Exam News
AICPA Publishes Post-July 2027 CPA Exam Schedule: Core Score Releases Drop to Four a Year
The AICPA has published the CPA Exam administration and score release schedule that takes effect when the exam moves to a new technology delivery platform in July 2027. Core score releases fall from sixteen a year to four, and a Core section sat at the start of the first new window targets a score 99 days later.
Published September 2, 20266 min readVerified as of September 2, 2026
What the AICPA Published
The AICPA released the CPA Exam schedule covering July 2027 through June 2028 on August 31, 2026, and it changes how quickly Core candidates get scores. The page states that "beginning in July 2027, the CPA Exam will transition to a new technology delivery platform, accompanied changes to the user interface," and that the transition requires an adjusted test administration and score release schedule. Core sections are AUD, FAR and REG. Under the schedule running through June 2027, the AICPA posts sixteen Core score release dates a year. Under the schedule that starts in July 2027, it posts four. Discipline sections, meaning BAR, ISC and TCP, keep roughly the timing they have now. The AICPA labels every date on the page as a target and states that all dates are subject to change.
How Core Scoring Works Through June 2027
Core scoring currently runs on data file cutoffs. Prometric transmits a candidate's exam file to the AICPA, and the score lands on the first target release date after the cutoff that file met. The first half of 2027 has eight such cutoffs, and the waits are short. A candidate whose file lands by the June 8, 2027 cutoff waits eight days. The longest wait in that list is seventeen days, for a file received by January 23. Our score calendar tool tracks the current cutoffs, and the 2026 score release article covers this year's dates in full.
- Files received by January 23, 2027 target a February 9, 2027 release
- February 14 targets February 23
- March 9 targets March 17
- March 31 targets April 9
- April 23 targets May 11
- May 16 targets May 25
- June 8 targets June 16
- June 30 targets July 13
What the Schedule Shows From July 2027
The post-transition tables are built differently. Instead of a data file cutoff, the first column is headed "Testing Dates" and carries a range, and each range has a single target release date. The arithmetic is what candidates will notice. A Core section taken on July 12, 2027, the first day of the first new range, targets a score on October 19, which is 99 days later. The same section taken on September 30 targets the same October 19 date, nineteen days later. Each subsequent range works the same way, with the earliest test date in the range waiting between 87 and 88 days. There is also a gap on either side of the changeover. The last cutoff under the current schedule is June 30, 2027, and the first new testing range opens July 12, 2027. Two further gaps appear inside the new schedule, between December 15 and December 31, 2027, and between March 15 and March 31, 2028.
- Testing July 12 to September 30, 2027 targets a release of October 19, 2027
- Testing October 1 to December 15, 2027 targets December 28, 2027
- Testing January 1 to March 15, 2028 targets March 28, 2028
- Testing April 1 to June 15, 2028 targets June 27, 2028
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Discipline Sections Are Barely Affected
Discipline candidates already wait about two and a half months, and that does not really move. A BAR, ISC or TCP candidate sitting on the first day of the January 2028 window waits 76 days, which is close to the 74 days that the January 2027 window carries under the current schedule. The change lands on Core candidates, not Discipline candidates. One scheduling detail is worth noting: the Q3 2027 Discipline window runs July 12 to August 12, spanning two months rather than the usual single month, before later windows return to the first month of the quarter.
- Testing July 12 to August 12, 2027 targets September 28, 2027
- Testing October 1 to October 31, 2027 targets December 17, 2027
- Testing January 1 to January 31, 2028 targets March 17, 2028
- Testing April 1 to April 30, 2028 targets June 16, 2028
What the AICPA Has Not Said
The published tables set out when scores arrive. They do not say when candidates may schedule or sit a Core section after July 2027, and the AICPA has not published a transition FAQ or any guidance on scheduling availability inside the new ranges. The sentence on the same page about continuous testing, which says candidates can schedule Core sections at any time of the year, sits in the introduction above the tables and describes the schedule running now. NASBA's exam news page carried nothing on the platform transition as of September 2, 2026. Becker's score release page and UWorld's 2026-2027 exam changes page did not carry the post-July-2027 schedule either. We will update this article when the AICPA or NASBA addresses scheduling directly.
What This Means for Candidates
Anyone who can finish the Core sections before July 2027 gets faster feedback than anyone who cannot, and the difference is large enough to plan around. A failed section discovered eight days after the exam can be retaken inside the same quarter. A failed section discovered 99 days after the exam cannot. That matters more because of the clock candidates are already on. NASBA's board voted on April 21, 2023 to amend Uniform Accountancy Act Model Rule 5-7, extending conditional credit from 18 months to a rolling 30 months once a candidate passes their first section. Adoption is state by state rather than automatic, so candidates should confirm the window their own board applies. Under a 30-month window, a single Core failure that takes three months to surface consumes a tenth of the total time available. For candidates mapping out sections now, our FAR guide, AUD guide and REG guide cover the Core sections, and the 2026 blueprint changes and exam changes explainer cover what is testable today. Check the AICPA page before locking in a date, since every date on it is a target and the AICPA states they are subject to change.
Sources
- 1.AICPA & CIMA: Find out when you'll get your CPA Exam score(accessed Sep 2, 2026)
- 2.NASBA: NASBA Announces Historic Rule Amendment Following Record Exposure Draft Response(accessed Sep 2, 2026)
Brennan Kolar
Founder, Atlas CPA Index
Brennan Kolar is the founder of Atlas CPA Index, an independent CPA review comparison platform covering all 55 U.S. jurisdictions. With over 10 years of experience with CPA review, he built Atlas to help candidates find the right review course based on how they actually learn, not which provider has the biggest ad budget.
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