NASBA CPA Portal: Applying, Scoring, and Licensing

The NASBA CPA portal at candidate-portal.nasba.org is the online account system where CPA candidates in most U.S. jurisdictions apply for the Uniform CPA Examination, receive their Notice to Schedule, view scores, monitor the 30-month credit window, and, in many states, submit the licensure application and track continuing education after they pass.¹ What it does for you depends on which state board you applied through.

Does Your Jurisdiction Use the Portal

Roughly 36 jurisdictions route their exam applications through NASBA’s CPA Examination Services (CPAES), so candidates in those states complete the full application inside the portal.² The rest, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, require you to apply directly with your state board.

Even if you apply through the board, you’ll still use the portal to see scores and manage your record. Three exceptions: NASBA does not release scores for California, Illinois, or Kentucky. Candidates in those states get their scores from the board itself.¹ Check your board’s website before creating an account so you know which pieces you’ll handle where.

Setting Up Your Account

Registration begins by choosing the jurisdiction where you plan to be licensed. That selection determines which education rules the portal applies to your file. Some states let you sit at 120 semester hours; others require the full 150 before you can apply.

Enter your legal name exactly as it appears on the government-issued photo ID you’ll bring to the testing center. Every document the portal produces, including the Notice to Schedule, pulls from this field, and a mismatch at Prometric can get you turned away at the door. Check the mailing address and email carefully too, since the portal uses both for status updates and score notifications.

If Your Name Changes Later

You can update your name in the portal by uploading a marriage certificate, court order, or updated government ID. NASBA processes the change within three business days, but you must submit it at least 10 days before any scheduled exam appointment. Anything closer than that will not sync to Prometric in time, and your ID will not match their roster.³

Applying for Exam Sections

The CPA exam has four sections: three cores (Auditing and Attestation, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Taxation and Regulation) plus one discipline you choose from Business Analysis and Reporting, Information Systems and Controls, or Tax Compliance and Planning.⁴ You sit for them independently and in any order.

After your board approves your education, you pick which sections to sit for, upload the supporting documents your board requires (usually official transcripts), and submit through the portal. You don’t have to apply for all four at once, and most candidates don’t.

Fees come in two layers. Your board charges an initial application fee, which varies widely by jurisdiction, ranging from around $10 to several hundred dollars. Each exam section then carries a fee of approximately $262.64 for 2026, covering the combined NASBA, AICPA, and Prometric charges. Pay the section fees through the portal’s integrated payment system when you submit.

Your discipline choice isn’t permanent, but it’s constrained. You can switch disciplines only if you fail your first discipline attempt or if credit for a previously passed discipline expires. Outside those two situations, you’re locked in. You can only earn and retain credit for one discipline.⁵

Getting and Using Your Notice to Schedule

Once your application clears and your fees post, the portal generates a Notice to Schedule, typically within about five days of payment.⁶ The NTS carries a section identification number and launch code for each approved section, which you’ll need when booking with Prometric.

You then schedule on Prometric’s site, not through NASBA. And you can test at any Prometric center that offers the CPA exam regardless of the jurisdiction you applied through.⁷ Applied through New York, living in New Jersey? Test in New Jersey.

The Six-Month Clock

Your NTS is generally valid for six months from issuance. Miss that window and you forfeit the section fees; there are no refunds and no routine extensions.⁶ You’d have to reapply and repay. Build in a buffer.

Hardship Exceptions

Candidates in CPAES jurisdictions can request a limited extension for documented, unforeseen hardships: military deployment, medical emergency, visa rejection for international testing, or a death in the family. Extensions are capped at the time actually lost and cannot exceed 90 days. Submit the Exception to Policy Form with supporting documentation within 30 days of the event, and cancel any existing Prometric appointment before you file.⁸ Candidates in non-CPAES jurisdictions should contact their state board about extensions.

Testing Windows to Know

Core sections are offered continuously throughout the year. Discipline sections are not. In 2026, disciplines are administered only during the first month of each quarter: January, April, July, and October.⁴ Miss a discipline window and the next attempt is a quarter away. If your credit clock is running, that matters.

Scores and the 30-Month Credit Window

Scores post to the portal on set release dates, not immediately after you test. Core scores come out on a rolling schedule every two to three weeks. Discipline scores are released quarterly after each testing window closes; in 2026, that means March 13, June 16, September 11, and December 15.⁴ There’s no mailed score notice. The portal is the sole official channel.

Scores run on a 0-to-99 scale, and 75 passes. It’s not a raw percentage; it’s scaled for question difficulty.⁹ Failing score reports include a content-area performance breakdown relative to passing candidates, which is useful for focusing your restudy. Passing reports don’t include that breakdown.

The 30-Month Rule

In April 2023, NASBA’s Board of Directors extended the conditional credit window from 18 months to 30. Once you pass your first section, you have a rolling 30 months from that score’s release date to pass the remaining three.¹⁰ If you don’t, credit for the oldest passed section expires and a new 30-month window begins from your next oldest passing score.

The 30-month rule is a NASBA model recommendation, not a federal mandate. Most state boards have adopted it, but not all, so verify the rule with the board you applied through. Your portal dashboard displays each passed section’s expiration date; check them regularly.

Retakes

You cannot reapply for a section until the failing score has officially posted to the portal. Once it appears, you submit a new application and pay the section fee again. A failed discipline section in January means your earliest retake is April, so treat discipline attempts with extra preparation.

If You Want to Challenge a Score

NASBA offers two options. A score review costs $240 and is a mechanical recheck confirming that the correct answer keys were applied to your responses; it doesn’t reconsider alternative answers.¹¹

A score appeal costs $550 plus $100 per item challenged. You get to view the specific questions you answered incorrectly and argue for credit, though you won’t see the full exam, correct answers, or your original responses. Viewing sessions happen at authorized secure locations with a board representative present. Several jurisdictions don’t allow appeals at all: California, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Montana, Texas, and Virginia.¹¹

From Passing to Licensed

Passing all four sections isn’t the finish. The license is issued by your state board and typically requires an ethics exam and verified professional work experience beyond the Uniform CPA Examination itself. Experience requirements vary but generally run one to two years of qualifying work supervised by a licensed CPA. In most jurisdictions the portal is the platform for the licensure application, though this step is separate from the exam application.

Supervisors can often verify hours electronically in the portal, though some jurisdictions use a downloadable form the supervisor signs and you upload.¹² You’ll also pay a separate licensing fee to your board, and the dashboard tracks the file through stages such as Under Review, Awaiting Documentation, and License Granted. Respond quickly to any documentation requests, which the portal sends by email.

Internationally Educated Candidates

If your education is from outside the United States, most boards require a credential evaluation before you can apply. That’s handled through a separate NASBA system, International Evaluation Services (NIES), not the candidate portal itself. The standard evaluation costs $250, with a jurisdiction change evaluation at $135 and an evaluation for undecided jurisdictions at $385.¹³

You’ll need to provide a passport or government-issued ID, official transcripts and degree certificates for every year of post-secondary education (sent directly from the institution), and certified English translations of any non-English documents. A higher degree does not substitute for records of earlier studies. NIES may also request syllabi or course descriptions for accounting and business courses. Plan on roughly six weeks for evaluation after all documents arrive.¹⁴¹⁵

Tracking CPE After You’re Licensed

About 15 state boards use the NASBA CPE Audit Service inside the portal, including Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.¹⁶ If your board participates, the portal shows hours earned, hours still needed, and the end of your current reporting period.

You can enter courses manually or upload in bulk via a CSV template, and attach certificates of completion up to 10MB per file. The system flags likely duplicate entries and tracks any adjustments when your board denies or modifies reported credit. If your board allows it, excess hours can carry forward or backward between periods.¹⁷ If you’re selected for an audit, you submit the compliance report through the portal and can track it from submission through result, with PDF copies available for your records.

Getting Help

For general exam questions, missing scores, or portal problems, NASBA’s CPA Examination Services team is at 800-272-3926 or cpaexam@nasba.org.¹¹ If a score hasn’t appeared within 72 hours of the target release date, contact your state board coordinator rather than waiting indefinitely. Score review and appeal inquiries go to scorereview@nasba.org. NTS hardship extensions go to cpaesETP@nasba.org.⁸ Expect slow load times on score release days.

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NASBA. CPA Exam Candidate Guide
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NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. NASBA CPAES Jurisdictions
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NASBA. Your New CPA Portal Login and Features
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AICPA & CIMA. Find Out When You’ll Get Your CPA Exam Score
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NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. CPA Exam Transition FAQs
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NASBA. CPA Exam Candidate Guide
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NASBA National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. What Exactly Is a Notice to Schedule (NTS)?
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AICPA & CIMA. Learn More About CPA Exam Scoring and Pass Rates
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NASBA. NASBA Announces Historic Rule Amendment Following Record Exposure Draft Response
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