Applied Financial Planning Certification Exam (AFP)

The Applied Financial Planning (AFP) Certification Examination is an important and necessary step to become certified as a Personal Financial Planner (PFP®). Coupled with an experience requirement, it represents the final hurdle for candidates to complete the certification requirements for CSI’s premier PFP® designation.

What Is The Eligibility Criteria?

• Candidates can enrol for the AFP Certification Examination only after successfully completing all courses within one of the PFP® education paths.
• The AFP Certification Examination consists of two separate examinations where the candidate must successfully complete both examinations to be eligible to apply for the PFP® designation. 
• Candidates have up to three hours to complete each AFP Exam 1 and AFP Exam 2, which are attempted separately. 
• The AFP Exam 1 consists of 105 stand-alone multiple-choice questions, and the AFP Exam 2 contains four case studies with three-five questions each, where candidates must provide a written response to open-ended questions (constructed-response questions).
• AFP Exam 1 and AFP Exam 2 assess the required knowledge, skills and attributes to practice, and the candidate’s ability to apply the professional competencies as set out in the PFP® Professional Competency Profile.

Who Should Enrol?

• Anyone who has completed an approved education path may enrol. We do encourage individuals to self-assess against the following to determine if the AFP Certification Examination is appropriate for them.
• You offer financial planning services for some clients, or,
• You are on the career path or currently practice as a financial planner, or,
• You understand and are able to apply the financial planning competencies as set out in the PFP® Professional Competency Profile
• Although not a requirement to attempt the AFP Certification Examination, candidates should recognize that experience serving clients in personal financial planning situations may prove beneficial when attempting the examinations. 
• Specifically, questions on the examinations may present situations that require in-depth analysis, evaluation and integration across the various aspects of financial planning to formulate a response; formulating such responses can be aided by real-life experience. 
• Candidates should carefully self-assess to determine if they possess the skills necessary for success on the AFP Certification Examination and if their success could be enhanced by experience in the field.

Curriculum:

• Candidates should use the PFP® Professional Competency Profile, any course or learning materials from the completed prerequisite educational route or other learning resources, the examination weightings and the Candidate Guidelines as their study materials in preparation to write the AFP Certification Examination. 
• As only the Competency Profile is the basis for the examination, candidates should cross-reference the profile with their study materials to identify any gaps in the materials or their own knowledge, and research independently to fill in those gaps to ensure that they possess the required knowledge and skills and ability to apply those in an examination environment.
• Prior to enrolling in or preparing for the AFP Certification Examination, we strongly recommend candidates access and review the support materials listed below to determine readiness for successful completion of the AFP Certification Examinations.