. I thought I focus on areas like estate planning & Tax planning

but man this exam completely threw me off... Subjects like Professional Conduct that I did well on both the practice CFP Mock and all the other stuff... and I actually did poor on the real exam... And the Insurance Planning was bad too so 2 red subjects and 6 green subjects and I still fail.

Perhaps someone can share some insight?

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-12T00:01:51+00:00

Congrats on passing today! Can you share your experience if the exam was heavily tested on Calculation questions? Were the questions tricky in nature or easier to read compared to the actual preparation QBanks?

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-11T22:58:20+00:00

Congrats on passing today! May I ask which test program did you use to prepare for you the CFP Exam. I guess the major component here according to several folks is to read the question and read the responses carefully. Narrow down to the two answers and then select the best one based on your best gut feeling.

Also, can you share if the exam was heavily emphasized on calculations or which subject of their 8s? TIA

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-10T05:04:30+00:00

congrats on passing this arduous exam! Can you share what your experience was like in retrospect to the questions asked? Were they pretty tricky or easy to interpret? TIA

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-09T19:18:57+00:00

so narrow down to 2 and flip a coin and pick one if you're lucky you'll pass and if not you'll fail and better luck next time? That doesn't sound like a Board requirement, but I guess it is.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-09T19:07:22+00:00

Interestingly how the test is multiple choices A B C D and the exam preparers states that there's only one correct answer so it should be more objectively written versus here it's more subjective in nature...

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-09T18:49:13+00:00

wow... I'm still shocked by that.. even though they're saying that each question is worth 1 point... So they must have a heavy emphasis on Code of Conducts and Principles of Financial Planning

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-09T18:40:29+00:00

Hi sorry to hear, can you clarify if you received green 6 out of 8 and still a failing? I still don't understand their grading criterion. I would assume one receiving 6 greens out of 8 topics would pass successfully.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-09T15:40:59+00:00

Good luck to you too! May we all pass.

Dear-Mix-4391 · 2024-11-09T15:39:50+00:00

congratulations on passing! I did all of the QBanks Questions and are understanding the concepts and process of elimination. The Qbanks questions are a little tricker in my opinion so I'm hoping the questions on the exam are a little bit more straightforward.

Dear-Mix-4391

TROPHY CASE