Exam in 30 days. Aggressive but doable. This plan shows exactly what to cover, what to cut, and how each day looks.
30 days × 5h = 150 total hours, about 125% of typical CPA AUD prep. All published topics fit. A first-attempt candidate can pass at this pace with discipline — a retaker can use it as a proper rebuild.
Typical CPA AUD prep runs ~120 hours over ~10 weeks at ~12 hours per week. This cram window gives you 150 total hours (30 days × 5 h/day). The plan below allocates ~75% to coverage and ~25% to review + at least one full mock — that ratio shifts later as the window tightens.
CPA AUD has 4 topic areas. With a 30-day window we keep the highest-weight + load-bearing topics and explicitly drop the rest. The cuts below are deliberate — you only pick those topics back up if you finish higher-priority material ahead of schedule.
Every published CPA AUD topic fits inside a 30-day window at this hours/day level. Tight, but no triage required. Lower-weight topics get fewer hours but stay on the schedule.
What a real 30-day CPA AUD cram plan actually looks like. Heavier topics get more time. Review starts at ~55% of the window. Final stretch is mock-driven. Adjust the start date below to align with your exam.
A visual preview of how exclam.ai compresses 4 CPA AUD topics into 30 days. Update the start date so the exam date aligns with your sitting.
Cover Ethics, Professional Responsibilities, and General Principles (15–25%), Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response (25–35%) in this week — paired because their individual weights are light or the intensive pace requires combining adjacent syllabus sections. Read each objective, flashcard the key formulas, and run one quiz across the group before moving on.
Cover Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence end-to-end. Build flashcards covering every learning objective and quiz yourself before moving to the next module.
Cover Forming Conclusions and Reporting end-to-end. Build flashcards covering every learning objective and quiz yourself before moving to the next module.
Weak-topic drilling. exclam.ai surfaces topics where you underperformed during coverage and re-quizzes them. Daily FSRS flashcard reps across all 4 topics to prevent decay. Start doing timed question batches focused on the heaviest-weight sections.
Full-length CPA AUD practice exams under timed conditions. Target one mock every 3–5 days. Same-day error review: for every question you miss, re-derive the solution from scratch. Taper in the final 3 days — light flashcards only.
Cram advice is dramatically different for first-attempt candidates and retakers. The plan above is the same; the playbook is not.
AUD first-attempt candidates often underestimate the conceptual integration required. Even at 14 days, do 2–3 full TBSs per study day to build the integrated judgment pattern.
Use your vendor (Becker, Wiley/UWorld, Gleim, Surgent) MCQ bank heavily — at least 50–75 MCQs per day with rationale review.
Save AUD for last if you have multiple sections — concepts from FAR (ratios, account balances) and REG (ethics) make AUD easier.
Final 3 days: pure TBS practice + Code of Conduct re-read. Cold MCQs day-of will not save a cram candidate.
Pacing: AUD is 4 hours for 72 MCQs + 7 TBSs. That averages ~3 minutes per MCQ and ~16 minutes per TBS — practice to that exact tempo.
Patterns that show up specifically when CPA AUD candidates compress the timeline. Worth scanning before you start your week.
AUD has the heaviest Evaluation-level skill mix (5–15%) of any CPA section — you cannot cram on memorization. Drill scenario-based MCQs from day 1.
Sampling, audit evidence sufficiency, and going-concern judgment items are the cram-killers — they require integrated judgment that builds slowly. Lean into vendor practice TBSs early.
Cram candidates over-index on Ethics because it feels achievable. Ethics is only 15–25%. Spend the majority of time on Risk (25–35%) and Procedures/Evidence (30–40%).
TBS practice is non-negotiable for AUD even in a 14-day cram. The format itself is where most cram-window failures cluster, not the content.
Different window, different math, different cut list. Pick the duration that matches your real exam date.
Retakers: yes, especially if you scored 70–74 last cycle. First-attempt: only with strong audit experience or recent intermediate auditing coursework. AUD is the most judgment-heavy CPA section — content can be crammed, judgment patterns cannot.
50–75 per day with rationale review. AUD has 72 MCQs on the actual exam; matching that volume daily during cram trains pacing.
Yes — even at 14 days. TBSs are 50% of your AUD score. Cramming with MCQs only and skipping TBSs is the most common cram-window failure.
Topic names and weight bands are paraphrased from the public 2026 AICPA AUD Blueprint (public). Verify the current outline before your sitting.
2026 AICPA AUD Blueprint (public)Upload your CPA AUD materials, plug in your exam date, and exclam.ai builds the compressed plan automatically. Free to start.