The CPA exam is a gateway to a brighter accounting career path, helping you make more money and earn more respect. But passing the exam isn’t a cakewalk. In fact, even people who take studying seriously and spend weeks preparing for the exam end up failing – and having to retake the exam in the future.
So how long should you plan to study for the CPA exam?
CPA Exam Basics
First, you should understand the basics of the CPA exam. To become a licensed CPA, you must pass this exam – but you also need to have ample education and experience. In some states, you may also need to pass a separate ethics exam, which requires additional studying. Because of these additional requirements, it’s hard to calculate exactly how much time you’ll need to become a CPA.
The exam itself is taken over the course of four separate sections. You’ll need to pass all four of these sections with a minimum score of 75 within 18 months. Because the CPA exam is given throughout the year on a continuous basis, you’ll have plenty of flexibility on when you schedule each section of the exam.
Each exam section is four hours long. These sections include:
- Auditing and attestation (AUD). This section covers topics like ethics, professional responsibilities, assessing risk, obtaining evidence, and forming conclusions and reporting.
- Business environment and concepts (BEC). This section includes topics like corporate governance, financial management, economic concepts, information technology, and operations management.
- Financial accounting and reporting (FAR). This section includes topics like conceptual frameworks, financial reporting, financial statement accounts, transactions, and information related to state and local governments.
- Regulation (REG). And in this section, you’ll be tested on ethics, federal taxes, business law, and property transactions.
Hours Required to Study for the CPA Exam
Though the answer will vary depending on who you ask, most experts agree that you’ll need to spend between 300 and 400 hours studying for the CPA exam. If you break that down by section, that means studying 80 to 100 hours for each section.
Of course, this is a general recommendation that doesn’t apply to everyone. Some people may learn everything they need to know after studying for just 100 hours. Others may still fail after studying for 450 hours.
These are some of the variables that should influence your allocation of studying time:
- College education. Many of the topics covered by the CPA exam are taught in college accounting courses. If you have a 4-year degree in accounting, or better yet, an advanced accounting degree, you’ll be in a much better position to pass each section of the CPA exam.
- Real world experience. Similarly, if you have significant real-world experience, you’ll be more familiar with CPA exam content. For example, if you’ve worked as an accounting assistant or an intern for a few years, you’ll have a critical advantage – and you might not need to study as long as someone with no work experience.
- Time away from the industry. How long has it been since you’ve worked in accounting? How long has it been since you studied accounting in college? The bigger this gap is, the more time you’ll need to allocate to studying. If the information is fresh, you might not need as much time.
- General knowledge and confidence. Think about how much you know about the topics of each section. Could you teach a class on the subject? Could you hold a decent conversation about it? Are you totally unfamiliar?
- Section familiarity. If you’re like most people, you have strengths and weaknesses associated with different sections. One section might seem easy while another is unfamiliar and challenging for you. You’ll have to skew the time you spend on these sections accordingly, with more time spent on the unfamiliar sections.
- Studying prowess and retention. You should also think about how “good” you are at studying. If you have an easy time retaining information, or if you have robust studying skills, you’ll be able to absorb information quicker than the average person. Conversely, weak students will need to spend more time studying.
- Test taking abilities. The CPA exam is a standardized exam – and some people struggle in these environments. If you’re one of them, you’ll need to compensate by spending more hours studying.
The bottom line here is that it’s hard to estimate how long it takes to study for the CPA exam. While most experts estimate that 300 to 400 hours of studying is ample to get a passing grade on each section, you may need more or less depending on your personal history, strengths, and weaknesses. If you’re in doubt, err on the side of studying more than you think you need.
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