Waiting for your CPA exam scores is a special kind of torture. Honestly, you’ve spent months studying, your social life is non-existent, and now you’re refreshing a portal at 11:00 PM on a Tuesday hoping for a miracle. It's kinda stressful.
The good news? The 2026 schedule is much better than the mess we saw during the CPA Evolution transition. We’re back to a rhythm that actually makes sense. Basically, if you’re taking a Core section, you’re looking at a wait of about two weeks. If you’re tackling a Discipline, you’ll need to settle in for a bit longer because those still follow a quarterly window.
How the 2026 Core Score Release Works
The Core sections—AUD, FAR, and REG—use continuous testing. This means you can sit for them whenever you want, provided there’s a seat at Prometric. The AICPA usually cuts off the data files every couple of weeks. If they get your file by the cutoff, you get your score on the target date.
It’s not an exact science. Sometimes a score drops a day early. Sometimes NASBA’s site crashes because everyone in the country is hitting F5 at the same time. You’ve probably heard people on Reddit talk about the "eyeball trick," but honestly, that's mostly a relic of the past. Nowadays, it’s all about that NASBA portal.
Target Release Dates for Core Sections (First Half of 2026)
If the AICPA receives your exam data by January 23, your target release is February 10. Simple, right? But remember, "received by" means when Prometric sends it, not necessarily when you walked out of the building. Usually, they send it within 24 hours.
Let’s look at the flow for the rest of the spring:
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- If you finish and they get the file by February 14, expect your score around February 24.
- For a March 9 cutoff, you’re looking at March 17.
- March 31 cutoff? Your date is April 9.
- Moving into late spring, an April 23 cutoff leads to a May 7 release.
- May 16 files usually result in a May 27 score drop.
- June 8 cutoff hits the portal around June 16.
- And if you wrap up by June 30, you’ll know your fate by July 10.
If you miss a cutoff by even an hour, you’re bumped to the next window. It’s brutal but that’s the system.
The Discipline Section Wait Time
The Disciplines (BAR, ISC, and TCP) are a different beast. These aren't continuous. You can only take them during the first month of each quarter. Because the AICPA does more intense statistical "rigging" and quality control on these newer sections, the scores don't come out as fast.
For the Q1 window (January 1–31), you won’t see a score until March 13. That’s a long time to wonder if you got a 74 or a 75.
Q2 is similar. You test in April (April 1–30), and the target release is June 16. The logic here is that the AICPA needs to see the full population of testers for that window to ensure the scaling is fair. It's annoying for your planning, but it's meant to protect the integrity of the license.
Why Your Score Might Be Late
Sometimes the "Target Date" passes and there’s nothing. Total silence. Before you panic and think you failed so hard they deleted your record, check a few things.
First off, where do you live? If you’re in California, Illinois, or Maryland, you don’t even use the NASBA portal for scores. You have to go through your specific State Board of Accountancy website. Those boards are notorious for taking an extra 24 to 48 hours to post scores compared to the national portal.
Second, did you take the exam on the cutoff date? If you tested on March 31, and Prometric had a technical glitch or just didn't transmit your file until April 1, you just missed the boat. You’ll be waiting for the April 23 window. This happens more often than you’d think.
Third, the AICPA sometimes pulls "borderline" exams for manual review. If you’re right on the edge of passing, or if there was a reported issue at your test center, your score might be held back a few days for quality assurance.
Strategic Planning for Your Next Exam
Don't just pick a random Tuesday. If you’re trying to move fast, time your exam for 2-3 days before a cutoff. This gives Prometric plenty of time to send the file, and it minimizes the "dead time" where you’re just sitting around waiting.
If you fail—and look, it happens to the best of us—the 2026 rules allow you to reapply almost immediately. Usually, 24 to 48 hours after the score is official, you can grab a new NTS (Notice to Schedule). In the old days, you had to wait for the next quarter. Now? You can pivot and retake it in the very next window if you're ready.
Actionable Steps for Score Week:
- Confirm your portal access: Log in to the NASBA candidate portal (or your state board site) a few days early to make sure you haven't forgotten your password.
- Download your old score reports: NASBA doesn't keep these up forever. Once a new window starts, old reports often vanish. Save them as PDFs.
- Ignore the "Advisory Score" vs. "Official Score" noise: For 99% of people, the advisory score that pops up first is your actual grade.
- Plan for the 75: If you're waiting on a Core score, keep your notes handy but don't start a brand new section until you know you've cleared the current hurdle. It’s hard to focus on REG when you’re worried you might have to retake FAR.
Keep an eye on the official NASBA Twitter (or X) account. They are actually pretty good about announcing when scores are starting to flow. Often, they’ll start releasing scores by "section"—so FAR might go live at 7:00 PM CST, while AUD doesn't show up until 8:30 PM. Just take a breath, stay off the forums if they make you anxious, and wait for that 75.