Quick answer: If you are asking what is on the CPA exam, the current U.S. answer is a four-section assessment: Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), Taxation and Regulation (REG), and one Discipline choice from Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC), or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP). Each section is four hours. The official AICPA Blueprints explain the content areas, task statements, skill levels, item types, and score weighting you should use to prepare.
The useful distinction is between a content map and a chapter list. A chapter list tells you how a provider arranged lessons. The Blueprint tells you what the examination expects you to know or do. This guide turns that official map into a practical study workflow while keeping the exam separate from jurisdiction-specific licensure rules. Numbers and labels can change, so the Blueprint version and the date you checked it belong in your study notes.
For a broader preparation path, continue with our CPA Exam Study Guide.
What Is on the CPA Exam?
What is on the CPA exam in 2026?
The exam is a four-section content system
The Uniform CPA Examination is built around three Core sections and one selected Discipline section. The Core sections cover knowledge and skills expected across the profession. The Discipline choice lets a candidate demonstrate additional depth in one specialization. In other words, one candidate does not prepare all six current section titles. The candidate prepares AUD, FAR, REG, and either BAR, ISC, or TCP.
Across those sections, the exam tests more than whether you can remember a definition. The content includes professional responsibilities, financial reporting, federal taxation, business law, information systems, data, controls, analysis, and planning. The exact boundaries are not best learned from a generic internet summary. They are defined more precisely in the current AICPA Blueprints, which are organized by Area, Group, Topic, sample task statement, skill level, reference material, item type, and weighting.
Keep exam content separate from the license
Scope boundary: The exam tells you what is assessed. A state or jurisdiction determines how an exam result fits with education, experience, ethics, application, credit-window, and other licensing conditions. The exam is not the license.
| Question a reader may ask | Where the answer belongs | What to avoid assuming |
|---|---|---|
| What subjects and skills are tested? | Current AICPA CPA Exam Blueprints | A provider chapter list is not the official scope. |
| How many sections does one candidate take? | Current Core and Discipline model | All six section titles are not six requirements for one candidate. |
| What do I need to apply or become licensed? | The relevant state board or jurisdiction authority | One state rule is not a universal U.S. rule. |
| How should I practice? | The task statements and item formats in the Blueprint | Memorizing notes alone is not the same as performing a task. |
How the Official CPA Exam Blueprint Defines What Is Tested
Read four layers instead of copying headings
The AICPA describes the Blueprints as the resource for what is tested and how candidates are tested. Each section is organized into Areas, Groups, and Topics. Those labels give you the content hierarchy, but they are only the first layer. The sample task statement shows the kind of action a candidate may be asked to perform. The skill level indicates the depth of thinking expected. Reference materials support the task statement, while item counts and item-type weighting help you understand the format.
That creates four different study questions:
- Content: Which Area, Group, or Topic is in scope?
- Action: What verb appears in the task statement, such as identify, calculate, analyze, or evaluate?
- Depth: Is the task mainly recall, application, analysis, or, where specified, evaluation?
- Evidence: Can you perform the action on a fresh question or simulation without relying on a memorized example?
Why task verbs matter
Suppose your notes contain a clean definition of a control deficiency. That may help with recognition, but it does not prove you can assess a fact pattern, choose the relevant evidence, or explain the reporting consequence. A task statement that asks you to analyze or evaluate calls for a different practice block from one that asks you to identify.
Use this simple translation: copy the task verb into a blank line, write the condition that would make the answer change, and complete one fresh item that requires the same action. Then write one sentence explaining why the correct answer fits. This takes slightly longer than highlighting a chapter heading, but it produces evidence that your study matches the work the Blueprint describes.
Use the current version, not a frozen summary
The AICPA page checked for this article visibly listed the CPA Exam Blueprints effective January 1, 2026 and explained that Blueprints may be published one or two times per year. That means an old video, forum post, or course screenshot can be useful background but should not control a current content decision. Put the effective date in your section card. If your testing window or course update crosses a Blueprint change, check which version applies and record what changed.
Which CPA Exam Sections Are Required?
The current relationship is three Core sections plus one Discipline choice. All candidates take AUD, FAR, and REG. Each candidate chooses one of BAR, ISC, or TCP. The choice should be made with the current Blueprint, your background, the work you want to practice, and the time you can actually protect on your calendar. It should not be made from a universal internet ranking.
| Group | Section | Plain-language content focus | Preparation question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core | AUD | Auditing and attestation, risk, evidence, procedures, and reporting | Can I apply professional judgment to an engagement fact pattern? |
| Core | FAR | Financial reporting, balance sheet accounts, and selected transactions | Can I select and apply the correct reporting treatment? |
| Core | REG | Ethics, federal tax procedures, business law, and federal taxation | Can I follow the rule through an individual or entity scenario? |
| Discipline choice | BAR | Business analysis, technical accounting, and state and local government topics | Can I interpret information and connect it to a reporting decision? |
| Discipline choice | ISC | Information systems, data management, security, privacy, and SOC work | Can I reason about systems, risks, and controls? |
| Discipline choice | TCP | Tax compliance and planning, personal finance, entities, and property transactions | Can I compare tax consequences in a nonroutine scenario? |
What the section map does and does not decide
Before choosing a Discipline, open the current Blueprint for the three options you are considering. Mark the topics that are familiar, the task verbs that are unfamiliar, and the item types you have not practiced. Then compare those marks with your weekly availability. A choice is defensible when you can explain what you will learn, what you will practice, and what evidence would make you change the plan.
What Question Types Are on the CPA Exam?
MCQs and TBSs test different actions
Every section uses multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and task-based simulations (TBSs). The first two testlets are MCQs and the next three testlets contain TBSs. Each section is four hours, but the number of questions and simulations differs by section. The official Blueprint is the place to confirm the current count before you set a timed practice schedule.
| Item type | What you do | Useful practice action | Common weak signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCQ | Choose the best response from alternatives. | Explain why the correct option fits and why the strongest distractor fails. | Recognizing a familiar phrase without checking every fact in the stem. |
| TBS | Apply knowledge across a task, exhibits, calculation, research step, or requested output. | Read the requested output first, isolate relevant evidence, complete the work, and check the response. | Knowing a rule but losing accuracy while organizing exhibits or entering the answer. |
The current testlet shape
The AICPA Blueprint page lists the following current item layout. These counts show the shape of practice; they do not assign the same number of points to every item.
- AUD: 39 and 39 MCQs, followed by 2, 3, and 2 TBSs.
- FAR: 25 and 25 MCQs, followed by 2, 3, and 2 TBSs.
- REG: 36 and 36 MCQs, followed by 2, 3, and 3 TBSs.
- BAR: 25 and 25 MCQs, followed by 2, 3, and 2 TBSs.
- ISC: 41 and 41 MCQs, followed by 1, 3, and 2 TBSs.
- TCP: 34 and 34 MCQs, followed by 2, 3, and 2 TBSs.
Use the sequence to practice switching modes. A strong MCQ block does not remove the need to organize a TBS, and a comfortable TBS walkthrough does not prove that you can make quick, accurate decisions in a mixed MCQ set. The goal is not to make the two formats feel identical. The goal is to know which mental action each format asks of you.
What Is Tested in Each CPA Exam Section?
Auditing and Attestation (AUD)
AUD centers on professional responsibilities and ethics, assessing risk and developing a planned response, performing procedures and obtaining evidence, and forming conclusions and reporting. A useful study question is not only whether you remember an auditing standard. Ask what evidence would support the conclusion, how risk changes the response, and which communication or report follows from the facts.
Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR)
FAR covers financial reporting, selected balance sheet accounts, and selected transactions. The work often requires you to connect a transaction to recognition, measurement, presentation, or disclosure. Build practice around the decision point: what changed, which framework applies, what amount or classification follows, and what information a reader of the statement needs.
Taxation and Regulation (REG)
REG includes ethics and federal tax procedures, business law, federal taxation of property transactions, federal taxation of individuals, and federal taxation of entities. REG questions may turn on a small fact such as the taxpayer, entity form, basis, timing, or legal relationship. Train yourself to label those facts before applying a rule. Do not copy a state licensing rule into a federal tax explanation or treat a summary as personal tax advice.
Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR)
BAR combines business analysis with technical accounting and reporting and state and local government topics. Its preparation should include interpreting historical or prospective information, connecting analysis to a decision, and handling technical accounting details where the Blueprint calls for them. A spreadsheet-like calculation is useful only when you can also explain what the result means for the reporting or planning question.
Information Systems and Controls (ISC)
ISC covers information systems and data management, security, confidentiality and privacy, and considerations for systems and organization controls engagements. Build a concept map that connects a system or data lifecycle step to the risk, the control response, the evidence, and the type of engagement question. That chain is more durable than memorizing isolated technology terms.
Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP)
TCP focuses on tax compliance and planning for individuals and personal financial planning, entity tax compliance, entity tax planning, and property transactions. The practical challenge is often comparing alternatives rather than naming one rule. For every worked scenario, write the taxpayer or entity, the proposed action, the tax consequence, the assumption that matters, and the information that would need verification before a real decision.
This section map is intentionally compact. It tells you where to look in the Blueprint; it is not a replacement for the task statements or reference material. If your course or notes use different labels, reconcile them against the current official document before you decide that a topic is missing or newly added.
How to Turn the Blueprint Into a Study Plan
The Blueprint-to-practice loop
A useful study plan connects an official task to observable evidence. Use the following loop for one Area or Group at a time:
- Find the task: open the current Blueprint and copy the relevant Area, Group, Topic, and task statement into your section card.
- Read the verb: underline the action and label the skill depth. Do not assume a recognition task and an analysis task need the same practice.
- Do a fresh item: choose an MCQ or TBS that requires the same action, without notes or a second attempt.
- Classify the miss: record whether the problem was scope, concept, reading, calculation, exhibit navigation, or timing.
- Pick the next action: reread a narrow concept, complete a smaller timed set, build a calculation template, practice exhibits, or explain the rule aloud.
This approach gives you a reason for every study block. It also prevents a common failure mode: adding more resources when the real problem is that you have not identified the action you are missing. A learner who misses an item because of exhibit navigation needs a different next step from a learner who has never learned the underlying concept.
Keep a one-page section card
Your card can be simple: Blueprint effective date, section name, three content areas, two task verbs, item mix, two weak areas, one fresh practice set, and the date you will review the evidence. The card is not a second textbook. It is a small control panel that shows whether your plan is based on current scope and observed performance.
After two study blocks, review the pattern. If your concept accuracy is improving but TBS organization is not, increase process practice rather than rereading every chapter. If you are completing many familiar questions, switch to fresh questions that require the same task verb. If the plan repeatedly collides with your calendar, change the plan’s size or timing. Do not interpret a calendar mismatch as a need for a universal section order.
What Does a CPA Exam Score Tell You?
A 75 is a scaled score, not 75 percent correct
The AICPA and NASBA explain that a candidate needs a score of 75 or higher on a section, reported on a 0-to-99 scale. The reported number is not a percentage of questions answered correctly, and the exam is not curved against the people testing with you. Scaled scores use formulas that consider correctness and the relative difficulty of questions.
For AUD, FAR, REG, BAR, and TCP, the score is based on a 50 percent MCQ and 50 percent TBS weighting. ISC uses a 60 percent MCQ and 40 percent TBS weighting. Those details are useful for practice design, but they do not turn a practice percentage into an official score prediction. Track practice performance as its own learning record, and keep the official score notice as the result for that section.
Use score information to choose a next action
If a section result is unsuccessful, the Candidate Performance Report can help identify content areas that need attention. Read it as evidence about where to investigate, then return to the relevant Blueprint task statement. A score notice should not make you abandon the entire map. It should help you narrow the next loop: scope, task, fresh practice, error class, and review action.
CPA Exam FAQ
Are all six CPA Exam sections required?
No. One candidate completes the three Core sections—AUD, FAR, and REG—and one Discipline choice from BAR, ISC, or TCP. The three Discipline titles are alternatives in the current model.
Does a CPA Exam study guide replace the official Blueprint?
No. A study guide can explain concepts and provide practice, but the current AICPA Blueprint is the authoritative scope reference for what is tested and how the task and item information is organized.
Are MCQs the only questions on the exam?
No. Every section uses MCQs and TBSs. The first two testlets are MCQs and the next three are TBSs, with section-specific counts listed in the current Blueprint.
Does passing a practice set at 75 percent mean I will pass the exam?
No. A practice percentage and an official scaled score are different records. Practice results can guide your next study action, but they do not provide a fixed conversion to a passing score.
How do I know which Discipline to choose?
Compare the current Blueprints with your background, the task verbs you can practice, the work you want to understand, and the study time you can protect. Then verify any jurisdiction-specific guidance with the authority that evaluates your application. No single internet ranking is right for every candidate.
Key Takeaway
What is on the CPA exam is best answered with the current official content map: three Core sections, one Discipline choice, MCQs, TBSs, and Blueprint-defined Areas, Topics, tasks, skill levels, and weights. Start with the exact section Blueprint, translate one task verb into one fresh practice action, classify the error, and record the next step. Keep the exam content separate from licensure rules, use dated official sources for changing details, and let observed learning evidence—not filler, copied summaries, or a universal ranking—shape the plan.
CPA exam questions
Are all six CPA Exam sections required?
No. One candidate takes AUD, FAR, REG, and one Discipline choice from BAR, ISC, or TCP.
Does a study guide replace the official Blueprint?
No. Use a study guide for learning and practice, but use the current AICPA Blueprint as the scope reference.
Are MCQs the only questions on the exam?
No. Each section includes MCQs and TBSs in a five-testlet format.
Is 75 percent on a practice set an official passing score?
No. The official result is a scaled score, not a fixed percentage-correct conversion.