How do you study for the CPA exam?
Treat the CPA as four separate exams and take one section at a time. For each, go through the content once, then spend most of your time on multiple-choice questions and task-based simulations. Review every miss, keep a flashcard set for rules and definitions, and take a full mock exam before you sit. Check how long your state gives you to pass all sections.
The CPA has four sections: three core ones, Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation, plus one discipline of your choice. Each is a four-hour exam. Most candidates study one section at a time, and states give you a limited window to pass all four, so plan the order and the dates.
Content review gives you the base, but passing comes from questions. Do multiple-choice sets by topic, then mixed sets, and practice the task-based simulations, which test application and research. For every wrong answer, work out why it is wrong, not only what the right one is.
Rules and definitions fade quickly over weeks of study, so keep spaced flashcards running while you move on to the next section.
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| AUD | Auditing and Attestation: the audit process, standards, evidence and reporting |
| FAR | Financial Accounting and Reporting: financial statements, standards and transactions |
| REG | Taxation and Regulation: federal tax, business law and ethics |
| BAR, ISC or TCP | Your discipline: business analysis and reporting, information systems and controls, or tax compliance and planning |
- 1Pick your discipline and the order of your sections, and check your state's rules and deadlines.
- 2Block your calendar for one section at a time, with a test date fixed.
- 3Go through the content once, then switch to multiple-choice questions by topic.
- 4Practice task-based simulations and review every miss in writing.
- 5Keep spaced flashcards for rules, definitions and formulas across sections.
- 6Take a full mock exam under timed conditions before you sit.