What Is a Passing Score on the CPA Exam?

The Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam stands as a rigorous assessment for individuals pursuing licensure in the accounting profession. This comprehensive examination ensures that aspiring CPAs possess the knowledge and skills necessary to uphold public trust and demonstrate professional competence. Understanding the intricacies of the exam, including its scoring and administrative procedures, is a foundational step for any candidate embarking on this challenging yet rewarding journey.

The Passing Score Threshold

To successfully pass each section of the CPA Exam, candidates must achieve a scaled score of 75. This score is not a raw percentage of correct answers, nor is it determined by a curve based on other candidates’ performances. Instead, a scaled score of 75 signifies that a candidate has met a predetermined minimum standard of competency established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The scores are reported on a scale ranging from 0 to 99, with 75 representing the benchmark for demonstrating sufficient knowledge in a given section.

Achieving a scaled score of 75 or higher is required on all three core sections—Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), and Regulation (REG)—along with one chosen discipline section from Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC), or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP).

Scoring Methodology

The CPA Exam employs sophisticated psychometric processes to convert raw scores into scaled scores, ensuring fairness and consistency across various exam versions and testing windows. The AICPA utilizes Item Response Theory (IRT), a widely accepted psychometric method, for scoring the objective portions of the exam. This approach accounts for the varying difficulty levels of questions, meaning that not all correct answers contribute equally to the final score. A more challenging question, correctly answered, will typically hold more weight than an easier one.

Each exam section includes pre-test questions, which are unscored items integrated to evaluate their validity and reliability for future exams. These pre-test questions are indistinguishable from scored questions and help the AICPA assess new content and determine appropriate difficulty levels without impacting a candidate’s current score. The overall score is a weighted combination of scaled scores from multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and task-based simulations (TBSs), with the weighting varying slightly by section; for instance, the ISC section has a 60% MCQ and 40% TBS weighting, while others are typically 50/50.

Understanding Your Score Report

Upon completion of a CPA Exam section, candidates receive a score report that provides essential information regarding their performance. The report primarily indicates a scaled score, ranging from 0 to 99, and a clear Pass/Fail status for that specific section. For candidates who achieve a passing score of 75 or higher, the report generally provides confirmation of the pass and the numerical score.

If a candidate does not pass a section, the score report offers more diagnostic feedback. It provides a breakdown of performance in specific content areas, indicating whether the candidate’s performance was “comparable,” “weaker,” or “stronger” relative to passing candidates. This feedback helps candidates identify areas requiring further study and improvement for future retakes.

Score Release Process

Scores for the CPA Exam are released by NASBA on specific target dates, following each testing window. The AICPA announces these score release dates semi-annually, typically in December for the first half of the subsequent year and in June for the second half. After a candidate completes an exam section, Prometric, the testing administrator, transmits the exam data files to the AICPA.

The AICPA then processes and scores the exams before sending the results to NASBA on the designated target release date. Candidates can usually access their scores through the NASBA Candidate Portal. While core sections are available for continuous testing throughout the year, discipline sections are generally administered and released quarterly, affecting their specific score release timelines.

Retake Policies

Candidates who do not pass a section of the CPA Exam are permitted to retake it. A significant rule governing retakes is the 30-month rolling window. This policy dictates that once a candidate passes their first exam section, they have 30 months from that score release date to pass the remaining three sections. If all sections are not passed within this timeframe, credit for the earliest passed sections may expire, requiring those sections to be retaken.

Regarding immediate retakes, candidates must wait until the score for a previous attempt of the same section has been released before they can reapply to take that section again. This often means a waiting period, as a section cannot be retaken within the same testing window. Candidates must also pay the applicable re-examination fees and obtain a new Notice to Schedule (NTS) for each retake.