You scored a 74 on the CPA Exam. What now?
A 74 is a fail, and the useful question is not whether to appeal it. It is where the next few hundred dollars does the most good, and on NASBA's own published position that is almost never the appeal.
Is a 74 rounded up to a 75 on the CPA Exam?
No. 75 is the passing standard and a 74 is a fail, with no rounding and no discretion. It is also not a percentage: the score is reported on a 0 to 99 scale built from a statistical process, so a 74 does not mean you answered 74% of the questions correctly and it does not mean you missed by one question.
Is a CPA Exam score review or appeal worth it after a 74?
Rarely, and NASBA's own position is the reason. 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 plainly that historically a score has never been changed as a result of a score appeal. So the appeal buys you a supervised look at the items you answered incorrectly, not a pass, and the review buys a check that the key was applied correctly rather than a second opinion on your answers.
The sentence to read twiceNASBA's position is not that an appeal rarely works. It is that historically a score has never been changed as a result of one. Any page that tells you an appeal is worth a try on a 74 is arguing with its own source.
Where is the money better spent after failing by one point?
On the retake, in almost every case. A score review is $240 and an appeal runs $550 plus $100 for each item appealed, which together can exceed the cost of sitting the section again. The exception worth considering is a review where you have a concrete reason to think there was a problem with the administration rather than with your answers, and in that case the test-center incident route matters more than the review: it has a five day deadline.
How do you find out why you failed a CPA Exam section?
Your Candidate Performance Report, which NASBA posts after the score notice. It does not show you the questions, but it groups your performance by content area against the candidates who passed, which is the only published signal you get about WHERE the section fell short. It is the thing to read before deciding what to restudy, and it is free.
How soon can you retake the section after a 74?
For a core section, quickly: you wait at least 72 hours from receiving the score before re-registering, then you need a new Notice to Schedule. For a discipline it is the calendar rather than the wait, because BAR, ISC and TCP are administered in the first month of each quarter only, so a failed discipline waits for the next quarterly sitting. Either way the 30 month clock on your first passed section keeps running while you wait.
The mechanics of both routes, including which boards offer an appeal at all, are on when scores are released and what to do if you think yours is incorrect. Whether your own board offers an appeal is on its requirements page, and scheduling and retakes covers the new Notice to Schedule.
Review and appeal definitions and fees from NASBA, Score Information. Retake timing from the NASBA Candidate Guide. Pass rates are the AICPA published candidate pass rates for 2026 through Q2, read from AICPA & CIMA on 2026-08-17. The AICPA publishes them quarterly.