BCTA CGAU Blueprint Test 1 schedule

CGAU Test 1 Strategic Blueprint — Your 6-week plan to 17 August

The foundation of the Test 1 study build. Tells you what to focus on, in what order, and what to expect as each weekly pack releases between now and the exam.

What the Blueprint is

A 15-page strategic document that tells you what Test 1 will most likely test, what the later assessments have already taken off the table, and how to spend the six weeks between the 10 July launch and the exam on 17 August 2026. Built on ten Test 1 sittings (B21F through B26F, the most recent being March 2026), with every ISA, SAICA Code and Auditing Profession Act reference checked against the source standard, it's the analytical foundation that every weekly pack in this series is built on.

Why is Test 1 predictable?

The paper is built around the same three clusters every sitting, and they carry 54 to 58 of the 60 marks between them. Professional conduct and legislation owns the SAICA Code and the Auditing Profession Act; the risk suite owns business risk and the risk of material misstatement at both levels; controls owns identifying, testing and diagnosing the client's systems. King is not tested here at all — it belongs to Test 2 and Finals, and knowing that saves you a wasted study week. The examiner builds it the same way each time: an ethics scenario where a partner or client crosses a line, a reportable-irregularity twist hung off the same facts, a risk-harvest from the background information, and a working paper hiding control weaknesses. The Blueprint shows you that spine and ranks every topic by how likely it is to appear — from the SAICA Code and reportable irregularities (very high; the Code alone has run 14 to 18 marks lately) through the risk suite and the three-column weakness table (high) to the newer planning and strategic-response questions the recent papers have started slipping in.

The 6-week plan

The Blueprint maps every week to a topic, a deliverable and a phase — build first, then a full timed mock, then targeted repair. Weekly packs release in the order you actually need them: introduction, the audit process and planning first (the foundation), then conduct and legislation (the biggest cluster), then the risk suite, and controls last — because it's the strand most students arrive at the exam never having practised. A full 60-mark integrated mock (Sizwe Poultry) sits on the weekend before the exam, with a debrief and a repair week built in behind it.

What comes with each weekly pack?

Three core artifacts in every pack: a topic guide (PDF) teaching the principle from first principles, a standard-level weekly question (PDF) written in authentic Test 1 style, and a harder exam-level challenge question (PDF) for when the standard question stops stretching you. Every mock question comes with a four-part solution workbook (Excel) that walks you from the scenario triggers, to the standards and principles those triggers point to, to a framework for approaching the question, to a marked suggested solution — point by point, with the marks shown. The full programme is the Strategic Blueprint, the 60-mark integrated mock and its solution, and four complete weekly packs covering the entire examinable paper.

Prepared by David Du Preez, CTA Thrive Coach. Independent — not affiliated with Milpark Education.