Exam Format, Scoring, Pass Rates, Fees, Retake, Refund, and Delivery

Format and Scoring

The CCA exam contains 105 total questions: 90 scored and 15 unscored pretest items seeded to validate future questions. You cannot tell which 15 are pretest, so answer every item as if it counts. The time limit is 2 hours (120 minutes).

AHIMA reports certification scores on a scaled range of 100-400, and 300 or higher passes the CCA. The scaled score is produced by subject-matter-expert standard setting, CCHIIM approval, and a conversion that maps the passing cut to 300. Because it is scaled, you cannot back-calculate a raw "number correct" from the report. Critically, there is no penalty for guessing — a blank scores the same as a wrong answer, so never leave an item unanswered.

Published Outcomes

First-time pass rates have trended down, which justifies disciplined preparation:

AHIMA reported 7,753 certified CCA professionals as of December 31, 2025.

Fees and Retakes

A failed candidate must submit a new application and pay again; there is no discounted retake. The mandatory 30-day wait before reapproval means you cannot rush back in a week, so use that time to repair weak domains.

Delivery, Reschedule, and Refund

CCA testing is delivered in person at Pearson VUE Authorized Test Centers. AHIMA's remote OnVUE option is offered for CHDA, CHPS, and CDIP — not the CCA. Plan for a test-center appointment with valid, name-matching ID.

• Reschedule/cancel free up to 15 days before the exam date.
• $30 fee to reschedule between 14 days and 24 hours before the exam.
• No-shows forfeit their application and registration fees entirely.
• An AHIMA application refund can be requested up to 14 business days before the scheduled test date or the eligibility end date, and AHIMA keeps a $75 nonrefundable processing fee. Note: a Pearson cancellation is not the same action as an AHIMA refund — doing one does not trigger the other.

Why the Scaled Score Matters for Strategy

Because the report is a scaled 100-400 number rather than a raw percentage, you should not pace yourself toward a mental "I need 75% correct" target. The cut is set by standard-setting experts who judge how a minimally competent coder would perform, then mapped to 300. The practical takeaways: every scored item is worth pursuing, there is no fixed published raw cut you can game, and an unanswered item is a guaranteed non-point. Combine that with the no-penalty-for-guessing rule and the conclusion is firm — fill in every bubble.

Planning Around the 30-Day Retake Wait

The mandatory 30-day wait before a new application is approved is a planning fact, not just a fee fact. If you fail, you cannot simply rebook for next week; you reapply, pay the full fee again, and wait. Smart candidates treat the first attempt as the real attempt — they do not "sit to see the questions." If you do fail, use the enforced 30 days deliberately: pull your domain-level feedback, rebuild your error log around the weakest domains, and re-run timed simulations rather than passively rereading.

Protecting the Single Attempt

Most lost fees come from logistics, not knowledge. The no-show forfeiture, the wrong code-book year, and an ID that does not match the Authorization to Test letter each end an attempt before a single item is scored. Build a pre-exam checklist a week out: confirm the appointment time and center address, verify your government ID name matches your AHIMA record exactly, pack the correct 2026 editions, and note the free-reschedule deadline (15 days out) in case life intervenes. Treating these operational facts as seriously as content is what protects the $199-$299 you have already spent.

Reading the Score Report

Whether you pass or fail, AHIMA provides domain-level feedback rather than a list of which items you missed. A passing report confirms the 300-or-higher scaled outcome; a failing report shows relative performance by domain so you can see where you fell short. Resist the urge to interpret the scaled number as a percentage — it is not. If you fail, the domain feedback is the most valuable planning input you will get: it tells you exactly which of the six domains to rebuild during the mandatory 30-day wait before you reapply and pay again.

What the Pass Rate Trend Implies for You

The declining first-time pass rate — 70% (2023), 67% (2024), 62% (2025) — is not a reason for panic, but it is a reason for discipline. It tells you that casual preparation is increasingly insufficient and that the candidates who pass are the ones who practice with the correct code books, complete full timed simulations, and cover the reasoning domains rather than only code assignment. Roughly four in ten first-time candidates now fail, so plan to be in the prepared minority: treat the first attempt as the real attempt, since a retake costs the full fee again, a 30-day wait, and a new application.

The operational facts in this section are not trivia to memorize for one or two exam items — they are the rules that decide whether your single, paid attempt counts.