How Many Hours to Study for the CPA Exam?
Most candidates need roughly 350–500 hours to study for the full CPA exam — about 120 for FAR, 90 for AUD, 100 for REG, and 90 for your Discipline section. But the total that matters is yours: it shifts with your background and how much runway you have before exam day. Use the calculator to get your number — then see whether your pace is realistic, because hours logged isn't the same as actually being ready.
Estimated study hours
360hours
Add a target exam date to see whether your pace is realistic.
Hours are only half the answer.
The other half is studying the rightthings in the right order. CramRocket builds an adaptive plan from your actual materials and tracks whether you're truly ready — not just whether you logged the hours.
Start free →How this estimate works
We start from realistic per-section study times — FAR 120 hours, AUD 90, REG 100, and Discipline 90 — then adjust for your background, since how recently you worked with the material changes how fast it sticks. We add up the sections you selected, apply that adjustment, and divide by the weeks until your exam to show the hours per week you'd need. If that pace would take more than seven study days a week, the timeline is the problem, not your effort.
CPA study hours: common questions
- How many hours does it take to study for the CPA exam?
- Most candidates need roughly 350–500 total hours to study for the full CPA exam, spread across all four sections. A common breakdown is about 120 hours for FAR (the heaviest), 90 for AUD, 100 for REG, and 90 for your chosen Discipline section. Your real number depends on how recently you studied accounting — a recent graduate may need ~15% fewer hours, while someone from a non-accounting background often needs ~30% more.
- Can you pass the CPA exam in 3 months?
- Yes, passing the CPA in 3 months is possible but aggressive. Three months is about 13 weeks, so a ~450-hour plan means roughly 35 hours per week — about 5 hours a day, every day, with little buffer for a bad week. It's realistic for a recent grad studying full-time, and very hard alongside a full-time job. If the math forces more than 7 study days a week, extending your date usually beats cramming and burning out.
- How many hours should I study for FAR?
- FAR (Financial Accounting & Reporting) is the most time-intensive CPA section, typically needing about 120 hours of focused study. It covers the broadest content — financial statements, governmental and not-for-profit accounting, and technical standards — so most candidates schedule the most weeks for it. Budget proportionally more time for FAR than for AUD, REG, or your Discipline section.
- Is studying 2 hours a day enough for the CPA exam?
- Two hours a day can be enough for the CPA if your timeline is long enough. At 2 hours daily you cover about 14 hours a week, so a 450-hour plan takes roughly 32 weeks — around 7 to 8 months. If your exam is sooner than that, 2 hours a day won't reach the total in time, and you'll need either more daily hours or a later exam date. The calculator above shows exactly where your pace lands.