Which CPA Exam topics are hardest?
Nobody publishes which CPA Exam topics candidates answer incorrectly most often. The AICPA reports pass rates by section and not below that, and a review course's own miss rates describe its own customers rather than the candidate population. What the AICPA does publish is the skill level it tests each topic at, which is the examiner stating how hard a topic is meant to be. In FAR, 33 of the 56 named topics are tested at Analysis, and one, variable interest entities, is tested at Analysis with no recall or application level beneath it.
Does the AICPA publish which topics are hardest?
No. The AICPA publishes candidate pass rates by section and does not break performance down by topic. It does publish a skill level for each topic in the FAR blueprint, which says how it intends to test that topic rather than how candidates did on it. Treat any per-topic difficulty ranking you find elsewhere as an inference from somebody's own users unless it names a source.
Pass rates stop at the section. FAR is the lowest at 42.95% and TCP the highest at 79.53%, which tells you where candidates struggle across a whole four-hour exam and nothing about which topic inside it cost them the marks.
The skill level is the examiner's own difficulty signal
The AICPA blueprint assigns each topic one or more skill levels: Remembering and Understanding, Application, Analysis, and Evaluation. That is the AICPA saying how it intends to ask about a topic. A topic tested only at Remembering is asked as a definition. A topic tested at Analysis is asked as a judgment across facts, which is where marks go. It is not the same thing as a miss rate, and it is the closest published proxy that comes from the examiner rather than from a vendor.
| FAR content area | Score weight | Topics | At Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Reporting | 30 to 40% | 13 | 3 |
| Select Balance Sheet Accounts | 30 to 40% | 19 | 12 |
| Select Transactions | 25 to 35% | 24 | 18 |
| All of FAR | 56 | 33 |
What is the hardest topic on the FAR exam?
By the only published measure, variable interest entities. It is the single FAR topic the AICPA tests at Analysis with no Remembering or Application level beneath it, which means it is not asked as a definition or a routine calculation. 33 of the 56 FAR topics reach Analysis, so it is far from the only demanding one, but it is the only one with nothing easier underneath.
Put practically: there is no version of a variable interest entities question that rewards recognizing the term. If you are triaging FAR and looking for the topic most likely to be asked in a way you cannot bluff, the blueprint points here. What is tested on variable interest entities.
Why this only covers FAR
The AICPA names individual topics inside the FAR blueprint and not inside the other five sections, where the published structure stops at the group above the topic. That is a limit of the source. Extending this to AUD or REG would mean inventing a topic list the AICPA has not published and then ranking it, which would be exactly the unsourced ranking this page exists to warn about. All 56 FAR topics carry their own skill levels and the standard each cites.
How do you find out which topics you personally answered incorrectly?
Fail a section and the AICPA sends a Candidate Performance Report with your score notice. It compares your performance by content area and by question type against candidates who scored between 75 and 80, the group that just passed. That report is the only per-candidate breakdown anyone gets, and it describes you rather than candidates in general, which makes it more useful for planning a retake than any published ranking.
See test day and reporting for what else arrives with a score, and by when a concern has to be raised.
Skill levels and content-area weights are read from the AICPA blueprint for FAR. Pass rates are the AICPA published candidate pass rates for 2026 through Q2, read from AICPA & CIMA on 2026-08-17. The AICPA publishes them quarterly.
Common questions
Which topics do candidates answer incorrectly most often on the CPA Exam?
Nobody publishes which CPA Exam topics candidates answer incorrectly most often. The AICPA reports pass rates by section and not below that, and a review course's own miss rates describe its own customers rather than the candidate population. What the AICPA does publish is the skill level it tests each topic at, which is the examiner stating how hard a topic is meant to be. In FAR, 33 of the 56 named topics are tested at Analysis, and one, variable interest entities, is tested at Analysis with no recall or application level beneath it.
Does the AICPA publish which CPA Exam topics are hardest?
No. The AICPA publishes candidate pass rates by section and does not break performance down by topic. It does publish a skill level for each topic in the FAR blueprint, which says how it intends to test that topic rather than how candidates did on it. Treat any per-topic difficulty ranking you find elsewhere as an inference from somebody's own users unless it names a source.
What is the hardest topic on the FAR CPA Exam?
By the only published measure, variable interest entities. It is the single FAR topic the AICPA tests at Analysis with no Remembering or Application level beneath it, which means it is not asked as a definition or a routine calculation. 33 of the 56 FAR topics reach Analysis, so it is far from the only demanding one, but it is the only one with nothing easier underneath.
How do you find out which CPA Exam topics you personally answered incorrectly?
Fail a section and the AICPA sends a Candidate Performance Report with your score notice. It compares your performance by content area and by question type against candidates who scored between 75 and 80, the group that just passed. That report is the only per-candidate breakdown anyone gets, and it describes you rather than candidates in general, which makes it more useful for planning a retake than any published ranking.