I have been on a 2 ½ year journey to become a CFP® practitioner (Certified Financial Planner). I started in March 2022 with my 7 required courses. The courses were: General Financial Principles, Risk Management, Investments, Tax Planning, Retirement, Estate Planning and a capstone course at the end that brought all of the sections together. I finished those courses in July 2023. I self-studied using the Kaplan program and took the CFP® examination in November 2023. I failed. I wrote about the experience in another blog post called “I guess failure is an option…” Feel free to reference that post for more details on my first testing experience.
There are only 3 times annually that you can take the CFP® exam. After failing the November 2023 session, I looked forward to the March 2024 session where I would kick the exam’s ass. I went to a 4-day class in Chicago to work with a professor and learn as much as I could. It was a grueling 4 days of 8-hour sessions daily. My brain was fried. I was even brave enough to ride the Greyhound bus to Chicago and back. Let me tell you that could have been a blog post on its own. Very weird, but nice people and it was dirt cheap. It was not my first Greyhound adventure and I assume not my last.
So, I studied and studied and used the Kaplan Guaranteed to Pass program. My 2nd attempt was March 2024 and again, I failed. This was very hard on me as someone who never fails tests I figured once was an anomaly but twice, maybe I wasn’t supposed to be a CFP®. I felt defeated. You are only allowed to attempt the exam 3 times in a 24-month period and then you have to sit out a year before you can make another attempt. I had one more chance.
My Kaplan Guaranteed to Pass was really just a one more time thing (not until I pass thing as it stated) so I was without the study program for my 3rd attempt. I only had access to the question bank and that was it. No extras, no videos and no lectures. Yikes! I also decided to do some things different. I used a CFP® tutor. And I bought an audio course so I could listen in the car. I studied more frequently, and I joined a zoom study group. It was a group of other examiners like me trying to pass the CFP® by working together and sharing resources. This was perfect for me because I did not have a study course to fall back on. My study group met weekly and then daily as we got closer to the test. We would go through the question bank and answer and discuss questions as we went. A majority of my study group used the Dalton Exam Review course, which from what I saw of it was far superior to my Kaplan course.
My final attempt would be in July 2024. I had decided that if I didn’t pass this time I was going to stop. I had been doing it for 2 plus years and I was tired and burnt out. And so was my family. I figured I could try again in the future when the kids are older. This time around I think I had a sense of calm because I had already told myself either way I was done. July 16th, it was exam day. I felt more prepared than either of my previous times. I sat in that testing room for 5 hours answering questions. 170 questions to be exact. After I finished the last question…it made me take a stupid survey. Talk about suspense. Then it appeared on the screen. Pass. I sat there for a few moments not knowing what to do. I got up in a daze and signed out of the testing center and went to my car. My first text was to my study group, we had all worked so hard and I wanted them to be the first to know. I called my husband and his excitement for me brought me to tears. He was so proud. Of course, I called my parents and friends. The call I was most excited about was to my team at work. They had spent so much time supporting me and were thrilled about my career advancement. It meant a lot.
I have to wait for my official pass results in the mail in 4 to 6 weeks. And then after that I can submit my application and become a CFP® practitioner. I have worked so hard to get to this point and I am excited to see what the future holds. I am proud of myself for accomplishing this goal. I did it while working full time and raising my family. I did have a lot of help and support and to all those individuals I am very grateful. Thank you so much for helping make this dream a reality.
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