Study Strategy
The AUD Exam: Format, Blueprint Weights and How to Pass
By SimplyCPA · 11 October 2026
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- Format: Four hours — 78 multiple-choice questions and 7 task-based simulations.
- Content: Ethics (15–25%), Risk Assessment (25–35%), Further Procedures and Evidence (30–40%), Conclusions and Reporting (10–20%).
- What's different: AUD is the only section that tests the evaluation skill level, so you need precise knowledge and judgement.
- Pass rate: About 48% in 2025, according to the AICPA.
- Study time: Plan for 110–140 hours. Learn the audit flow — planning, risk, response, evidence, report — and memorise report wording.
Auditing and Attestation (AUD) tests whether you can think like an auditor: assess risk, choose procedures, weigh evidence and decide what kind of report to issue. Its 2025 pass rate, published by the AICPA, was about 48%.
Format
- Length: 4 hours, plus an optional 15-minute break off the clock.
- Questions: 78 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and 7 task-based simulations (TBSs).
- Testlets: two MCQ testlets of 39 questions, then TBS testlets of 2, 3 and 2.
- Pacing: aim for about 1.25 minutes per MCQ and 18 minutes per simulation.
- Scoring: 75 out of 99 to pass. Wrong answers don't cost points, so never leave a question blank.
Content areas
| Area | Weight |
|---|---|
| I. Ethics, Professional Responsibilities and General Principles | 15–25% |
| II. Assessing Risk and Developing a Planned Response | 25–35% |
| III. Performing Further Procedures and Obtaining Evidence | 30–40% |
| IV. Forming Conclusions and Reporting | 10–20% |
AUD is the only section that tests the evaluation skill level (5–15%), and it has the highest share of remembering and understanding (30–40%). You need to know the standards precisely and apply judgement.
What changed for 2026
The 2026 blueprint updates Area I to reflect the AICPA's new quality management standards — Statement on Quality Management Standards (SQMS) No. 1 — which took effect for firms on December 15, 2025. The overall structure is unchanged.
How much study time?
Plan for 110–140 hours.
High-value topics
- Planning and materiality — see also our explainer on what materiality means.
- Assessing the risk of material misstatement and internal control.
- Audit reports — modified opinions and emphasis-of-matter paragraphs are favourite simulation material.
- Ethics and independence and audit sampling.
Strategy tips
- Learn the logic of the audit process — planning → risk → response → evidence → report. Most questions make sense once you know where in that flow you are.
- Memorise report wording and the triggers for each type of opinion; these are near-certain to appear.
- Read every question asking "which is not…" or "most likely" twice. AUD wording is deliberately precise.