United States
Hong KongIs the CFP exam open book?
No. The exam is closed book and proctored at a test center. The only items permitted at the workstation are government-issued photo identification and an approved financial calculator.
Closed book, and there is no formula sheet provided either.
What you can have
Photo identification and an approved financial calculator with memory cleared. Note materials are provided by the center - typically a laminated board and marker, or paper collected at the end.
No notes, no reference cards, no calculator manual, no phone. Everything else goes into a locker.
What that means for preparation
You have to produce the formulas, not find them.
That is a different skill from recognizing them, and it is why reading a formula sheet repeatedly does less than it feels like it should. Recall responds to self-testing and to short repeated retrieval.
A formula sheet you write yourself, from your own missed questions, is a study tool rather than a reference. It does not go into the exam - the point is getting its contents into your head before you arrive.
What you actually need to hold
- The CAPM formula, and Sharpe, Treynor and Jensen's alpha.
- The constant growth dividend model and the exclusion ratio.
- The real return calculation.
- The estate tax and income tax calculation sequences.
- Threshold ages: 55, 59½, 62, 65, 67, 70, 73.
- Ordering rules - Roth withdrawals, capital loss netting.
- The current year's key limits.
Time value of money is on the calculator rather than in your head, which is why keystroke fluency matters more than memorizing the formulas behind it.
The calculator does a lot of work
Present value, future value, payments, rates, periods, uneven cash flows and amortization are all available. That is the one legitimate crutch and it is worth being genuinely fluent with it.
Practice on the calculator you will bring, not on a spreadsheet, because keystrokes are motor memory.
Why closed book
Because the exam is testing whether you can recognize which principle applies to a described client, not whether you can look one up.
A planner who does not know that a conversion raises provisional income will not think to look it up, which is exactly the failure the format is designed to detect.
CFP® is a registered mark of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, CFP Board. Confirm details against cfp.net, which is the authority.
Common questions
Is the CFP exam open book?
No. It is closed book and proctored at a test center, with only photo identification and an approved financial calculator permitted at the workstation.
Is a formula sheet provided?
No. You need to produce the formulas yourself, which is why building your own sheet during preparation is a study tool rather than something you take in.
What must you memorize?
CAPM, Sharpe, Treynor and alpha, the constant growth model, the exclusion ratio, real return, the tax and estate calculation sequences, threshold ages, ordering rules and the current limits.
What does the calculator handle?
Present and future value, payments, rates, periods, uneven cash flows and amortization. It is the one legitimate crutch, and fluency with it is worth practicing.
Why is it closed book?
Because it tests whether you recognize which principle applies to a described client. Someone who does not know a conversion raises provisional income would not think to look it up.