170 questions
Stand-alone items, short scenarios, and multi-question case sets built on client fact patterns. A subset are unscored pretest items indistinguishable from scored ones.
CFP® Exam Guide
What the CFP® exam actually asks — and how your heatmap maps to it
170 questions across two three-hour sessions, scored against all eight Principal Knowledge Topic domains. Here is the structure, the scoring standard, and how ACE Prep Hub turns it into a study order.
Exam structure
Two 3-hour sessions
A 3-hour session, a scheduled 40-minute break, then a second 3-hour session — six hours of testing in one appointment day.
Pass / fail scoring
Scaled scoring against a criterion-referenced standard set by panels of CFP® professionals. There is no curve and no published percentage cut score.
Diagnostic score report
Candidates who do not pass receive performance bands per Principal Knowledge Topic — the exact input our Retaker Diagnostic parses.
The 8 Principal Knowledge Topics — and your heatmap
Every practice item, case simulation, and BOSS Exam sitting is drawn in these exact blueprint proportions, so a domain percentage on your heatmap carries the same weight it carries on exam day.
| Domain | Exam weight | Scored sub-topics on your heatmap |
|---|---|---|
| A. Professional Conduct and Regulation | 8% | CFP Board Code of Ethics · Standards of Conduct · Fiduciary duty & disclosures · Regulatory bodies and registration |
| B. General Principles of Financial Planning | 15% | Financial statements & ratios · Time value of money · Budgeting and debt management · Economic concepts & planning process |
| C. Risk Management and Insurance Planning | 11% | Risk analysis & insurance needs · Life, disability, LTC policies · Property, casualty & liability · Health insurance and Medicare |
| D. Investment Planning | 17% | Risk, return & correlation · Portfolio theory & asset allocation · Valuation & investment vehicles · Performance measurement & taxation of returns |
| E. Tax Planning | 14% | Income tax fundamentals · Basis, gains & loss harvesting · Business & pass-through taxation · Charitable and trust taxation |
| F. Retirement Savings and Income Planning | 18% | Qualified plan types & limits · IRA rules and RMDs · Social Security claiming · Distribution & income sequencing |
| G. Estate Planning | 10% | Wills, probate & titling · Trust types and uses · Gift & estate tax planning · Powers of attorney and incapacity |
| H. Psychology of Financial Planning | 7% | Client behavior & biases · Money scripts and values · Counseling & communication · Crisis and life-transition planning |
See your own eight-domain heatmap
Retakers upload a Prometric score report and get their weakest domains ranked by exam weight. First-timers start from a baseline diagnostic drawn in the same blueprint proportions.