Study Plans
The 6-Week CPA AUD Study Plan (Using Only Free Tools)
By Burak Genc · June 2026 · 8 min read
AUD covers four blueprint areas and a lot of judgment-heavy material, but it's very plannable. The topics build on each other in a natural order, and six focused weeks is a realistic timeline for most candidates studying 1.5–2.5 hours a day. This plan maps every week to specific topics in our free AUD study guide, 18 lessons, 180+ practice MCQs, mocks, and spaced repetition, all free.
The daily structure (repeat every day)
- First 10 minutes: clear your spaced repetition queue. Missed questions resurface here automatically, answering them again is the highest-value studying you can do.
- Main block (60–90 min): one lesson from this week's topics, immediately followed by its practice MCQs. Don't move on below 80%.
- Last 10 minutes: the Daily Challenge in the AUD Trainer, 10 mixed questions tuned to your weak areas. It keeps old material warm while you learn new material, which is the whole trick of retention.
Why this order matters: reviewing first makes sure yesterday's misses get re-tested before new content buries them, and ending with mixed questions heads off the “I only know it in chapter order” problem that catches so many candidates off guard on exam day.
The week-by-week plan
Week 1: ethics and general principles (Area I)
Work through topics A1–A4: engagement types and assurance levels, professional standards (SAS vs. PCAOB vs. SSARS), ethics and independence, and engagement terms. Independence rules are pure point-scoring, they're testable exactly as written, so memorizing them pays off directly. Finish each lesson by drilling its MCQs until you clear 80%.
Section 1 topics →Week 2: risk assessment and planning (Area II)
Topics A5–A8: understanding the entity, the audit risk model and materiality, planning the audit strategy, and evidence and documentation basics. This is the heaviest-weighted area of the exam and the conceptual core of everything that follows, so give it your best hours, not your leftover ones.
Section 2 topics →Week 3: procedures and evidence (Area III)
Topics A9–A13: substantive procedures by account, estimates, related parties and going concern, sampling and analytical procedures, using the work of others, and IT/CAATs. Focus on the evidence reliability hierarchy and on matching each assertion to the procedure that tests it, that pairing is the most repeated question pattern in this area.
Section 3 topics →Week 4: conclusions and reporting (Area IV)
Topics A14–A18: evaluating evidence and forming the opinion, audit reports, other reporting situations, SSARS engagements (reviews, compilations, preparations), and government auditing. Learn the opinion decision tree cold, it converts straight into correct answers.
Section 4 topics →Week 5: integration and first mocks
No new content this week. Take a full timed mock at the start of the week, drill every weak topic it exposes, then take a second mock at the end. Mixed practice is the whole point: the real exam never tells you which topic a question comes from, so your brain has to learn to spot the topic from the question itself.
AUD mock exam →Week 6: sharpen and taper
Run your daily review queue, make one last pass over your five weakest topics, and take a final mock no later than mid-week. Then taper: light review only for the last two days, and protect your sleep. Walking in rested beats walking in with three extra hours of cramming.
Review queue →Milestones that tell you you're on track
- End of week 2: you can explain the audit risk model without notes, including why detection risk moves opposite to the other two. (If not, read our deep dive.)
- End of week 4: every topic quizzed at least once; nothing sitting below 70%.
- Week 5 mocks: first mock 65%+ is normal; second mock should be pushing 75%+.
- Week 6: final mock at or above 75%, review queue empty most days.
A quick note on those percentages: the real exam's 75 is a scaled score, not 75% of questions, but consistently scoring 75%+ on mixed practice is a reasonable readiness signal. If you're behind a milestone, don't squeeze the taper week. Extend the calendar instead, a one-week slip is far cheaper than a retake.
If you're retaking AUD
Use the same six weeks, but reorder them: start with your two weakest areas from the score report rather than Area I, and double your daily question volume from week one. The full retake method, including how to read your score report and what to change about how you study, is in How to Pass CPA AUD After Failing.
Everything this plan needs is free
All 18 AUD lessons, 180+ MCQs with full explanations, the trainer, mocks, and spaced repetition, no signup, no paywall.
Start Week 1 →CPA Exam Lab is an independent study resource published by Arc & Ledger LLC. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the AICPA® or NASBA. “CPA” is a registered trademark of the AICPA. This article is educational content, not professional advice, always verify exam logistics with NASBA and your state board of accountancy.