CPA (CPA Exam)

Anyone seeking to qualify as a licensed U.S. CPA is required to pass the exam. It exists to protect the public interest by helping ensure that only qualified individuals become licensed. Before applying, confirm that you meet the eligibility rules of the jurisdiction you intend to apply through, since eligibility is determined before you can register for a section.

You must first be declared eligible by the jurisdiction you apply through - you cannot apply to take a section until then. Many jurisdictions accept applications through the CPA Portal, NASBA's online application system; NASBA publishes the jurisdiction list. Read the Candidate Guide before you apply so you understand the steps and required documents.

NASBA does not develop the content of the CPA Exam and is not responsible for scoring it. Its CPA Examination Services role is service delivery to state boards, including application processing, credential evaluations, and score reporting. If you need detail on content coverage or scoring, work from the Candidate Guide and the materials published by the exam's content owner rather than assuming NASBA handles it.

Those specifics are not stated in the source material behind this page, and they change over time, so treat any figure you see quoted casually as unreliable. Verify current section length, item counts, and fees with your jurisdiction and the Candidate Guide before you budget or schedule. We deliberately do not publish numbers we cannot source.

Do not expect a single nationwide release moment. NASBA states that it does not receive all scores at the same time, and some jurisdictions do not release scores through NASBA's website at all. Check how your specific jurisdiction releases results, and follow NASBA's score update channels rather than refreshing the portal on a guessed date.

Retake rules, waiting periods, and any limits on attempts are set by jurisdictions and are not described in the source material for this page. Rather than rely on secondhand claims, confirm the current retake policy for your jurisdiction before you reapply. Candidates commonly lose time assuming a waiting period that does not apply to them.

Testing is delivered at Prometric test centers. Before test day, review test center policies and the permissible items list - the rules on what you may bring into the room are strict and are enforced at check-in. Also check for exam site closures, which are posted, so a weather or facility cancellation does not cost you a scheduled seat.

Plan around one section at a time rather than spreading effort across all of them. Start with the section you are scheduled to sit for, and build a study calendar backward from that date. Candidates who study broadly but schedule nothing tend to accumulate knowledge without ever booking a seat, which is one of the most common ways progress stalls.

In our experience the failures are mostly administrative, not intellectual: applying before confirming eligibility, skipping the Candidate Guide, missing jurisdiction-specific score release rules, arriving unaware of permissible-item rules, and losing a seat to an unheeded site closure. Content gaps are fixable; a missed deadline or a rejected application costs weeks.

NASBA CPA Examination Services can be reached at 800-CPA-EXAM (800-272-3926), or 615-880-4250 for international callers, and it publishes dedicated contact forms for application, credential evaluation, testing accommodations, and general exam questions. It also offers a free CPA Mobile App for iOS and Android with application status updates and jurisdiction-specific guidance.