SOCPA Fellowship Auditing Study Plan: Eight Weeks, Four Weeks and How Many Answers You Need to Pass

Last verified: 31 October 2026. Check the Fellowship exam page on the SOCPA website before you start, as dates and weights can change. This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA), the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) or any government body.

Auditing is some sixty standards plus a code of ethics in one paper, and there is not enough time for every standard equally. This plan is ordered by the published weights and gives two schedules: eight weeks and four weeks. The next sitting for the subject is Tuesday 22 December 2026, and from today (31 October) you have seven weeks and three days. The topics are detailed in the exam content guide.

The numbers your plan rests on

How many multiple-choice answers do you need?

The multiple-choice part is 75 marks spread over 90 questions, so each question is worth about 0.83. The total must reach 60, so the marks you need from multiple choice are 60 minus your essay mark. Since the essay minimum is 5 of 25, in the worst case you need 55 marks from multiple choice, which is 66 questions of 90 (about 73%):

The practical reading: do not count on a high essay mark. Someone who secures 66 of 90 passes even with only the essay minimum. Someone who secures only 54 needs 15 of 25 in the essays. And even with every multiple-choice answer right, under 5 of 25 in the essays fails you, so do not neglect the essay part.

Rank the topics by number of questions

SOCPA publishes a percentage range for each topic (pages 10 to 14), and the table gives the approximate number of questions out of 90:

The first four topics equal 51 questions, fewer than the 66 needed in the worst essay case. So do not stop at them: the other six topics (39 questions) are easier to memorise, and many of their questions are numbers and terms settled by repeated review. They make up what you lose on evidence and report cases.

What this site adds to your plan

• 10 free questions, no sign-up, covering the ten topics with one question each and ending with your score and your weakest topics. Start with them today.
• The practice area: practise topic by topic, with every answer explained and tied to the standard and paragraph, return to your mistakes in the error notebook, and try a mock exam to the Part 1 specification: 90 questions in 180 minutes.
• The free questions cover the ten topics, and the rest of the question bank and the mock exam need a pass for this subject.
• The question bank is multiple choice only. For the essay part use the simulated questions SOCPA published and their answers (see the last section).

Eight-week plan

For anyone registering for a 2027 sitting, or starting eight weeks before the exam. At least two hours a day, and each week 20 practice questions on the topics you have finished, with every mistake written in the error notebook.

Four-week plan

For anyone who studied auditing at university or works in it, or has four weeks left. Three hours a day. Start with the free questions to find your weakest topics, and reorder the weeks by them.

If your sitting is 22 December 2026

You have seven weeks and three days, so follow the eight-week plan after merging weeks 1 and 2 into one week (ending 7 November), or follow the four-week plan if you know the subject. These dates are on your path:

• 5 to 14 November: the registration window on SOCPA e-services. Only ten days, so do not leave it.
• 25 November: the last day to request postponement (25 days before the sitting period begins on 20 December).
• About 29 November: the venue-choice window opens 21 days before the period begins and lasts five days. Watch your email and phone.
• 22 December: the auditing exam. Zakat and tax is a day before you and management and government accounting a day after, so do not study two subjects with neighbouring dates together.
• 21 January 2027: results. Details in the exam schedule.

If you will sit on 23 March 2027 (registration 4 to 13 February), the eight-week plan suits you with extra review weeks. And remember that any subject you pass lapses after four calendar years and thirty days if you have not completed the Fellowship subjects.

The recurring traps

1. Two scores, not one. A total of 60 is not enough if you fall below 5 of 25 in the essays.
2. Emphasis of matter does not modify the opinion. An emphasis of matter paragraph (ISA 706) refers to a matter properly presented and disclosed in the financial statements that the auditor judges fundamental to users' understanding, and it states that the opinion is not modified in respect of it. A qualified opinion is for a material but not pervasive misstatement, or for being unable to obtain sufficient evidence on a material but not pervasive matter. An adverse opinion is for a material and pervasive misstatement. A disclaimer is for being unable to obtain sufficient evidence with pervasive effect (ISA 705). The worst questions mix up «pervasive» and «material».
3. Key audit matters do not replace a qualification. ISA 701 covers reports on listed entities (or where law requires or the auditor chooses), and a key audit matter is not reported in place of a modified opinion. If the disclosure of a material uncertainty about going concern is adequate, an unmodified opinion is issued with a separate section headed «Material Uncertainty Related to Going Concern»; if it is not adequate, the opinion is qualified or adverse (ISA 570).
4. Materiality, performance materiality and clearly trivial. Performance materiality is an amount set below materiality for the financial statements as a whole, to reduce the probability that the aggregate of uncorrected and undetected misstatements exceeds materiality (ISA 320). «Clearly trivial» is a threshold below which misstatements are not accumulated (ISA 450), and it is not another expression for «not material»: what is clearly trivial is far smaller. Do not mix the three.
5. ISRE 2400, ISRE 2410 and ISRS 4400. ISRE 2400 covers a review of historical financial statements by a practitioner who is not the entity's auditor. ISRE 2410 covers a review of interim financial information by the entity's own independent auditor. Both give limited assurance with a negative conclusion. Agreed-upon procedures (ISRS 4400) give no assurance: the practitioner reports the findings of the procedures as found and the user draws the conclusion, and independence is not required but the report states whether it is. And a «review» is not an «audit»: watch the engagement word in the question.
6. Partner rotation in years. In an audit of a public interest entity an individual may not serve more than seven cumulative years as engagement partner, engagement quality reviewer or any other key audit partner. Then comes a cooling-off period: five years for the engagement partner, three for the engagement quality reviewer and two for other key audit partners (IESBA Code, Section 540). This is separate from the cooling-off in ISQM 2: two years before an engagement partner can become the engagement quality reviewer for the same engagement (and the Code may require longer). Write the four numbers side by side: 7, 5, 3 and 2.
7. Days and years for documentation. The usual limit for assembling the final audit file is not more than 60 days after the date of the auditor's report (ISA 230). After assembly the auditor does not delete documents before the end of the retention period. The international standard speaks of a retention period ordinarily no shorter than five years from the date of the report, while in Saudi Arabia the Accounting and Auditing Profession Law requires at least ten years, and that applies to the Saudi auditor.
8. Going concern: twelve months. If management's assessment covers less than twelve months from the date of the financial statements, the auditor requests it to extend the assessment to at least twelve months (ISA 570). Responsibility for the assessment lies first with management, and the auditor's role is to evaluate it.
9. Relying on others does not transfer responsibility. The auditor alone is responsible for the opinion, and using internal audit work (ISA 610), the auditor's expert (ISA 620) or a component auditor (ISA 600) does not reduce that responsibility. Written representations from management (ISA 580) are not enough on their own as evidence on a material matter, and a negative confirmation persuades less than a positive one (ISA 505).
10. SOCPA's footnotes. The wording is «present fairly», not «give a true and fair view». The «interim period» in ISA 330 is the period in which the auditor performs some work before the end of the financial year. For listed entities the report is signed in the name of the partner, under Article 7 of the Accounting and Auditing Profession Law. And the auditor's report states what comes to the auditor's attention about violations of the Companies Law (Article 20(5)).
11. Revisions not yet in force. The revised ISA 570 and ISA 240 apply to periods beginning on or after 15 December 2026. The questions here use the current text, so do not bring into your answers what you read in a recent edition before you check the difference.

Test yourself with the simulated questions and the mock exam

• In September 2025 SOCPA published simulated auditing questions: 40 multiple-choice and 4 essay questions, with answers. Do them timed before reading the answers, as they are the closest reference to SOCPA's wording style. They are practice material only and do not set the number or topics of your own exam.
• Then try the mock exam on this site at full length: 90 questions in 180 minutes, and you leave with a score for each of the ten topics. Make the first mock the week before the last, and a second three days before the exam.
• What a good score looks like here: 66 or more of 90 in a timed mock means you are above the line even if the essays land on the minimum. If you are between 54 and 65, the essays will decide your result, so read SOCPA's model answers and write in their style.

The day before the exam

• Check your entry time and ID. SOCPA provides the calculator in the exam hall.
• Split your time: two minutes a question in the morning and about 30 minutes an essay in the afternoon. Do not leave an essay question blank, as the minimum is 5 marks.
• Start with what you know, mark the long cases and come back to them.

This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with SOCPA, the IAASB or any government body.