How to Find CPA Exam Score Release

So, you’ve taken the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam and gotten most of the hard work out of the way. The only thing left is to take a look at your score. However, if you are like many candidates, you may be wondering when your CPA Exam Score Release date will be. Score release dates are based on when you took your exam and when the American Institute of Public Accountants (AICPA) obtains the examination files from the Prometric Testing Center.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) is responsible for releasing scores to both candidates and the State Boards of Accountancy. Your target score release date will depend on if you took the exam between January 1 – June 30 or July 1 – December 31. You are advised to review the CPA Exam score release timetables when setting up your testing schedule and study plan.

Where to Find Your Score

Now that you know how to determine your CPA Exam score release date, you are probably wondering where you should look for your score. If your state uses NASBA’s online score retrieval service, you will be able to obtain your score on NASBA’s website the day your scores are released. Some boards do not utilize this service, so you should reach out to your State Board of Accountancy if you have questions regarding how to find CPA Exam score release. If for some reason, you do not receive your CPA exam scores within the proper time frame, the AICPA asks candidates to remember the following:

• CPA Exam scores are not provided by the AICPA. If you cannot retrieve your score from the NASBA website, you are urged to contact your State Board of Accountancy to learn how to do so.
• Your State Board of Accountancy may release your exam scores one day beyond the published score release target date for processing reasons. You should contact your State Board of Accountancy if you think your score has been delayed for the wrong reason.
• AICPA receives examination data files from Prometric within 24 hours after a candidate takes the exam. If your score is received after AICPA’s cutoff dates, it will be made available on the next scheduled score release date.
• The BEC section features the Written Communication task which requires additional analysis, so BEC scores may be released one week following the targeted score release date.

View Your Scores

Obtaining your scores is immensely important, and it is understandable if you are ready to see them right now. However, the date your test scores become available will depend on a variety of factors.

Accessing the Candidate Performance Report

If you do not pass any section of the CPA exam, you will be issued a CPA Candidate Performance Report. The Performance Report will show how you performed in general and in each individual section of the CPA Exam content areas. The report is only for informational purposes and it will not have an impact on your official exam score.

To access this report once your advisory score has been released, check the eye icon to the right. Clicking this eye icon will take you to your Candidate Performance Report. It is recommended that you print this report for future reference.

Disputing a Score

The CPA Exam is not without its flaws. Even with the AICPA’s regular content review, intense psychometric analyses, and additional quality control measures, there is a small potential for errors in executing, administering, and scoring the test. Due to this small potential for error, candidates are provided with two means to dispute their exam scores.

The first dispute method is a score review. If a candidate feels their score does not completely reflect their performance on the exam, they can request a review of the results with the NASBA. NASBA then submits a request to the AICPA, which will in turn manually verify the proper grading of the candidate’s computational and written communication responses, and then verify the final score. It is important to note, however, that the scoring process utilizes numerous quality control measures, so errors are extremely rare.

You may also request an appeal. The appeals process provides the opportunity to review responses to incorrectly answered questions or simulations. The candidate will review the responses themselves, and decide if they want to challenge the validity of the items on the exam. If the candidate chooses to defend their answer, they should be prepared to thoroughly and eloquently defend their reasoning. Like the score review process, the appeals process does not actually result in a score change.