Exam Study Plan Template (CFA® Program, FRM®, ACCA, CPA)

Exam Study Plan: [Exam and level], [Exam window]

A personal study plan for a professional finance or accounting exam: CFA® Program (Levels I, II and III), FRM® exam (Parts I and II), ACCA Qualification exams and the US CPA Exam. It turns the published topic weights into an hours budget, a phased calendar, a practice and mock-exam plan, a review routine, an error log, a tracker for required skills modules, exam-day logistics and a retrospective. Topic names and weight ranges are stated as plain facts as published by each exam body when checked on 2026-10-25; they change, so check the official page for your exam window before you rely on them. This template is not affiliated with or endorsed by any exam body and contains no curriculum content. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example. This is a document format, not financial, investment or career advice.

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Contents

1. Exam selection and key dates
2. Exam facts at a glance
3. Baseline self-assessment
4. Hours budget by topic
5. Phases and calendar
6. Weekly schedule and log
7. Practice questions and mock exams
8. Review and spaced repetition
9. Error and weak-area log
10. Required skills modules and other requirements
11. Plan risks and wellbeing
12. Progress tracking and KPIs
13. Exam-day logistics
14. Retrospective and next steps
15. Glossary and references
16. Standard and licence note

1. Exam selection and key dates

State why you are taking this exam now (career goal, employer requirement, credit toward a qualification) in one or two sentences. A clear reason helps when motivation drops in the middle weeks.

Example: a candidate sitting Level I of the CFA® Program in an early-2027 window starts on YYYY-MM-DD, books the seat in the first week, plans 300 hours over 16 weeks and finishes the required Practical Skills Module before the expected results date.

2. Exam facts at a glance

2.1 CFA® Program

Level I format: 180 multiple-choice questions in two sessions of 90 questions, 135 minutes each. Topic names and weights change for exams from February 2027; the previous names and weights are shown for candidates still sitting a 2026 window.

Level II format: 22 item sets of four multiple-choice questions each, in two sessions of 132 minutes.

Level III format: 11 item sets and 11 constructed-response (essay) sets, in two sessions of 132 minutes. Candidates choose one pathway.

2.2 FRM® exam

Weights below are from the 2026 study guide; the next year's guide is usually published around year end, so check it before you plan a later window.

2.3 ACCA Qualification

The qualification is being redesigned. Use the column that applies to you and confirm your transition route on the official student transition page.

2.4 US CPA Exam

Since 2024 the exam has three Core sections and one Discipline section chosen by the candidate. Content area weights are set in the official blueprints; read them there rather than from third-party summaries, which often disagree.

Credit windows, testing windows and eligibility rules differ by state board. Record the rules of your board in section 10.

3. Baseline self-assessment

Rate each topic on a scale of 1 (new to me) to 5 (use it at work every week), and set an adjustment factor between 0.8 (strong) and 1.3 (weak). Factor 1.0 means you plan the hours the weight alone suggests.

Write two or three sentences on what the baseline tells you: which topics are both heavily weighted and weak (top priority), which are heavy and strong (maintain with practice), and which are light and weak (learn the essentials, do not over-invest).

4. Hours budget by topic

Choose a total budget $H$ that you can sustain each week (see section 5). Set aside a reserve $R$ for mock exams and slippage, and allocate the rest by weight midpoint $m_i$ and adjustment factor $a_i$:

The midpoints of published ranges do not add up to exactly 100%, which is why the formula divides by their sum rather than by 100.

Example: Level I of the CFA® Program (2027 weights), H = 300 hours, R = 30 hours, all adjustment factors 1.0. The midpoints add up to 102.5.

Example adjustment: if Quantitative Methods gets a factor of 1.3 and every other topic stays at 1.0, the denominator becomes 106.25. Quantitative Methods then receives 270 x 16.25 / 106.25 = 41.3 hours and each topic with a 12.5 midpoint receives 270 x 12.5 / 106.25 = 31.8 hours. The total stays at 270 hours; extra time for a weak topic always comes from the others.

Hours budgets published by exam bodies or prep providers are averages. Use your own pace from the first two weeks to correct the budget, and record the change in the revision history.

5. Phases and calendar

The weekly load is the plan total divided by the study weeks. In the example, 300 hours over 16 weeks is 18.75 hours a week, for example two hours on three weekday evenings and six and a half hours on each weekend day (6 + 13 = 19 hours, a small buffer above 18.75).

Put fixed commitments into the calendar before study blocks: work peaks, travel, family events and holidays. A week with no study is acceptable if it is planned; an unplanned lost week needs a replan entry.

6. Weekly schedule and log

Weekly log:

Rule for replanning: if actual hours fall more than 15% behind plan for two weeks in a row, replan the remaining phases and record it in the revision history. Do not silently push everything later.

7. Practice questions and mock exams

Track accuracy per topic, not only the total score. A total of 70% can hide a topic at 40% that will cost marks on a different question mix.

8. Review and spaced repetition

Use a fixed review rhythm after you first study a topic: review after 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days and 30 days, each time by answering questions or recalling the key ideas from memory before checking. Adjust the intervals when a card is easy (longer) or wrong (back to 1 day).

Keep a personal formula sheet as you go and rewrite it from memory once a week. Finance Formula Sheet (finance/formula-sheet) is a starting point; your own version, in your own notation, is what you will remember.

9. Error and weak-area log

Summarise the log every two weeks: count errors by reason and by topic, and choose the top two fixes for the next fortnight.

10. Required skills modules and other requirements

Module names published for 2027 include Financial Modeling and Python Programming Fundamentals at Level I; Python I, Python Data Science and AI, and Equity Analyst Skills at Level II; Portfolio Development and Construction and the pathway modules (Macro Insights for Investing, Due Diligence, Managing Private Wealth Clients) at Level III. Availability by level changes; check the official module table before you choose.

11. Plan risks and wellbeing

Write down the minimum viable plan: the hours and topics you will protect if everything goes wrong, so that a bad month reduces your score rather than ending your attempt.

12. Progress tracking and KPIs

Deferral rule: if the latest mock is more than [10] percentage points below target [three] weeks before the exam, decide whether to sit, defer (if the exam body allows it) or sit for experience. Record the decision and the reason.

13. Exam-day logistics

Remote-proctored exams need a separate check of the computer, camera, room rules and internet connection a few days before.

14. Retrospective and next steps

If the result was a fail, compare the topic bands with your error log before you decide on the next window. Most retakes succeed by changing the method (more questions, earlier mocks), not by adding hours to the same method.

15. Glossary and references

References (check the current versions; do not copy their content):

• Official candidate pages for Levels I, II and III of the CFA® Program, and the Practical Skills Modules page (facts checked 2026-10-25).
• FRM® exam study guide for 2026, published by GARP (facts checked 2026-10-25).
• ACCA student transition page for the redesigned qualification (checked 2026-10-25).
• AICPA and NASBA pages for the CPA Exam blueprints and state board rules (names only).
• Related templates: Study Guide (academic/study-guide), Finance Formula Sheet (finance/formula-sheet), Lecture Notes (academic/lecture-notes), Habit Tracker (personal/habit-tracker), Weekly Review (personal/weekly-review), Goal Tracker (personal/goal-tracker).

Standard and licence note

Structure aligned with general study-planning practice. Exam names, level and part names, topic area names, weight ranges and exam formats are stated as facts as published by the exam bodies when checked on 2026-10-25; no curriculum, learning outcome statement, reading, practice question or other content of any exam body is reproduced or paraphrased. All text is original. Check the current official version of each exam's topic outline, format and rules before relying on this plan. This template is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by CFA Institute, GARP, ACCA, AICPA or NASBA. CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute. FRM® is a trademark owned by GARP. Other names are the property of their owners. Template licence: MIT.