How to Pass CPA REG (Regulation): 2026 Study Guide

CPA REG is a 4-hour section with 72 multiple-choice questions and 8 task-based simulations, scored from 0 to 99 with 75 to pass. Despite the name, most of it is federal tax. I'd plan on 100 to 160 hours over 6 to 10 weeks, and spend at least 30 percent of that time in a question bank rather than reading.

I'm Jeffrey Ting, FSA, CFA. I run FreeFellow, a free exam-prep platform that isn't connected to the AICPA or NASBA, and this is the plan I'd follow if I were sitting REG in 2026.

What REG covers

The content falls into three groups. The biggest is federal taxation of individuals, entities and property transactions. Then there's business law: contracts, agency, debtor and creditor relationships, and federal securities regulation in the limited form the AICPA tests it. The last is ethics, professional responsibilities and federal tax procedures (Circular 230, preparer penalties, statute of limitations).

The AICPA blueprint lists every representative task by skill level (Remembering and Understanding, Application, or Analysis). I wouldn't memorize it, but I'd read it cover to cover once before starting and again two weeks out. The five areas and their published weight ranges:

The midpoints of the three tax areas add up to about 65 percent, so I'd treat REG as a tax exam with some business law on top, not the other way around.

The format matters as much as the content. Two MCQ testlets hold the 72 questions and three TBS testlets hold the 8 simulations. One simulation is usually a Document Review Simulation, where you read a memo or return and decide which highlighted phrases to keep, edit or delete. Others hand you excerpts from the Internal Revenue Code and regulations as exhibits, and part of the job is finding the line that answers the question. You also get a standardized 15-minute break that doesn't count against your 4 hours.

A 6 to 10 week plan

If you're working full time, 100 to 160 hours comes to roughly 12 to 18 hours a week. Here's how I'd split it:

• Weeks 1 to 2, individual taxation (25 to 35 hours): filing status, gross income inclusions and exclusions, adjustments, itemized deductions, the standard deduction, credits, and the basics of estate and gift tax. Get the Form 1040 into your head.
• Weeks 3 to 4, entity taxation (30 to 40 hours): C corporations (formation, earnings and profits, dividends, redemptions, liquidations), S corporations (eligibility, basis, AAA), partnerships (inside and outside basis, distributions, hot assets) and tax-exempt organizations.
• Week 5, property transactions (15 to 20 hours): basis, holding period, Section 1231, 1245, and 1250 recapture, like-kind exchanges, installment sales and wash sales. It's small by weight, but the rules are mechanical and the questions repeat patterns, so the hours pay off.
• Week 6, business law and ethics (20 to 30 hours): contracts, sales under UCC Article 2, secured transactions under Article 9, agency, suretyship, bankruptcy, employment law, the 1933 and 1934 securities Acts at a survey level, and Circular 230.
• Final 1 to 2 weeks, simulations and mocks (15 to 25 hours): two full 4-hour mocks under exam conditions, then simulation drills on whatever you missed.

Check that the tax constants in your review materials (standard deduction, retirement plan limits, gift exclusion) match the current year's inflation adjustments. I won't quote numbers here, because the AICPA tests the constants in effect for your testing window and your review provider should be the source for those.

How to practice, and where people lose points

For each topic, I'd run this loop:

1. Read a topic once, quickly, to get the shape of the rules.
2. Do 20 to 30 untimed questions on it. For every miss, write one line describing the rule, not the answer.
3. Move to timed sets of 40 questions mixed with earlier topics until you're getting about 75 percent right on the first try.
4. Start simulations once you've covered two related topics. Don't save them all for the last week.

On simulations, the two things that decide borderline scores are reading the exhibits efficiently and time management. Before you open a Code excerpt, guess what rule it should contain, then check. After a few weeks you'll know where to look in an exhibit instead of reading it top to bottom, which is a lot faster.

The mistakes I see most:

• Treating REG as memorization. The MCQs reward pattern recognition, but the simulations make you compute. Knowing that Section 1245 recaptures gain as ordinary income up to prior depreciation doesn't help if you can't apply it to a fact pattern with mid-quarter convention.
• Skipping basis problems. Partnership outside basis and S corporation stock basis show up everywhere. They're mechanical once you're in the habit of using a worksheet, so build that habit early.
• Leaving business law to luck. People burn out on tax and try to wing the law area, but at 15 to 25 percent of the blueprint that's too much to leave alone. A weekend of contracts and UCC drilling is worth it.
• Losing time on breaks. The standardized break doesn't count against your time, but the optional breaks between testlets do, so decide ahead of time which ones you'll take.
• Walking in without a full mock. You should know what 4 straight hours of REG feels like before exam day, and I'd do two full-length mocks under realistic conditions.

Score release follows the AICPA's published target dates. If you fail, you can retake in the next available testing window. Credit for passed sections currently lasts 30 months from the date you passed your first section, but states adopt that on their own schedule, so check with your state board.

FreeFellow's free CPA REG question bank has 1,160 original practice questions with step-by-step solutions and 36 written lessons, free with an account. You can use it as your main bank or as a check on a paid course. Task-based simulations and timed mock exams are part of Fellow.