The US CFP® Certification Exam contains 170 multiple-choice questions. Questions are distributed across eight CFP Board Principal Knowledge Domains; the question counts below are approximate because CFP Board publishes percentage weights rather than fixed domain-by-domain counts.
| Financial planning area | Exam weight | Approx. questions out of 170 |
|---|---|---|
| Retirement Savings and Income Planning | 18% | 31 |
| Investment Planning | 17% | 29 |
| General Principles of Financial Planning | 15% | 26 |
| Tax Planning | 14% | 24 |
| Risk Management and Insurance Planning | 11% | 19 |
| Estate Planning | 10% | 17 |
| Professional Conduct and Regulation | 8% | 14 |
| Psychology of Financial Planning | 7% | 12 |
| Total | 100% | 170 |
The four largest content areas—retirement, investments, general principles, and tax—represent 64% of the exam, or roughly 109 of the 170 questions. Candidates should prioritize these areas while still preparing thoroughly for ethics, insurance, estate, and client-psychology questions. cfp
Each CFP® exam question is linked to at least one CFP Board Principal Knowledge Topic. Because the Board identifies these weights as approximate, a particular exam form may not contain the exact rounded question count shown in the table
