Count the hours, then book it.

Arithmetic, before payment. Multiply your genuine weekly hours by the weeks left, subtract the weeks you'll lose to work and life, and compare with what you're planning for the exam. At 13.5 hours a week with three weeks lost, a 16-week run leaves you 124 hours short of a 300-hour target — while the same pace over 26 weeks lands within three hours of it. The issue is usually the date, not your effort.

Because topics studied in month one are largely gone by month four without revisiting, and most self-made plans have no review loop at all. A fixed weekly slot on older material is the single structural fix — alongside starting practice questions as soon as a topic is covered, since questions reveal what reading hides.

Full length, real timing, no notes, spaced across the final phase with the first early enough that you can act on it — and book as much time to review each one as to sit it. Categorise every wrong answer as didn't know it, misread it, ran out of time, or careless. Each has a different fix, and treating them all as "revise more" is exactly why scores plateau.

Eligibility, the current exam structure for your section or level, testing windows and booking deadlines, fees, the rescheduling policy and its cost, and how long passed sections remain valid. These differ by jurisdiction and have changed in recent years — for CPA candidates that means your state board specifically, not a colleague's experience from two years ago.

Build a plan you can actually follow rather than an aggressive one you abandon in week five, keep one non-study evening a week, and treat sleep in the final week as worth more than the marginal revision hour. Ask your employer too — many fund fees and materials or grant study days, and most candidates never ask. If you're running on empty for weeks, a doctor or an employee support scheme is worth using.