How long should you study for the CPA Exam?

FAR: often 120 to 180 hours

FAR is broad and technical. Candidates usually need time for recognition rules, calculations, journal-entry logic, statement presentation, government accounting, and nonprofit accounting.

• Add time if financial accounting has been rusty.
• Use mixed review early so old FAR topics do not disappear.
• Do not schedule only because you finished videos or notes.

AUD: often 80 to 120 hours

AUD is less calculation-heavy than FAR, but the questions are judgment-heavy. The work is learning how risks, assertions, procedures, evidence, reporting, and ethics fit together.

• Practice explaining why one procedure fits the assertion better than another.
• Track misses by topic and by reading-error type.
• Do not underestimate AUD just because the math is lighter.

REG: often 90 to 130 hours

REG needs tax memory plus application. Basis, entities, property transactions, individual tax, ethics, and business law can feel unrelated until you build enough repetition.

• Use rule sheets for tax rules you keep missing.
• Write basis roll-forwards instead of doing mental shortcuts.
• Review business law with spaced repetition.

BAR, ISC, TCP: plan by discipline fit

The discipline section can be easier or harder depending on your background. BAR often needs more quantitative and reporting practice. ISC may move faster for candidates with controls or IT exposure. TCP can move faster for tax-focused candidates but can be dense for everyone else.

• BAR planning range: often 90 to 130 hours.
• ISC planning range: often 60 to 100 hours.
• TCP planning range: often 70 to 110 hours.

Your starting point

A recent accounting graduate, a tax associate, an auditor, and someone returning after years away from school do not need the same plan. Start with a diagnostic set and let the misses tell you where the real work is.

Your weekly capacity

Ten hours per week for ten weeks is different from twenty-five hours per week for four weeks. The same total hours can feel completely different when fatigue, work deadlines, and family time enter the picture.

Your review quality

Clicking through questions is not the same as learning. Review should identify the rule, the fact pattern, the wrong-answer trap, and the change you will make next time.

Your exam timing

NASBA says candidates cannot schedule until they receive a Notice to Schedule, and test center availability can fill up. Protect study readiness before you put money and deadlines on the calendar.

You are not just memorizing the current set

If you only score well on questions you just reviewed, the signal is weak. Mix old topics, new topics, easy questions, and hard questions so your practice looks more like the exam.

Your misses are getting narrower

Early study misses are broad. Closer to exam day, misses should become more specific: one lease classification issue, one basis ordering mistake, one audit evidence trap.

Your explanations sound like reasoning

You should be able to say why the correct answer wins and why the distractors fail. If your review is only answer-letter memory, add more time.

You can recover after a bad set

A readiness plan should include bad days. If one weak set destroys your confidence or exposes huge gaps, that is useful feedback before you pay for the exam date.

Three practice blocks

Use three focused MCQ blocks per week: one new-topic set, one mixed-review set, and one weak-area set. Keep each block small enough that you can review it properly.

One repair block

Set aside time to repair misses. That means reading the explanation, writing the rule in your own words, and trying a similar question later.

One simulation or deeper application block

The AICPA exam format includes TBS testlets, not only MCQs. Add Lite TBS or task-style work once the related MCQ topic is warm.