General
You must attempt the course-end examination for:
- Open enrollment courses within one year of your course registration date.
- Semester-based core courses must be written within one year of the course start date.
If you do not write the final exam within the one-year time limit, you will fail the course and be charged an attempt. You will be required to retake the course to be eligible for another examination attempt.
Core preparatory course exams are three hours in length and non-core preparatory course exams are two hours in length.
This depends on the exam you are writing. Please reference the preparatory course exam blueprints to note the assessment details for the exam(s) you are registered for.
For applicable exams, you will be able to access the CPA Handbook, the Canadian Income Tax Act, and the Excise Tax Act in Knotia. Access to the e-books is not available during the exam.
For preparatory courses, reference materials will only be available on Introductory Financial Accounting, Intermediate Financial Reporting 1 and 2, Advanced Financial Reporting, and Audit and Assurance exams.
There are different exam regulations for the in-person core exams and online non-core exams. The CPA profession has intentionally set strict exam regulations for the CPA exams. These regulations intend to maintain the structure of the CPA exam process and the confidentiality of the CPA exam questions. All exam regulations must be followed before, during, and after the examination. It is your responsibility to review the exam regulations before each exam session for the most up to date version.
Review the exam regulations for both in-person and online examinations.
If you have a disability, including learning disabilities, you can submit an Accommodation Request through the My CPA Portal. Accessibility and accommodation requests are handled through a national process and reviewed by CPA Canada’s National Accommodations Advisory Panel.
For more information on medical accommodation request and how to apply, please visit the CPA Canada website.
If you live within 150 km of an approved examination location, you must write the final exam at the location you selected when you registered. If you live further than 150 km from an approved examination location, you can submit an Accommodation Request through My CPA Portal to write the exam in an alternate location. Examination dates and times are nationally determined. If you are approved to write at an alternate location, you must write the exam on a nationally consistent date and time.
There is no fee to submit an alternate location request; however, you will be responsible for finding a suitable exam supervisor (preferably a designated CPA) and including that information in the request. Exam supervisor requirements are available in the Student Guide and CPAWSB reserves the right to deny the request should we find the proposed exam supervisor unsuitable to administer the exam. It is your responsibility to ensure that the exam supervisor is available for all future CPA preparatory course exams.
- All preparatory core course examinations must be written in Canada.
- If you are registered for a non-core preparatory course examination that takes place online, you may write it outside of Canada.
- Please note that your exam starts at the local time of the location you chose during registration. You are responsible for calculating the correct time difference. If you don't start the non-core exam within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, it will be voided and counted as a failed attempt.
- Students writing outside of Canada should complete the online validation test at the location where they plan to write the exam to ensure their computer and internet meet the requirements to complete the exam successfully. Please note, that troubleshooting for technical issues on exam day may be limited if you are writing outside of Canada.
Core preparatory course exams can be written at in-person centres in another province. To do so, submit an Accommodation Request through My CPA Portal, specifying the city and province where you wish to write, at least six weeks before the exam. Requests are limited to approved exam centres, and while we will do our best to accommodate them, approvals depend on location availability and timing.
Non-core exams are completed online; therefore, you may write them from another province without submitting a request. If this applies to you, please note that your non-core exam starts at the local time of the exam location you chose during registration. You are responsible for calculating the correct time difference. If you don’t start the non-core exam within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, it will be voided and counted as a failed attempt.
Exam locations will be emailed approximately two weeks before the scheduled exam date.
If you are unable to attend your exam due to illness, please contact [email protected] to discuss options available to you to withdraw from or defer your exam. Supporting medical documentation will need to be provided.
Exam grades are usually released on a Wednesday, four weeks after the exam. Please refer to the schedule posted on the schedules page for an exact date.
Exam re-marks are only available if you have failed an exam for a core course. The fee for the re-mark is $100+GST and only the short and long answer portions of the final exam will be reviewed. The re-mark does not provide students with further feedback on their exam. Re-mark applications are accepted through My CPA Portal within three business days of the exam grades being released.
For more information regarding what an exam re-mark entails, please refer to the CPA Preparatory Courses Student Guide.
Exam Registration and Withdrawal
You can find the exam schedule posted here on the CPAWSB website. Please review the exam schedules posted on a regular basis as exam dates and times are subject to change without notice.
We recommend that you only complete one course at a time, however, you may register for more than one course if your schedule and prerequisites permit. If you are registering for more than one course, review the schedule posted on the schedules page to plan your exams. You cannot register for multiple exams scheduled for the same date and time.
The deadline to register for an exam is typically six weeks before the exam date. Please review the schedules page for exact dates.
A fee will apply if you withdraw from your exam within five weeks of the exam date. Please review schedules page for exact dates. Before withdrawing, ensure you understand your one-year course completion time limit. If you withdraw, you must re-register for a future exam session within this timeframe.
If you are a qualified exam writer, you can withdraw from the exam via My CPA Portal any time until the day before the exam. Keep in mind that if you withdraw within five weeks of the exam, you will be charged an exam withdrawal fee. If you do not withdraw before the exam, it will be counted as an attempt and no refunds will be provided.
Please email [email protected] with the request at least six weeks before the exam. We will try to accommodate the request if space allows.
Core Exam Rewrite
For core CPA preparatory courses, you might be eligible for a rewrite, if your final course grade is between 50 and 59 percent.
- If you haven’t already exercised your rewrite attempt for the course, you have the option to rewrite the exam the next semester.
- If you choose not to rewrite the exam the next time the exam is available, you must retake the entire course before re-attempting the exam.
- If you exercise your rewrite exam attempt for a core course, the rewrite exam will be worth 100% of your overall course grade.
Please note: A rewrite exam is considered another attempt at the course. Deferrals of rewrite exams are not permitted. Exam rewrites are not offered for non-core courses.
The rewrite must be completed in the next offering of the exam. If you choose not to rewrite the exam the next time the exam is available, you will need to retake the entire course before re-attempting the exam.
You must attempt the exam within your one-year time limit. The rewrite exam must be taken in the next exam offering, even if it does not fall within your one-year time limit. The rewrite opportunity is no longer available if it is not taken in the next exam offering.
Online Non-Core Exam
Non-core exams are completed using online examination software. The online exams use forward only functionality, meaning you can’t return to review a previously answered question and can only proceed to the next question after you select an answer to the current question. Students registered in a non-core preparatory course can find exam-related information posted to their course homepage on Brightspace (D2L) as well as in the emails sent to those registered for an upcoming exam.
Prior to the exam, students are expected to complete all the activities posted within the Pre-Exam Activities widget and to review all information posted in the Exam Information widget. If you have any further questions on the non-core exams, please email [email protected].
Learners registered in a non-core exam can write the exam securely from a remote location, such as your home or work office. The exam must be completed on your own personal computer or laptop so it is important that you ensure you have the right equipment and the appropriate internet requirements.
Please review the technical requirements found in the CPA Canada Online Questions & Answers document posted to the Exam Information widget on the course homepage on Brightspace (D2L).
In-Person Core Exam
You will be required to arrive at least one hour before your exam start time, especially in large locations such as Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg. Upon arrival, you will be required to sign in with a government-issued photo ID. All writers will be assigned a seat and must follow the instructions provided by the contractors on-site.
Exam announcements begin approximately 30 minutes before the exam start time and writers are expected to be seated at this time to begin the pre-exam procedures.
Based on the schedule for the exam day, we suggest that writers do not schedule appointments or travel immediately before or after the exam as there could be delays. Food and beverages are not provided at the exam centres.
No, you are not permitted to bring your own calculator. All writers will be provided with a Texas Instrument BA II Plus calculator at the exam. You are encouraged to purchase one to practice with throughout the course so that you become familiar with the functions. No other calculator models – including the Texas Instrument BA II Professional – are permitted.
Please review the in-person exam regulations for a list of prohibited items. The CPA profession has intentionally set very strict exam regulations for the CPA exams. These regulations intend to maintain the structure of the CPA exam process and the confidentiality of the CPA exam questions. All exam regulations must be followed before, during, and after the examination. You must be familiar with the regulations before arriving at your exam centre. It is your responsibility to review the exam regulations before each exam session for the most up to date version.
You will receive a laptop pre-loaded with the Surpass (SecureClient) software at the exam centre to write your exam. The laptop is locked down to restrict access to everything other than the exam software and CPA profession-provided reference materials (if applicable). Within the software, you will have access to a word processor and spreadsheet software to capture your responses. The word processor and spreadsheet software may not have the full functionality of Microsoft Word and Excel.
SecureClient uses an emulated version of Microsoft Excel so some features from those that you would typically see in Microsoft Excel have been either changed or removed for security purposes. Below are some differences you should be aware of:
- AUTOSUM Function: the AUTOSUM function within SecureClient does not highlight the likely range to create a final number. You need to use your wired mouse/trackpad to highlight the range you wish to generate a sum for and then click Enter.
- SORT Function: the SORT function within Secureclient does not allow you to specify a range of columns. To SORT in SecureClient, you must create a table of data. Highlight the data in the table, click Format as Table in the navigation bar, specify the type of table appearance and click OK.
- Equal Sign: within SecureClient, the arrow keys will not allow you to specify a range to calculate. Once you create ‘=SUM’, you need to use your wired mouse/trackpad to highlight a range to calculate.
- Dollar Sign ($): within SecureClient, if you wish to format a range of data as Canadian dollars, you must highlight the range of data you wish to format, right-click the highlighted range and select Format Cells. Choose the CURRENCY option under Category, select $ENGLISH (CANADA) in the Symbol field and click OK.
- PLUS and MINUS: within SecureClient, the ‘=’ sign is not automatically added. You must use the ‘=’ sign to start any formula or calculations.
- Format Painter: the format painter tool is unavailable within SecureClient. You need to use the format function. Please avoid trying to format large amounts of data at once as it may cause the laptop to freeze.
- ALT-Tab Function: this does not work if you want to navigate between the word processor, spreadsheet, or reference materials. Learners should instead resize the window.
Yes, most exam centres will have on-site IT proctors available to support any technical issues that may arise. Some secondary or remote centres are supported with an on-call IT proctor in the event they are needed. Please reference the list of primary and secondary centres in the west.
CPAWSB performs rigorous testing to minimize the risk of technological errors. However, it is possible that you may still experience an IT issue. If you experience an IT issue, you must report it immediately to an exam proctor or supervisor. Issues reported retroactively cannot be rectified. As a reminder, any time spent resolving the issues will be documented and added back to your total writing time.
