United States
Hong KongA sixteen-week plan, week by week
Sixteen weeks at about seventeen hours a week. Eight weeks of first-pass content weighted by domain, four weeks of consolidation and practice, three weeks of full mocks and targeted repair, and a taper.
The standard plan, and the one most candidates should follow. Sixteen weeks is long enough to spread the material and short enough to sustain.
The shape
| Weeks | Focus | Hours per week |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 8 | First pass through all eight domains, weighted | 17 |
| 9 to 10 | Consolidation and practice questions by domain | 17 |
| 11 to 13 | Full mocks, review, and targeted repair | 20 |
| 14 to 15 | Weakest domains, second round of mocks | 17 |
| 16 | Light review, formula sheet, taper | 6 |
Weeks 1 to 8: the first pass
Allocate by domain weighting. Retirement and Investment are 35 per cent between them and deserve roughly three weeks; General Principles and Tax another three; the remaining four domains two. Weight decides it.
Do practice questions from week one, not after the reading. Reading builds recognition and questions build recall, and only the second is tested.
Take one full mock at the end of week four, cold. It will be uncomfortable and it will tell you where the remaining hours should go.
Weeks 9 to 10: consolidation
Practice questions by domain, at volume, with every miss reviewed to the principle rather than the answer letter.
This is also when the formula sheet gets built - by you, from your own misses, rather than downloaded.
Stand-alone questions test recall; case studies test integration. A candidate who leaves case study practice to week fourteen meets the exam's central skill for the first time with three weeks left.
Weeks 11 to 13: mocks
A full-length six-hour mock roughly weekly, each followed by a review at least as long as the sitting. Review takes as long.
Sort every miss into knowledge, misreading or pacing. Only the first needs more study; the other two need technique changes, and treating them all as knowledge gaps is why some candidates plateau.
Weeks 14 to 15: repair
Whatever the mocks exposed, plus a second round of full papers. This is where a domain sitting well below the others gets fixed.
By the end of week fifteen you want two full mocks above target and no domain far below the rest.
Week 16: taper
Light review only. The formula sheet, the numbers, the exclusion and restriction style rules, and the ordering rules. Nothing new.
No new material, no full mocks, and nothing at all the day before beyond one light pass. Six hours of exam needs a rested candidate more than it needs another topic.
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Common questions
How long should a CFP study plan be?
Sixteen weeks at about seventeen hours a week is the standard, giving roughly 280 hours. It is long enough to spread the material and short enough to sustain.
When should you take the first mock?
At the end of week four, cold. It will be uncomfortable and it is the most efficient way to decide where the remaining hours should go.
When should case study practice start?
By week nine at the latest. Case studies test integration rather than recall, and leaving them to the final weeks means meeting the exam's central skill too late to fix it.
How many full mocks should you do?
Four to six, roughly weekly from week eleven, each followed by a review at least as long as the sitting itself.
What should the final week look like?
Light review of the formula sheet, numbers and ordering rules. No new material, no full mocks, and one light pass the day before at most.