Advertiser Disclosure You’re our #1 priority.
100% of the time.
We believe everybody should be able to make online purchases with confidence. And while our website doesn’t feature every test prep company or review course in the universe, we’re proud that the advice we offer and the information we provide is accurate, truthful, objective - and entirely free.
So how do we actually make money? It’s simple, our partners compensate us. While this may influence which products we review and write about, and where they show up on the site, it absolutely does not influence our recommendations or guidance, which are formed by hundreds of hours of research and analysis. Check out our partners here.
What’s the bottom line? We’re on your team and are passionate about helping you achieve your career goals, even if it means we don’t make a dime.
Did you know there are tons of sites and resources available online for the CPA Exam?
Did you know that a lot of these sites and providers give you this information at the ideal price of FREE?
If you did, would you know where to locate this content? We do— which is why we organized this collection of free CPA exam questions and other assorted study materials!
We’re here to make your life easier when it comes to the entire CPA exam process. Whether you need help with locating free CPA study material, want to locate the best CPA online courses, or even just have questions about the exam content & sections, we can help.
While you could sign up for a full course to get all the CPA questions and answers you need, there are plenty of free resources available to help you get started.
It’s not hard to find many of these free study materials; in fact, many premium education companies offer them on their own sites! But in order to save you some time, we’ve collected the best options below.
Take a look at some of the free CPA exam questions we found for the different exam sections:
Broken into 4 sections, the FAR section of the CPA exam consists of topics such as standard-setting, financial reporting, select financial statement accounts, and more.
Here are a couple of standout resources we recommend for free FAR CPA exam review:
Resource Type
Additional Information
Content Specifics
AICPA Practice CPA Exam
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale.
12 MCQs, includes explanations
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale.
5 Pages, includes explanations
From Quizlet. Flashcards covering CPA exam terms.
Here are our top picks for free AUD CPA exam review:
Resource Type
Additional Information
Content Specifics
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale.
3 MCQs, includes explanations
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale.
5 Pages, includes explanations
Here are a few recommended items for studying for the REG CPA Exam:
Resource Type
Additional Information
Content Specifics
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale
5 Pages, includes explanations
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale
3 MCQs, includes explanations
Our suggested free CPA study materials for the BEC section of the exam are as follows:
Resource Type
Additional Information
Content Specifics
62 MCQs, 4 TBS, 3 WCs
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale
3 MCQs, includes explanations
From CPA Army. Sample of a full selection for sale
5 Pages, includes explanations
From additional study guides, practice tests, and quizzes — all the way to heaping helpings of video content — check out this extra helping of free CPA content:
Resource Type
Additional Information
Content Specifics
Problems are from Roger CPA Review. Courtesy of the New Jersey Society of CPAs.
96 Total (24/section) all MCQs, includes explanations
1,000 questions included. Registration required. Pushes paid products affiliated with Fast Forward Academy.
965 MCQs, includes explanations
Registration required. Answers not available until after your testlet has been submitted. Courtesy of Gleim CPA Review.
276 MCQs, 28 TBS, includes explanations
AICPA released questions from the previous CPA exam. Courtesy of the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Practice Quiz from Wiley CPA.
100 MCQs, includes explanations
Becker CPA Blog
Blog, Updated Regularly
Roger CPA Learning Center Video Library
Video Library, dozens of free informational videos
Complete handbook for students looking to take the CPA Exam. Found on the Department of Consumer Affairs website.
Roger/U-World CPA Blog.
Blog, Updated Regularly
Brief guide on preparing for the CPA Exam. Courtesy of Yaeger CPA Review.
Free webinar section for upcoming recordings, recent webinars, and archived past recordings. Many recordings come with additional PDF downloads. Courtesy of Yaeger.
Free Videos and PDFs
Blog featuring CPA Related news and articles. Courtesy of Yaeger.
Blog, Updated Regularly
88 Things you need to know for the CPA Exam + Bonus 14 Study Tips. Courtesy of CPAexam.com
Free E-Book Download
Full schedule of Live Webinars. Courtesy of CPA Academy.
Hour Long Webinars
Yaeger instructional videos and lectures. They release content regularly on this channel, with 2 years worth of material uploaded.
Complete library of educational videos
There’s plenty of free content for you to take advantage of when preparing for the CPA exam, but what if you need more help?
One reason that we recommend checking out paid content in addition to the free stuff is that it’s typically more up-to-date with current rules and stipulations of the CPA exam.
Looking at providers that offer paid review courses can give you a better idea of any recent changes to exam structure and content. This means you can use even something as simple as a course outline to make sure you’re studying the right subject matter.
While these are by no means the only providers around, we are highlighting these CPA prep courses for their excellent balance of free vs. paid CPA study materials:
See the Top CPA Review CoursesBecker stands out to us due to their fusion of technology and personal instruction. The result of this synthesis is a unique hybrid of self-study and a traditional class. Their instructors are certified professionals, and the interactivity of their digital study planner tool is equally impressive.
Becker’s Free Content: Becker has a free blog on their site that is host to a ton of interesting and useful articles for certified public accountants or anyone in the accounting field. They also offer a course demo for those interested in what they have to offer.
Varsity Tutors is the ultimate CPA tutoring service for those who love a personal touch.
Once you sign up, you’ll receive a one-on-one consultation with one of their accounting professionals; from there, the two of you will develop a study plan together. Nothing about the service is cookie-cutter, opting instead for customization based around your preferences every step of the way.
Varsity Tutors’ Free Content: While Varsity Tutors doesn’t offer a free trial of their services, they do have 9 free CPA exam practice tests and flashcards available to download.
In addition to Roger’s provided content, you can use their platform to create additional study tools for yourself. You can use their fully-featured mobile app or complete your coursework on a traditional desktop computer. Additionally, both platforms let you create additional practice tests at any time.
Roger’s Free Content: Roger also has a library of free CPA review videos and a blog they update with new information regularly. If this sounds interesting to you, we recommend trying their free trial to get a better sense of their platform.
CPA Army is a clear and concise review company. They break up their services specifically by section of the CPA exam. While they’re not a traditional CPA course, CPA Army’s approach to study packages is comprehensive enough to feel like one.
CPA Army’s Free Content: They allow you to sample most of their services in the form of downloadable PDFs and sample multiple choice questions. Each section of the exam has its own set of free questions and sample study guide pages to check out.
With the variety on display with this prep course company, students looking for free content or paid content would have a tough time not liking Yaeger.
Yaeger’s Free Content: Over the past two years they’ve released a steady stream of free content to their YouTube channel . They also host a CPA podcast on their site that covers topics in accounting and current events. Finally, take a chance on their free trial and experience all that Yaeger has to offer firsthand.
As the main test needed for a highly-sought after distinction in the field of accounting, it makes sense that the CPA exam would be quite difficult. With any challenge, it’s important to make yourself familiar with what you’re going up against so that you can better plan out how to overcome it.
How do you know where to start on your journey to pass the CPA exam? We’ve got the basics covered for you:
The CPA exam is broken down into 4 separate sections: 1
You have 4 hours to complete each CPA exam section. As you can see, they most commonly include multiple choice questions and task-based simulations, though there are also written communication questions for some questions. 3
Multiple-choice questions are straightforward; if you’ve taken any standardized tests , you should already be very familiar with the format.
But what’s the difference between task-based simulations and written communication tasks? Here’s what you need to know:
There are a few key points to keep in mind when understanding how grading for the CPA exam works:
First, remember that each section of the CPA exam is divided into testlets. This structure allows each portion of the test to have an associated difficulty level: either medium or high. 4
If you feel that you didn’t do well on a particular portion of the exam, it could be that you were working through a testlet with a higher level of difficulty.
Next, it’s important to know that there are a select amount of questions that aren’t graded. These are known as pre-test questions and are included to help the test makers create new questions for future versions of the exam. 5
There’s no designation on the exam that makes the distinction between regular and pre-test questions. Hence, you’ll have no way of knowing if a particular question is a pre-test question— so you should still answer each one as accurately as possible to get a high score!
Speaking of scores, it’s time to talk about grading.
Every person taking the CPA exam begins with 0 points. Each correct answer will earn you points; but as we learned earlier, not all questions are created equal. For this reason, you’ll actually receive a higher allotment of points for correct answers in testlets that provide a greater level of challenge.
A score of 75 points or higher is needed to pass the CPA exam. Achieving this score proves that you have a level of knowledge that will uphold public safety in accounting services.
This score requirement was determined by the AICPA Board of Examiners (AICPA BOE) They’ve determined this to be a sufficient passing score after considering factors like historical trends, changes in CPA exam content, study results, and input from academic circles and accounting professionals. 7
An important question to ask yourself the first time you take the CPA exam is which section to tackle first. But when researching test prep techniques and speaking with test takers, we’ve determined that the answer will vary.
Here’s what we recommend:
Instead of listening to people who tell you to take the hardest portion of the exam first or suggest particular study methods, consider your own strengths and weaknesses first. These are going to be key determining factors in your decision. Once you’ve figured this out, we recommend starting with your strongest section. This is because you only have so much time to pass all 4 exam sections— so you should start strong to build momentum.
First, it’s important to know when the exam is actually facilitated. In the past, the exam was offered 4 times in a year on specific dates, referred to as testing windows. But recent developments from Prometric, NASBA, and the AICPA have changed this schedule. 8 As part of their continuous testing model, these are the new testing windows.
The first step in taking the CPA exam is to apply to the Board of Accountancy. Once you’re deemed eligible to take the exam you’ll receive a Notice to Schedule (NTS) 9 . There are a few things to keep in mind when dealing with your NTS:
Although it’s important to take all 4 sections of the exam within a single testing window, you definitely don’t have to do all of the sections at once. You can take all 4 parts of the CPA exam at your own pace— so long as you pass all of them within 18 months of each other. Remember: if you fail a particular portion and don’t retake this section within 18 months of passing the other sections, you have to retake all portions in order to be eligible!
Keep this in mind when you plan to take your exams; otherwise you can waste a lot of time on retakes!
While the general requirements for taking the CPA exam are pretty consistent in most of the country, each state does have its own rules and regulations. Be sure to find the specific requirements for your state before you start studying. Here are some criteria that can vary in some state’s requirements:
Figuring out your specific state’s requirements for the CPA exam can be confusing. If you’re feeling confused or aren’t sure where to look for this information, you’re not alone. The good news is that there are several helpful resources, including these:
Wiley has a handy map on their site that allows you to select your state and provides you with the information that you need from there.10 Anyone who still needs some clarification on their particular state’s mandates should give this tool a closer look.
Before diving into your studies, familiarize yourself with the CPA exam structure. The exam is divided into four sections: FAR (Financial Accounting and Reporting), AUD (Auditing and Attestation), REG (Regulation), and BEC (Business Environment and Concepts). Each section has its own set of topics and question types, so knowing what to expect can help you tailor your study approach.
While it might be tempting to tackle the hardest section first, consider starting with the section you’re most confident in. This strategy can boost your morale and provide momentum for the subsequent sections.
Consistency is key. Allocate specific times for studying each day or week, ensuring you cover all topics in depth. Use tools like calendars or apps to track your progress and set reminders.
Don’t rely on just one study material. Combine textbooks, online courses, flashcards, and practice exams to get a holistic understanding of the topics. The article provides a plethora of free resources, so make sure to take advantage of them.
Simulate the exam environment by taking practice tests regularly. This not only helps you get accustomed to the question format but also improves time management skills.
Engaging in group studies can offer different perspectives on complex topics. Discussing with peers can uncover areas you might have overlooked and provide mutual motivation.
The world of accounting is ever-evolving. Ensure you’re studying the most recent materials and are aware of any changes to the CPA exam structure or content.
While studying is crucial, don’t neglect your well-being. Take regular breaks, engage in physical activity, and ensure you get adequate sleep. A healthy mind is just as essential as a well-prepared one.
As the exam date approaches, allocate time to revisit topics you found challenging. This reinforcement ensures that the information is fresh in your mind.
Confidence can make a significant difference. Trust your preparation, stay positive, and approach the exam with a winning mindset.
Everyone learns differently— keep this in mind as you prepare to take your CPA exams. Consider your own personality traits to determine how effective a certain kind of exam study guide will be for you.
For example, consider your approach to organization. Are you highly organized? Can you develop your own study schedule without any assistance? If so, all you’ll probably need are some great study materials to work with and you’re set.
But if you’re someone who does not know where to even start with developing a study schedule — or you just struggle to stay organized — it’s a good idea to enroll in a review course. There are many courses available online from providers who specialize in knowing exactly how to pass the CPA Exam.
While your approach may differ from others when it comes to the CPA exam, both types of students we’ve mentioned can benefit from the resources below. No matter which category you fall under, we’ve put together a list of steps that can be applied to either type of student:
Now that you have information on the structure and general process for applying to take the CPA exam — as well as plenty of study resources at your disposal — the rest is up to you.
Remember to take on larger topics in chunks and keep a consistent schedule. Furthermore, don’t forget to play to your strengths as well and focus on your stronger topics first. This will help you ease into the overall process and feel more confident in sections that you may not be quite as solid with.
We hope you enjoyed learning about the CPA Exam and various study tools currently available. This exam can be extremely difficult for some. Hopefully with this guide, we can be a helping hand to you in uncertain and difficult times.
Good luck on your exams!
