CPA
Sources
Every number about the exam on the CPA path (the sections, the testlets, the time, the break, the content areas and their allocations, the skill levels, the weighting of multiple-choice questions and task-based simulations, the score scale and the passing score) comes from the AICPA's and NASBA's own documents below, read on 13 November 2026. Where they are silent, the choice is ours and we say so. The representative tasks are shown in our own words throughout the path.
Checked against the issuers' sites on November 13, 2026.
What FAR covers: the AICPA
The Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints and what changed for 2027.
Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints
- Issued by
- American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Board of Examiners
- Version
- Approved 18 August 2025, effective January 2026
- What we use it for
- The licensure model, the FAR format (four hours, 50 multiple-choice questions and 7 task-based simulations in five testlets of 25, 25, 2, 3 and 2), the 50/50 weighting, the three content areas and their allocations (Financial Reporting 30 to 40%, Select Balance Sheet Accounts 30 to 40%, Select Transactions 25 to 35%), the skill levels and the 113 representative tasks (shown in our own words).
Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints
- Issued by
- American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Board of Examiners
- Version
- Approved 16 September 2026, effective January 2027
- What we use it for
- Compared with the 2026 Blueprints line by line: FAR's areas, allocations, skill levels and tasks are unchanged for 2027.
Summary of revisions to the Uniform CPA Examination Blueprints, effective January 1, 2027
- Issued by
- American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), Board of Examiners
- Version
- Approved 16 September 2026
- What we use it for
- The one change to FAR for 2027: NCGA Statements and Interpretations added to the state and local government references.
Learn what to study for the CPA Exam
- Issued by
- AICPA & CIMA
- Version
- Web page dated 12 November 2026
- What we use it for
- The questions and simulations in each section, and when new accounting pronouncements become eligible for testing.
Retired task-based simulation from the FAR Section of the Uniform CPA Examination
- Issued by
- AICPA
- Version
- PDF created 21 August 2025
- What we use it for
- Read for the kind of task a simulation is, never copied or adapted: every simulation on the path is our own.
CPA Exam user-interface changes coming in 2027
- Issued by
- AICPA & CIMA
- Version
- Web page dated 19 August 2026
- What we use it for
- The testing blackout of 1 to 11 July 2027 and the new delivery platform from 12 July 2027; our exam screen is our own.
Seven things to know about the new CPA Exam
- Issued by
- AICPA & CIMA
- Version
- Web page dated 21 April 2025
- What we use it for
- Background on the Core and Discipline model and on task-based simulations as small case studies.
How the exam is delivered and scored: the AICPA and NASBA
Testing time, the standardized break, the score scale, the passing score and when scores are released.
CPA Exam Candidate Guide
- Issued by
- National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA)
- Version
- Edition 11022026 (2 November 2026)
- What we use it for
- Four hours of testing, the standardized 15-minute break after the first simulation testlet that does not count against the time, the tools at the test centre, the credit period and retakes.
Find out when you'll get your CPA Exam score
- Issued by
- AICPA & CIMA
- Version
- Web page dated 31 August 2026
- What we use it for
- Continuous testing for FAR, score release dates, and the credit period of at least 30 months.
Learn more about CPA Exam scoring and pass rates
- Issued by
- AICPA & CIMA
- Version
- Web page dated 22 October 2026
- What we use it for
- The 0 to 99 scale, 75 to pass, a score that is not a percentage correct, scores not curved, and the weighting of multiple-choice questions and simulations.
Score Information
- Issued by
- National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA)
- Version
- Score table as of 9 September 2026
- What we use it for
- How scores are reported and the Candidate Performance Report for a failed section.
CPA Exam FAQ
- Issued by
- National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA)
- Version
- Web page
- What we use it for
- Sections in any order, 16 hours in all, year-round testing for the Core sections, the last day of credit, the Notice to Schedule and fees that vary by jurisdiction (the path states no fee).
What the sources leave open, and what we do
- The scoring model of our mock: the AICPA does not publish its scaling, so our report gives percent correct for the multiple-choice questions and for the simulations, combined 50/50, and never a 0 to 99 score or a pass or a fail.
- Every question in our mock counts: the AICPA's documents do not say whether any items are unscored.
- Simulations are scored one point per part, each part equal: the AICPA does not say whether simulations earn partial credit.
- One 240-minute clock with a suggested pace of our own: the AICPA does not publish time per testlet.
- Fixed forms of 25 and 25 questions, then simulation testlets of 2, 3 and 2, drawn by the middle of each area's allocation, never by the number of tasks.
- Our own exam screen with a simple calculator, until the AICPA describes the screen after July 2027.
ExamDragon is independent exam preparation. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or reviewed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), any state board of accountancy or Prometric. Uniform CPA Examination and CPA Exam are names of the AICPA, used here only to name the exam. Every question and simulation on the path is original.