Quick facts (official CSI exam structure)
- Proctored (remote or in-person at a test centre)
- Duration: 3 hours
- Question format: multiple cases with multiple-choice questions
- Questions: 65
- Attempts allowed per exam: 3
- Passing grade: 60%
If you also need the shortened MCQ exam, see WME-FP Exam 1.
What WME-FP Exam 2 is really testing
Exam 2 rewards case execution:
- extract facts and constraints quickly
- connect issues across chapters (tax + retirement + investment + estate)
- prioritize actions and justify “best next step”
- use light calculations to support a decision (not as an end in itself)
Official topic weighting (and target question counts)
Source: CSI WME-FP Exam & Credits page.
| Exam Two Topics | Weight | Target questions (out of 65) | Chapters (CSI curriculum) |
|---|
| Getting to Know the Client and Assessing their Financial Situation | 22% | 14 | 1–5 |
| Family Law, Risk Management and Tax Planning | 14% | 9 | 6–9 |
| Retirement Planning | 16% | 11 | 10–14 |
| Estate Planning | 8% | 5 | 15–16 |
| Investment Management and Asset Allocation | 12% | 8 | 17–19 |
| Equity and Debt Securities | 14% | 9 | 20–22 |
| Managed Products, Portfolio Monitoring and Evaluation | 14% | 9 | 23–24 |
Case skills (what you should practice explicitly)
- Gather and confirm required client information (regulatory and legal minimum).
- Clarify goals, time horizons, and success criteria.
- Identify liquidity needs and cash flow constraints.
- Build and interpret net worth and cash flow statements.
- Perform basic time value of money calculations to compare options.
- Spot debt and credit risks that affect plan feasibility.
- Identify family law considerations and potential plan impacts.
- Identify major personal risk exposures and prioritize mitigation actions.
- Interpret tax return information and investment income taxation at a high level.
- Select tax reduction strategies consistent with goals and constraints.
- Recommend retirement funding actions and assess retirement income gaps.
- Integrate employer and government pension information into assumptions.
- Identify estate planning gaps (wills, probate, powers of attorney) and propose next steps.
- Translate constraints into strategic allocation and product selection.
- Evaluate fee, turnover, and tax effects when choosing managed products.
- Monitor portfolios and interpret performance evaluation results to determine corrective actions.
How to study (case-first)
- Use the Syllabus by weighting; write a 1–2 line “what I do next” rule per domain.
- Practice reading cases: highlight goals, constraints, and missing information before answering.
- Use the Cheatsheet to keep workflow + formulas in one place.
- Do timed sets weekly; review misses by category (facts missed vs wrong priority vs calculation).
✅ Next: open the Study Plan or start with the Syllabus.