FP II is an integrated planning exam. Many questions are scenario-driven: you’re asked to recognize constraints, choose an appropriate tool, and justify a recommendation (or the “best next step”) across retirement, insurance, tax, business, and estate contexts.
Official exam snapshot (CSI)
- Exam format: Proctored (remote or in-person at a test centre)
- Exam duration: 3 hours
- Question format: Multiple-choice
- Questions per exam: 60
- Passing grade: 60%
- Attempts allowed: 3
- Hours of study (CSI guidance): 110 – 150 Hours
- Enrolment period: 1 Year
Source: https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/fp2/exam-credits
Official topic weightings (FP II)
With 60 questions, the weighting percentage maps directly to target question counts.
| Topic (CSI) | Weight | Target questions | CSI chapters (curriculum) |
|---|
| Financial Planning Practice | 10% | 6 | 1 |
| Savings Planning & Debt Management | 10% | 6 | 2–4 |
| Investment and Tax Planning | 10% | 6 | 5–7 |
| Retirement Planning | 20% | 12 | 8–9 |
| Insurance Planning | 10% | 6 | 10–13 |
| Financial Planning for Small Business | 15% | 9 | 14–15 |
| Family Law | 15% | 9 | 16 |
| Estate Planning | 10% | 6 | 17–18 |
Curriculum source: https://www.csi.ca/en/learning/courses/fp2/curriculum
What FP II is really testing
FP II questions typically test whether you can:
- Run a complete planning workflow: facts → constraints → analysis → recommendation → documentation → monitoring.
- Identify the dominant constraint (time, liquidity, risk capacity, tax/legal constraints).
- Choose suitable tools: retirement projections, registered plan logic, insurance needs analysis, basic portfolio and performance concepts, and estate/legal planning steps.
- Spot “risk words” in case stems (vulnerable client, family law triggers, business ownership, estate freezes, beneficiaries, POA scope).
Common pitfalls
- Jumping to products before clarifying objectives, constraints, and required inputs.
- Treating family law and estate planning as trivia instead of “what changes in the plan now?”.
- Mixing up plan mechanics (RRSP/RRIF/LIF/annuities) and the tax impact of withdrawals (concept).
- Ignoring the interaction between government benefits and retirement planning (concept).
- Missing insurance contract details (riders, provisions, legal aspects) and why they matter.
A practical prep loop
- Use the Syllabus as your checklist.
- After each chapter, review the matching section in the Cheatsheet and write 5–10 “if you see X, think Y” rules.
- Do short, targeted Practice sets (untimed → timed).
- Keep a miss log: every miss becomes a rule, definition, or formula you didn’t truly own.
- End each week with a mixed set to force transfer across topics.
✅ Next: follow the Study Plan or jump to the Syllabus.