Waiting for that CPA exam release date is a special kind of torture. Honestly, you've spent months living on caffeine and spreadsheets, sacrificed your social life to the gods of FAR and REG, and now you’re stuck in this weird limbo. You’re checking Reddit every ten minutes. You’re refreshing the NASBA portal until your thumb hurts. It’s basically the accounting version of a horror movie.
But there is a method to the madness. The AICPA doesn't just hold onto your scores to be mean. They have a very specific, slightly annoying, but highly calculated schedule for when those numbers actually drop.
The 2026 Core Section Schedule (AUD, FAR, REG)
For the "Core" sections—that’s your Auditing and Attestation (AUD), Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR), and Taxation and Regulation (REG)—we are back to a version of continuous testing. This is great news compared to the dark days of 2024 when people were waiting months for a single score.
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Basically, the faster the AICPA gets your data from Prometric, the faster you get your result. If you take your exam early in a window, you might only wait a week or two. If you cut it close to the deadline, you're looking at a slightly longer gap.
Here is the current target schedule for 2026. Keep in mind, these are target dates, not "guaranteed-on-your-life" dates.
If the AICPA receives your exam file by: | Your target score release date is:
If you finish by Dec 31 (2025) | January 13, 2026
If you finish by Jan 23 | February 10, 2026
If you finish by Feb 14 | February 24, 2026
If you finish by Mar 9 | March 17, 2026
If you finish by Mar 31 | April 9, 2026
If you finish by Apr 23 | May 7, 2026
If you finish by May 16 | May 27, 2026
If you finish by Jun 8 | June 16, 2026
If you finish by Jun 30 | July 10, 2026
Notice a pattern? Usually, the wait is about 10 to 14 days after the cutoff. But remember, "received by the AICPA" is the keyword here. If you take your exam at 5:00 PM on a Friday, Prometric might not get that file to the AICPA until Monday. Always give yourself a 24-hour buffer if you’re trying to hit a specific cutoff date.
Why the Discipline Sections Take Longer
If you just sat for one of the Disciplines—Business Analysis and Reporting (BAR), Information Systems and Controls (ISC), or Tax Compliance and Planning (TCP)—I have some bad news. You’re going to be waiting a while.
Unlike the Core exams, Disciplines are only offered in specific windows (usually the first month of each quarter). Because these sections are newer and more specialized, the AICPA performs more rigorous statistical validation. They want to make sure the "difficult" version of the BAR exam you took is graded fairly against the "slightly less difficult" version your friend took.
For the January 1–31 window, you’re looking at a release date of March 13, 2026.
For the April 1–30 window, the target is June 16, 2026.
Yeah, waiting two months is brutal. It’s sorta like waiting for a season finale of a show you're not even sure you like anymore.
The "Day Before" Trick: Is it Real?
If you spend any time on the r/CPA subreddit, you've heard of the "eyeball trick" or the "early release."
Historically, NASBA has been known to release scores the evening before the official date. Usually, around 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM Central Time, candidates start reporting that their status has changed.
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Sometimes, you’ll see your status change from "Attended" to "Scored" on the NASBA portal homepage about 24 hours early. It won't show you the number yet, but it’s a sign that the data is loading. If you see "Scored," start mentally preparing. If you're in a "non-NASBA" state like California, Illinois, or Maryland, ignore all of this. You guys have your own portals and your own (often slower) timelines.
What Actually Happens Behind the Scenes?
Why can't a computer just grade it instantly? I mean, it’s 2026. We have AI that can write poetry, but we can't get a CPA score in real-time?
The multiple-choice stuff is easy. That is graded instantly. The hold-up is the Task-Based Simulations (TBS).
Even though a computer grades the simulations, the AICPA does a lot of quality control. If a specific question is performing weirdly—meaning even the "smart" candidates are all getting it wrong—they might throw that question out or adjust the weighting. They also have to account for the "pretest" questions. About 15-20% of what you see on the exam doesn't even count toward your score. They’re just testing those questions out for future years.
Moving On While You Wait
The biggest mistake people make is stopping everything while waiting for a CPA exam release date.
Don't do that.
If you felt "okay" about the exam, start studying for the next section immediately. If you wait 3-4 weeks for a score before cracking the next book, you lose your momentum. The CPA exam is a game of endurance.
If you're worried you failed, give yourself three days of mourning, then get back into the material for a potential retake. The worst thing that happens is you find out you passed and you "wasted" a week of studying. That’s a great problem to have.
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How to Check Your Score Properly
- The NASBA Portal: This is the go-to for most states. Go to the NASBA candidate portal, log in, and look for the "Score Notice" section.
- The Score Notice PDF: Once the score is out, you'll eventually see an "eye" icon. Click that to download your official notice. This is important because it shows you how you did in specific areas (e.g., were you "stronger" in MCQ but "weaker" in Sims?).
- State Board Portals: If you're in California, Illinois, or Maryland, you won't find your score on NASBA. You have to go directly to your state's Board of Accountancy website. These states often lag by 24 to 48 hours behind the national release.
Actionable Next Steps
- Mark the Cutoff: Look at the table above and find your exam date. If you haven't taken it yet, try to schedule your exam 2-3 days before a cutoff date to ensure Prometric has time to send your file.
- Screenshot Your Current Credits: Before a score release, the NASBA portal sometimes goes wonky. It's a good habit to have a screenshot of your current passing credits just in case.
- Download Your Score Report: NASBA doesn't keep those PDF score reports forever. They usually disappear after a few weeks. Download it, save it to the cloud, and keep it for your records. You'll need it if you ever have to appeal or if you're just curious about your performance later.
- Plan Your "Release Day" Distraction: Don't sit at your desk all night. Go to the gym, see a movie, or cook a complicated dinner. The score will be there when you get back.
The wait is tough, but it's part of the process. You've done the hard work. Now, it's just about staying patient until the system catches up with you.