Last week I called the CFP board and was told that the results would be sent out by Friday. I called the CFP board today after not receiving the letter and they said the results were delayed and they now do not know when the results will be sent out. Depending on who you talk to at the CFP board, explanations vary from “there was a glitch” to “technical difficulties” to “we have not been given any information, any information you have been given is incorrect, including wherever you heard that results would be mailed on Friday.” In fact, I was told by one operator that the information I was told did not even come from the CFP Board hotline! Really? So I made it up then? Great customer service skills… How frustrating! It’s been almost 9 weeks! I just want a straight answer. My confidence in the CFP is rapidly falling.

If the Board really does understand the work that goes into studying for the exam and the stress involved in waiting for the results as you say, you would think they would make more of an effort to keep test takers well informed and/or work on speeding up the turnaround time.

Now when will my exam results really be released?????

Thank you for providing your comments and specifically addressing the concerns I raised. As you are likely aware, the CFP Board is under a considerable amount of scrutiny based on many of the recent publicied events in 2008.

I imagine you can understand my frustration after encountering multiple technical issues relating to the administration of the most recent exam. Although, I must admit that my standards and expectations can be higher than others as I am passionate about efficient operations and detail-oriented issues: this is the main reason why I maintain FPPad.com.

I trust that your proactive efforts to optimize the CFP Board’s internal processes will result in accurate and effective communications to all candidates now and in the future. The Examinations & Education division of the CFP Board will continue to be an essential component in promoting the merits of the CFP® Certification, viewed by many as the standard in identifying compentent financial professionals.

Thanks again,
Bill Winterberg
FPPad.com

We are aware of and regret the operator error associated with the erroneous e-mail sent to exam registrants in June. We caught and corrected that miscommunication within an hour by sending an e-mail to all registered candidates including our apologies. The expired survey you received after the exam was also sent in error. While we conduct these surveys periodically in collaboration with our colleagues in academia, no survey had been scheduled following the July exam. We realize that these operator errors are confounding; we want to apologize and assure you that we are taking steps to ensure that these types of errors do not recur.

The problematic test question that you referred to in your post was picked up by our standard quality control process. Following each exam, and prior to exam scoring, items that are identified as problematic based on candidate input and statistical anomaly. These items are reviewed individually by the Council of Examinations at a Problem Item Notification call. Those deemed inaccurate or imprecise are removed from the exam scoring. This is an integral component of our comprehensive approach to ensuring the validity of each exam.

As someone who has been through the CFP® certification process, I am keenly aware of the time, effort and financial commitment candidates make to prepare and sit for the exam. I also know first-hand, that sitting for the exam and waiting for the results can be very stressful. I want to assure you that CFP Board is dedicated to creating and administering an exam that is valid, reliable and legally defensible. While we admit that our e-mail communications are subject to error due to human intervention, we are making every effort to strengthen our processes to minimize, and even eliminate, these errors.

Sincerely,

Carol Lee Roberts, CFP®
Managing Director, Examinations & Education