CFP Exam Cheat Sheet

Exam at a glance

Source: CFP Board, About the CFP Exam (checked October 2026).

• 170 multiple-choice questions in two 3-hour sections on one day; each section has two subsections with stand-alone and case-study questions.
• Delivered at Prometric test centers in three 8-day testing windows a year. The next window runs October 29 – November 5, 2026.
• Pass/fail. CFP Board sets the passing standard through standard setting and does not predetermine the pass rate.
• Published pass rates: 67% for March 2026 (4,391 candidates) and 66% for July 2026 (3,621 candidates), per CFP Board news releases.
• Certification requires the four parts of the process: Education, Exam, Experience (6,000 hours, or 4,000 hours on the apprenticeship pathway) and Ethics.

Principal knowledge domains (CFP Board weights)

Spend study time roughly in proportion to these weights.

• Retirement Savings and Income Planning: 18%
• Investment Planning: 17%
• General Principles of Financial Planning: 15%
• Tax Planning: 14%
• Risk Management and Insurance Planning: 11%
• Estate Planning: 10%
• Professional Conduct and Regulation: 8%
• Psychology of Financial Planning: 7%

Professional conduct essentials

CFP Board's Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct (effective 2019).

• A CFP professional must act as a fiduciary at all times when providing Financial Advice to a client: duty of loyalty, duty of care, and duty to follow client terms and directions.
• Disclose and manage material conflicts of interest; obtain informed consent.
• The seven-step financial planning process: understand the client's circumstances; identify and select goals; analyze current course and alternatives; develop recommendations; present recommendations; implement; monitor and update.

2026 limits worth memorizing (IRS)

Figures are for tax year 2026 from IRS releases (Notice 2025-67, Rev. Proc. 2025-32, Rev. Proc. 2025-19). Questions that state an earlier year use that year's figures.

• 401(k)/403(b)/governmental 457 elective deferral: $24,500; age 50+ generally up to $32,500 total.
• IRA contribution limit: $7,500.
• HSA contribution limit: $4,400 self-only / $8,750 family.
• Gift tax annual exclusion: $19,000 per recipient.
• Estate, gift and GST basic exclusion amount: $15,000,000 per person.

Formulas and rules of thumb

These show up in calculation and case questions.

• Future value: FV = PV × (1 + r)^n. Present value: PV = FV ÷ (1 + r)^n.
• Annuity due = ordinary annuity × (1 + r) for payments at the beginning of each period.
• Geometric (time-weighted) mean: multiply (1 + each return), take the nth root, subtract 1.
• Real return ≈ [(1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation)] − 1.
• Tax-equivalent yield = muni yield ÷ (1 − marginal tax rate).
• Sharpe ratio = (portfolio return − risk-free rate) ÷ standard deviation; Treynor uses beta instead of standard deviation.
• Rule of 72: years to double ≈ 72 ÷ interest rate (%).

Official sources

• CFP Board — About the CFP Exam
• CFP Board — What You'll Be Tested On
• IRS — 2026 401(k) and IRA limits