More advisors than ever are pursuing the Certified Financial Planner designation — the
A Financial Planning analysis of CFP Board data shows that test pass rates have climbed significantly following major revisions to the exam.
Since the CFP Board first administered the exam in 1991, it has been continuously updated to reflect changes in policy and regulations. But over the past 10 years, the exam has undergone more significant shifts — what the CFP Board refers to as "new exam blueprints."
The first of those blueprints, deployed in March 2016, saw topics including
That study, conducted roughly every five years in compliance with the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) accreditation, reviews the exam content using multiple methods, including input from subject-matter experts, analysis of emerging trends in financial planning, consultations with firms and consumers, and a large survey of practicing CFP professionals and educators from CFP Board Registered Programs.
Financial Planning analyzed the impact of these blueprint changes on exam pass rates by grouping exam results into three major eras, divided by the rollouts of each new exam blueprint.
In the current exam era, an average of 65% of test takers have passed the exam, up seven percentage points from the average pass rate for the exam's first era.
The 'big question' behind the pass rate
CFP professionals who help tutor test takers offer differing views on what might be behind that bump.
"The big question is: Are people getting smarter or is the test getting easier?" said Joe D'Amore, a financial advisor at Boston-based Baystate Financial Services and the founder of D'Amore PASS Path, which offers CFP exam tutoring services.
"I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that when I failed the exam in 2008, the education systems were quite rigorous, as I believe they are now, but the differentiator is that we didn't have the technology," D'Amore said.
Over that period, third-party prep courses, mentorship programs and
That ecosystem of support means more test takers are coming to the exam better prepared, according to Chia-Li Chien, the CFP Board's managing director of professional practice.
In 2012, the board also began requiring candidates to complete a capstone course as a prerequisite to the exam.
"The capstone course is a comprehensive financial plan development course created to enhance financial planning knowledge, skills and abilities, and is key for integrating the various learning objectives and to prepare students for the CFP exam," Chien said.
Is the CFP exam getting easier?
Some tutors, however, suggest that other factors could be contributing to the improved pass rate.
Sev Meneshian, founder of Pro Exam Tutors and a lead planner at Chicago-based Public Retirement Planners, suggested that the inclusion of
Since the latest exam blueprint was introduced, Meneshian said he has had several students tell him that they were surprised by how few math-intensive questions appeared on the exam.
"And they're right, because there are more psychology questions," Meneshian said. "And out of those 10 or 11 questions, most of those are probably being answered correctly, because we're drawing upon our real-life experience."
Similarly, Brandon Truitt, a CFP exam tutor at Zahn Associates and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Dallas, said he's skeptical that education alone is driving the exam's higher pass rates.
Across roughly 10 years of work as a CFP exam tutor, Truitt said he hasn't noticed a significant improvement among prospective test takers.
"Cynic me says, 'You know, the CFP Board is a nonprofit entity, but they are still a business that needs to stay in business,'" Truitt said. "How would you
Still, Truitt noted that even if the exam has become easier, it's hard to say if that was a conscious effort by the CFP Board. According to Chien, changes to the exam are made independently of the board's examination team.
"The exam questions are developed by volunteer CFP professionals under the guidance of test development experts, and the exams are assembled by test development experts and psychometricians to ensure continued validity, reliability and legal defensibility of the exam," Chien said. "The evolution of the exam has mirrored the growth of the industry and the rigor required for the practice of financial planning."
