Paying It Forward. Everything I Did to Prepare for the CFP Exam.
I spent a lot of time on this subreddit while I was studying, so I figured I'd pay it forward.
I went with Danko Plus based on recommendations from this sub, and I honestly think that was the single best decision I could have made. Whatever provider you're using, hopefully this post will be helpful. But if you're on the fence, that's my two cents.
Either way, my advice is don't cheap out on your prep course. You're going to put 300 hours into this thing. Spend the money on the best version your provider offers.
Here's what I did:
I watched every single Danko Plus video. John Choi and Matt Goren are incredible teachers. I kept the textbook open while I watched and slapped a Post-it on any page where I was even slightly fuzzy on the topic. End of each chapter, I took the quiz and wrote down every wrong answer. That phase alone took about 120 hours.
I made it a priority to have this completed before the live review.
I did the virtual review with Brett Danko. The guy is clearly brilliant, but his style just didn't resonate with me the way John and Matt's did, so I didn't get a ton out of it. I deeply regretted not going to the live review with John instead, though it obviously didn't cost me in the end.
After the review I knocked out all the Signature and Plus quizzes and bought the CFP Ethics book on Amazon. I completed every question in it. General Principles and Psychology are layups if you give them proper attention.
Then I handwrote every Danko-provided flashcard. Every single one. And I created my own, too. Writing by hand does something to your retention that passive reading just doesn't. I'm convinced this was a big reason I passed. I had calluses on my hands. Worth it.
For practice exams, I took the first CFP-provided exam and scored mid-70s, checking my answer after every single question and writing down the wrong answers. I then took the Krakens and landed between 65-75%. Admittedly, I didn't do the cases.
Then I bought the second CFP-provided exam, which Danko actually advises against. I disagree. It was another opportunity to study how the questions are written, and I scored in the mid-70s again. If they were going to give me more insight into the structure of the exam, I was willing to spend $250.
After completing all the quizzes, I uploaded my Danko prep materials in PDF format into NotebookLM. I chose it specifically because it only pulls from the material you give it and ignores outside information. Whatever provider you're using, if they give you PDFs of their textbooks, you can do the same thing.
I also uploaded every wrong answer I had documented across all my quizzes into Claude and asked it to identify my weak spots based on the domains and topics the CFP says will be on the exam. Then I took those weak spots back to NotebookLM and asked it to test me using the Socratic method rather than multiple choice. That combination was genuinely effective.
I uploaded the calculator quizzes too and used Claude to make sure I knew how to do the three-step calculations cold. Worth doing.
One thing I really struggled with was the Greek lettering in the equations. I asked Claude to explain the formulas like I was in sixth grade, plain English, no symbols. Once I actually understood what the equation was doing conceptually, I had Claude create original practice problems for me on those topics. That clicked in a way that staring at formulas never did.
Here is the exact prompt I used with NotebookLM:
"Based only on the material I've provided, act as a Socratic tutor. Don't give me multiple choice questions. Ask me open-ended questions, build on my answers, and guide me toward the right understanding rather than just telling me the answer."
When I hit submit on exam day, I had zero doubt I was passing.
I'm happy to answer questions. The one thing I won't do is discuss actual exam content. I believe in the integrity of this credential and I'm not going to compromise that. Everything else is fair game.
Good luck to everyone in July.