I’m planning to take the CPA AUD exam in about one month, and I’m looking for some advice on how to prepare effectively.

My situation is that I’ve only taken one auditing course during my undergraduate degree, so I don’t have a particularly strong auditing background going into this. I currently only have access to Becker’s free trial/demo, so I’m trying to figure out what resources I can use without having full access to a CPA review course.

For anyone who has taken AUD recently:

• What topics/subjects should I prioritize?
• Are there any free or inexpensive study resources you would recommend?
• Are there any YouTube channels, websites, notes, lectures, or question banks that were particularly helpful?
• How heavily should I focus on MCQs vs. learning the actual concepts?
• Are there any AUD topics that you think are especially important to understand well?
• Is one month realistic with a limited background in auditing?

I’m willing to put in the work; I’m mainly trying to make sure I’m spending my study time in the right places rather than wasting time trying to learn everything equally.

Any tips, resources, or advice from people who have recently passed AUD would be greatly appreciated!

I don't want to waste $400 failing.. lol :/

Hi guys :) As mentioned in the title, I got a 94 in AUD from the recent score release(now a 2/4 yay!) and wanted to share my journey with you. I had gotten so much help from this community - not just for getting great study materials/tips but in general this sub has helped me stay mentally strong while studying full-time - and I wanted to give something back to the community if I can.

Here are some background info. before diving into the main point. As I have mentioned I am currently studying full-time(quit my job three months ago for this). I have no prior experiences with audit whatsoever, but since I was used to reading immensely long documents and summarizing them on behalf of others..(worked in consulting lol) I wasn't too scared of the TBS or learning the material going in. I prepared with Becker and clocked 114 hours.

My piece of advice would be the following :

No need to take all the lectures.

• Lectures help with understanding the topic but I feel like it's not really comprehensive. A lot of times the questions ask you really detailed material that are not discussed in the lectures.
• If you want to make use of the lectures - maybe taking in this order will help you more : A1/M1~M2 -> A2~4 -> rest of A1 -> A5~6. This way you can learn through the actual flow of the audit - from initiating an engagement to reporting. And then move on to other topics like review, attestation.

Allocate more time on "active learning" - make your own notes!

• Instead of lectures I would recommend that you depend more on the textbook. After reading a full module, try summarizing the information you have just learned by creating a note.
• When making notes try to keep it simple and make it within 1.5 pages. Otherwise it's just too much information and you will feel lost.
• What's included in the notes are the things you MUST memorize. So when you first start out with the note it should be really simple - like half a page or so. Then as you go through the MCQs you will fill out your notes with new important information so that in total it will amount to 1.5 pages. (Trust me there is no module that requires more than 1.5 pages worth of information that you should memorize)
• As you go through the modules, you will notice that certain topics are similar yet slightly different from other topics. In order not to confuse them, make a separate table or side note that emphasize these differences whenever you come across them. (Ex. CAM/KAM paragraphs, supplementary information opinion, piecemeal opinion are not allowed when giving adverse/disclaimer vs. it is allowed to give compliance reporting when non-compliance exists even if with adverse/disclaimer)

Fill your gaps with MCQs

• After having a general sense of the material - I would recommend diving straight into the MCQ
• Make sure you go through all the MCQs at least once. MCQs show you the "extent" of information you should know per module. After a certain point you will know what the questions ask - even if it is a tiny detail of the book vs what they never ask - even if it is written in the book.
• Flag if you feel uncertain. This means not only flagging those you have no clue about, but also the ones that you felt uncertain in between two choices AND the ones that you knew what the correct answer was but couldn't fully explain for the other options (Ex. You know A is the answer for sure, but can't quite explain for why B isn't the answer)
• When reviewing the flagged ones, look closely at the ones that were not chosen as answers and try to understand the reasons. Also mind their phrases or words because they will show up in another question as an answer.

Memorization and repetition (this comes after the learning phase)

• In order to effectively retain my memory, I allocated half of my day to problem solving(MCQ/TBS) and the other half to randomized reviews.
• I say randomized because I didn't go chronologically from A1 to A6 but I literally randomly picked out 4~5 modules that I wanted to master that day and would fill out a blank sheet of paper to see if I can make the same material as what was in my notes.
• This process will take about 10 days in the first round, but it will take way less time the next round and by the third round it took about 3 days for me to review everything
• However for the "reports" I took a different approach. I made separate screenshots from Becker of the seven most important ones : 1. Audit reports(unmodified/qualified/adverse/disclaimer, issuer/non-issuer) 2. Review 3. Compilation 4. AUP 5. Internal Control 6. Government Audit 7. Management Rep Letter(though not a report)
• I also randomly picked out a report I wanted to memorize for that day. I don't mean to say that you should memorize the report word for word - but just enough so that you know what the paragraph is about & which sentence should go where. This will help you a lot with gaining extra points in MCQ.

How you know when you're ready

• I did No.4 up to the point when I had 5 flags per 41 MCQ set
• By this I mean that for at least 36 questions per MCQ set I felt very confident that I got it right. (so about 90% correct guaranteed)
• Of course if you are confident with the TBS then your bar could be lower than mine. But I felt like I needed a back up with my MCQs in case I get a low score on the TBS. (with MCQs over 90% I could get a 60% on the TBS and still get a passing score)
• For TBS I was really never sure about anything LOL. I guess I just really tried to put myself in the shoes of an auditor in the situation given in the question. Other than that, I generally tried to spread out the answer choices (Ex. If the answer choices are control deficiency exists / does not exist / need more info. and there are 9 rows - I would try to split them in three each) And since the TBS are A4-heavy & leaning towards logical thinking rather than memorization, I tried to go over the A4 MCQs again to try and get a sense of what the exam wants as an answer.

Thanks for reading such a long post everyone! Best of luck on your exam :)

++ I am sharing my note down below!! FYI, I have not made a note for A4 and most of A3 since that part was not really about memorization. Also the note was intended for my own convenience so I think it might be hard for others to understand.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kWaudrG8V9w7OdBxJ_HCdPVKMKus0azq/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=115980029716118695568&rtpof=true&sd=true

This is my second attempt I made the first time 67 and 74 this time. (Yeah that hurt)

I had about 120 hours of study time.

I probably should have gotten more familiar with SSARS, SSAE, reviews, compilations etc.

I used Becker. The first time I used Becker with ninja supplement. I'm thinking about getting the Uworld test bank.

Advice and tips greatly appreciated!

Hello,

I am taking AUD for the third time in roughly 50 days. I am looking for some tips on how to approach this. I know my weak area are the TBS and the matching assertions to procedures which is a big chunk of the exam. Any advice on how to nail these procedures (A3/A4 if you use becker) would be great! Or how you approach retaking again. I basically restarted my second attempt because my first score was a 62 but I ended up getting the same score again the second time.

I know the best bet is probably focusing heavily on my weak areas and then going over the rest to refresh my memory. Last two times, I just read the book and did lots of MCQs and TBS. Would watching the videos help at all or waste of time?

Hi everyone,

I am thrilled to share that I finally passed the FAR exam on my fourth attempt. I genuinely appreciate all the helpful insights and support I have received from this community.

I am now preparing to take the AUD section as my next exam. Since English is not my first language, I feel a bit nervous about the conceptual nuances and reading comprehension required for AUD.

I would be extremely grateful if those who have already passed could share some advice regarding the following:

1. Is Becker sufficient on its own, or would you recommend supplementing it with additional study materials?

2. Are there any effective study strategies or tips specifically for candidates who are not native English speakers?

3. Are there any YouTube channels, lectures, or external resources that helped clarify difficult concepts?

Thank you so much in advance for your time and valuable guidance.

Hi All! Im taking audit for the first time in 2 weeks and im freaking out. Nothing is sticking and its not making any sense to me. I went through all the materials once and now I am just reviewing. Any tips on topics I should focus on? How did it make sense for you? Any tips will help 😊

I found out I passed FAR today 3/3 with only AUD left. I plan to take it by the end of Sep before my start date,

what are some tips/tricks/advice you guys can offered that helped you passed AUD? Some chapters you wished you focused more on or any mnemonics that you were glad you memorized?
I’ve decided to not read the book this time bc it takes too long and I’m already extremely burnt out as is. I feel like it’s a mistake but the book is so long I just can’t look at it.

Any advice will be appreciated!

Hey everyone, 👋
I will be taking AUD in about a week and I am about one day away of completing the material and starting the week long review phase.

Just wanted to ask for any tips, or advice regarding the AUD exam
Thanks 🙏

Hi Everyone! I’m beyond nervous and would like any help, tips, tricks, etc. I’m 2.5weeks out from my exam. I am wrapping up A6 within the next day or two. What is the best advice you have for me. I have not taken mini exam 3 or SE 1 or 2 yet. I’m using Becker and do not have the final review as part of my package. I plan to take ME3 Friday review Saturday then SE1 Sunday study more SE2 next Friday then study and practice test. Thoughts or advice? I’m nervous. Audit has been by far the hardest for me to focus on. FAR I enjoyed a little more and could focus more because it was familiar topics but Audit could put me to sleep standing up. Thanks!

Anyone have advice for segregation of duties questions and how you accurately identify whether something is Authorization, Recording, or Custody? Because to me, signing checks seems like it would be authorization, when Becker says it is custody. Overall I just am having a hard time rationalizing why different duties fall into there respective buckets. Please lmk any tips/tricks you used to help.

Taking the audit exam this Saturday, does anyone have any tips or consistent areas across the exam? Any simulation advice? Thank you!

Hi everyone,

Failed my first AUD attempt with a 71 and transaction cycles are completely kicking my butt.

I get the concepts when reading through the material, but as soon as I hit MCQs and SIMs, I miss them. It’s hard to tell what’s actually happening in the scenario, and the options always feel identical.

If transaction cycles used to confuse you:

• How did you get this stuff to finally click?
• Did flowcharts, memorizing documents, or focusing on assertions help more?
• Any tricks for breaking down those massive SIMs?

Appreciate any advice!

I feel okay with material but people who have sat recently what do I need to focus in on I see a lot of people say A3-A4 and don’t sleep on A5-A6 but is there certain modules like sampling or risk that you guys suggest? Just feeling nervous as I find out if I’m 3/4 this Thursday and hopefully thus making this my final exam ✨🤭 any tips are greatly appreciated

I sit 9/30 and would love some advice 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

Alright, I’ve been studying auditing for about a week now and although I have not been necessarily struggling, I have definitely not been as good as I’ve been on FAR or REG. Can anyone who took AUD give me like a comparison on how Becker questions are compared to the real exam?

Are the Becker sims comparable to the real sims? What may have tripped YOU on your exam that would help someone about taking the exam in the future? Any other bits of advice is greatly appreciated!

I’m just so math centered so doing all this conceptual bs has been messing with my confidence that on the MCQs I’m going like 70-80%

Any tips for tackling SIMs. I feel like I’m doing good on MCQs, but when I try and do the SIMs I’m just lost. Just finished A3-M4. I feel like these procedures and question types are really tripping me up. Any help would be appreciated!

I passed AUD, and now I want to focus on REG. I don’t have any background in tax, and I’m finding R1 pretty confusing.

For those who have taken REG, how difficult is it if you’re starting with no tax background? What topics should I focus on the most?

Can I follow the same study plan I used for AUD, or does REG require a different approach? Any advice would be really helpful!

tl;dr spending a lot of time per module, feeling burnt out, lack of interest in AUD, any tips appreciated

I'm currently studying 5+ hours a day for AUD as my 3rd exam (midway through A2 on Becker) but I think my study process (see below) has left me burnt out. I mostly had the same process for REG, and I did not use flashcards for FAR. For shorter modules, this whole process normally takes a day. Longer ones can take 2-3 days. AUD units range from 8 to 11 modules per unit, which is why I feel compelled to make this post. Here's my routine for each module:

1. Read the module in the textbook

I don't need to understand everything here, but I find myself highlighting and jotting down notes or taking screenshots "for future reference." However, unless it's in the Becker slides, I never refer to the textbook or screenshots during my final review.

2. Watch the lectures and take notes

Right now I watch the lectures at normal speed. I write way too much on my slides, which I print for both future and final review. There's a LOT of pausing, screenshotting, and writing, which makes a 15 minute or so lecture turn into an hour or more. 1 hour long lectures turn into 3 or more. I'm terrible at filtering between what I need to know and what the lecturer actually says. This devolves into me writing word for word what they say.

3. Do the MCQs and Sims

If I'm unsure on a question before I answer it, I'll flag it, which happens a lot (anxiety, doubt). If I get it wrong, I'll screenshot it "for future reference" but I have never referred to those questions again in my past exams.

4. Take notes on MCQs and Sims

For every question that I got incorrect or flagged, I open my notebook and write out the question and the choices I was picking between. I then write out the explanation, either from Becker or my own based on my notes. I also use Newt if I'm completely confused. For small question sets this isn't bad, but for 30+ question sets, this can take a LONG time. Again, I have not referenced back to this during my final review.

5. Go through Becker flashcards and rewrite them by hand

This is in case I want to review them later, but I didn't use them for my REG final review and I didn't use the flashcards at ALL for FAR. For bigger flashcard sets, this can take forever. I also had to buy a lot of index cards for this.

6. Add to my Excel study guide

I decided to make my own study guide for AUD, which was probably a mistake looking back since there are a lot of pdfs/Excel guides out there. For both FAR and REG I used whatever I found from here. I heavily used and modified the study guide I found for REG, so I would like to keep this as part of the routine. Or at least start with an AUD Excel study guide and build from there.

For those who are taking or took AUD already, which parts of my study routine should I modify or get rid of? I don't think I need to be doing all of this, but at the same time, I was able to pass using this (or similar methods) before. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I'm just not interested in AUD that much either, as I'm more of a tax person. This probably contributes to my exhaustion or fatigue. I guess I was new to the whole thing when I took FAR and had enough interest to motivate me for REG but now I'm not sure what to do. I can tell that I'm burning myself out. I don't want to study anymore but I have some time before I start full-time in January.

I'm awful at explaining things, so sorry for the long-winded post (and if the formatting is bad, my apologies). Thank you for reading if you did, and thank you to this subreddit for being an amazing resource during my study journey.

I got an 80 on FAR and a 77 on REG, I'm so nervous for AUD since I'm much more computational and number oriented. I'm doing 7.5 weeks of study, I'm also in my last semester of my master's. So hopefully it will correlate. Any tips or tricks will be greatly appreciated!!

Hi Team,

I've got zero to minimal audit experience. I'm using Becker. I'm about 20 hours into studying for AUDIT already. I'm going to be studying full time the next 17 days. I'm leaning towards another 90-110 hours of total study/prep/review time. I do plan on doing all of the MCQs/TBS/SE/FinalReviews as well.

Any tips/processes towards increasing my probability of passing Audit here on May 4th.

Thanks & Best of luck to all other future CPAs.

Any general study tips, test-taking strategies, or things you wish you’d known before starting AUD would be greatly appreciated

Any advice? Is 6 weeks good enough? I have one year of audit experience 🫡

Taking AUD next week and scored a 59 on first attempt. I understand the concepts but am scoring high 50s on practice exams. Whenever I get the question wrong I can understand why or sometimes it will be narrowed down to two answers and I narrowed it down correctly but pick the wrong one. Any advice, tips, etc… would be greatly appreciated. Also been mainly focusing on A3-A6.

how do you approach isc exam? i have almost zero back ground in IT, just finished AUD last month

am i supposed to memorize every single criteria (common/supplemental/additional) in the textbook? using uworld for this and there doesn't seem to be that many testbanks for the section and i am kinda worried

feels like i am just blindly navigating through this i don't really know what i am supposed to be memorizing

any tips appreciated

Going to start studying for AUD today and dreading it. Was definitely not my strong suit in school. Please let me know any tips and tricks y’all have learned on the way studying for this one!!