Finally passed my RPA exam after failing twice — here's what worked

by Daniel M. 44 views3 replies
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Daniel M.OP
May 27, 2026

So I just got my results back yesterday and I finally passed the Registered Paraplanner exam on my third attempt. Honestly embarrassing to admit it took three tries, but I wanted to share what actually made the difference because I know a lot of people struggle with this one.

My first two attempts I was basically just reading through the Dalton material and doing a handful of practice questions. Big mistake. What finally clicked was committing to a real structured approach — I did a full RPA study guide review over 8 weeks, hitting about 90 minutes every weekday. The biggest shift was drilling timed RPA practice test sets instead of just reading. My score jumped from a 68 to a 79 once I started doing that consistently. Retirement planning and investment concepts were my weak spots, so I spent extra time there the last two weeks.

If you're prepping right now, what resources are you using? Happy to share more details about my timeline or which topic areas hit hardest on the actual exam.

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Chris D.
May 28, 2026
Congrats on passing! I'm about 5 weeks out from my exam date and this is really encouraging. I've been struggling with the insurance planning section specifically — it feels like there's so much to memorize. Did you find that area was heavily tested? I've been averaging around 71% on my practice sets and I'm hoping to hit at least 75% before test day.
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Marcus T.
May 28, 2026
The timed practice point is huge. I passed mine last fall and that's exactly what I'd tell anyone — reading passively feels productive but it's not. I used a 90-question timed block twice a week for the last month of prep. One RPA exam tip I'd add: don't ignore the ethics and professional standards stuff. It seems straightforward but the answer choices are deliberately tricky and I almost got burned by a few of those.
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Hannah K.
May 28, 2026
Three attempts shows real persistence — seriously. A lot of people quit after two. Retirement planning destroyed me on my first try too. Make sure you know the distribution rules cold, especially the 10% penalty exceptions. Those show up constantly.

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