When are CPA Exam scores released?

Last reviewed 2026-11-03

CPA Exam core section scores are released on a rolling cycle of roughly three weeks, and which release you land in depends on when the AICPA receives your exam data file from Prometric rather than on the day you sat. The three discipline sections are different: they are scored four times a year. The next published target release date is 10 November 2026, for exam data files the AICPA received by 23 October 2026. The next cutoff still open is 15 November 2026, for the 24 November 2026 release.

The short answer

• Core sections (AUD, FAR, REG): a rolling cycle, roughly every three weeks
• Discipline sections (BAR, ISC, TCP): four releases a year, one per sitting
• What sets your date: when the AICPA receives your exam data file from Prometric, not when you sat
• Where it appears: the NASBA Candidate Portal or the CPA Mobile App
• Score notice: generally within 72 hours of the advisory score

Core section score release schedule

These are the AICPA’s published target dates for AUD, FAR and REG. The left column is the date the AICPA has to have your file by, which is why sitting close to a cutoff is a risk rather than a plan.

Discipline section score release schedule

Unlike the core sections, the discipline sections (BAR, ISC and TCP) are administered in the first month of each quarter. Eight months of the year carry no discipline sitting at all: February, March, May, June, August, September, November and December. That is the constraint worth planning around, and when your CPA Exam credit expires works out what it means for your own deadline.

Why the score is not available when you finish

Because three organisations touch it in order. Prometric sends your exam data file to the AICPA, the AICPA scores it and runs quality assurance reviews, and the results then go to NASBA, which posts them to your jurisdiction and to the portal. Scores are released on the published schedule rather than as each one finishes.

The score release dates are target dates and can be subject to change. Your exam can't be scored until the AICPA has received your file from Prometric, the company that administers the exam.

If you think the score is incorrect

A score review re-checks that the approved answer key was applied to your responses correctly. It does not re-grade them and it does not consider an alternative answer. NASBA lists the fee at $240. A score appeal is different and is only offered by some boards: it lets you view the multiple choice questions or simulations you answered incorrectly and comment on them, at $550 plus $100 per item appealed, in a supervised session at NASBA’s Nashville office. NASBA states that historically a score has never been changed as a result of a score appeal. Which of the two your board offers is a jurisdiction question, and every one of the state pages answers it: CPA requirements by state.

What changes in July 2027

From July 2027 the CPA Exam moves to a new technology delivery platform, and both the testing calendar and the score release schedule change with it. No CPA Exam appointments are available from 1 to 11 July 2027, a testing blackout, and testing resumes on the new platform on 12 July 2027. For the 12 months after launch, while exam items are recalibrated, core sections move from a rolling three week cycle to four longer testing windows a year with one release each; the AICPA has not said what follows. It publishes every date from that point as subject to change.

What time of day are CPA Exam scores released?

Neither NASBA nor the AICPA publishes a time of day for CPA Exam score release. NASBA says scores for a release date should post within 48 hours of when it starts receiving them from the AICPA, and that historically it has finished processing the evening before the target date. Some state boards take at least one extra day, so candidates who tested on the same day can see scores at different times.

Why might a CPA Exam score be delayed past the target date?

A CPA Exam score most often misses its target date because the AICPA did not receive the exam data file from Prometric by that cycle’s cutoff, which moves the score to a later release. The AICPA also holds scores after major exam changes, such as the 2024 Core and Discipline launch and the July 2027 platform change, to confirm that new questions perform as intended before scoring. NASBA says a delayed score is not a sign of how the candidate performed.

Are CPA Exam scores ever released early?

No. NASBA states that the AICPA controls the CPA Exam score release timeline and that neither NASBA nor a state board can release a score before receiving and processing the official result. Scores have historically become visible the evening before the target release date, which is the earliest a candidate should expect to see one.

If you test internationally, when are CPA Exam scores released?

CPA Exam candidates who test at an international Prometric center are scored on the same AICPA score release schedule as candidates in the United States. The AICPA points international candidates to the standard release dates, and international testing runs on the same calendar.

What do Stronger, Comparable and Weaker mean on a CPA Exam score report?

On a CPA Exam Candidate Performance Report, each rating compares you with candidates who just passed, those who scored 75 to 80. Comparable means you were within half a standard deviation of their average, Weaker means below that band, and Stronger means above it. The report is issued only for a failed section and has no effect on the official score, and the AICPA cautions that content-area results are much less reliable than the total score.

Score timing, holds and early release: NASBA Score Information and the AICPA. Performance report ratings: the AICPA Candidate Performance Report explanation.

Score release dates are the AICPA published schedule, read from AICPA, Find out when you will get your CPA Exam score on 2026-09-30 (page dated 2026-08-31). Score notice, review and appeal detail from NASBA, Score Information, read the same day.

Common questions

How do you check your CPA Exam score?

Through the NASBA Candidate Portal or the NASBA CPA Mobile App, for participating jurisdictions. Your official score notice is generally available within 72 hours of the advisory score appearing, and NASBA does not keep score notices indefinitely, so download one when it appears. If you failed a section, the Candidate Performance Report arrives with that score notice on the same 72 hour timetable, in the jurisdictions that provide one. For California and Texas candidates NASBA releases only the numeric score, and the score notice comes from the board.

Why is your CPA Exam score not available immediately?

Because three organisations touch it in order. Prometric sends your exam data file to the AICPA, the AICPA scores it and runs quality assurance reviews, and the results then go to NASBA, which posts them to your jurisdiction and to the portal. Scores are released on the published schedule rather than as each one finishes.

Does testing on the cutoff date guarantee your score is in that release?

No. To be included in a release cycle the AICPA must have received your exam data file from Prometric by that cycle’s cutoff, and Prometric sending it is a separate step from you finishing the exam. NASBA suggests sitting one or two days before a cutoff if you need a specific release date. Candidates often call that cutoff the end of a testing window, but AUD, FAR and REG have no testing window, only these file cutoffs; the discipline sections are the ones that test in windows.

What is a CPA Exam score review, and what does it cost?

A score review re-checks that the approved answer key was applied to your responses correctly. It does not re-grade them and it does not consider an alternative answer. NASBA lists the fee at $240. A score appeal is different and is only offered by some boards: it lets you view the multiple choice questions or simulations you answered incorrectly and comment on them, at $550 plus $100 per item appealed, in a supervised session at NASBA’s Nashville office. NASBA states that historically a score has never been changed as a result of a score appeal.

What changes about score release in July 2027?

From July 2027 the CPA Exam moves to a new technology delivery platform, and both the testing calendar and the score release schedule change with it. No CPA Exam appointments are available from 1 to 11 July 2027, a testing blackout, and testing resumes on the new platform on 12 July 2027. For the 12 months after launch, while exam items are recalibrated, core sections move from a rolling three week cycle to four longer testing windows a year with one release each; the AICPA has not said what follows. It publishes every date from that point as subject to change.

See also

• CPA Exam pass rates by section
• Pass rates by year since 2006
• What score you need to pass
• When your credit expires
• Which section is hardest
• Which discipline to choose
• What order to take the sections
• When the 30 month window starts
• Which standards the exam tests
• CPA requirements by state