CCMA Study Plan: Every NHA Topic, Counted and Scheduled (2026)

By the Castleport Test Prep Editorial Team · Last verified: August 8, 2026

Built from the NHA CCMA Detailed Test Plan and the NHA Candidate Handbook, revision dated June 1, 2026.

A CCMA study plan should divide your hours by how much there is to learn in each area — not just by what each area is worth. So we counted. NHA's official test plan for the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant exam contains 222 numbered knowledge statements and 120 task statements — 342 numbered statements total, which this page uses as a reproducible planning count. Administrative Assisting is 8% of the scored items and 13.2% of those statements. Anatomy and Physiology is 5.3% of the scored items and 2.3% of the statements. What changes your plan: days until your test date, hours you actually have each week, and whether this is attempt one or a rebuild after a fail.

That count is the part percentage-only plans miss. Here's why it matters more than the percentage everyone quotes.

Castleport Test Prep is the independent publisher behind this guide and the free 25-question CCMA diagnostic. The paid CCMA Exam System is in development and is not for sale.

Castleport Test Prep is an independent publisher of exam preparation materials and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the National Healthcareer Association. Exam and credential names are used for identification purposes only; all trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Before you scroll: are you on the right exam?

Best for you if:

• You're preparing for the NHA CCMA — the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant exam from the National Healthcareer Association — and you have a test date or a rough runway.
• You keep starting over and want a schedule instead of a pile of tabs.
• You're rebuilding after a failed attempt and your score report only gave you three words.
• You want a plan that runs on free material.

Wrong page — here's where to go instead:

• You need eligibility, registration, fee, score-report, or renewal rules. Use the CCMA exam requirements hub →
• You registered for the CMA (from AAMA), the RMA (from AMT), or the NCMA (from NCCT). Different organizations, different exams, different rules. Compare CMA vs CCMA vs RMA →
• You're searching for recalled or "real" exam questions. We don't have them, and a legitimate publisher should not claim access to NHA's live bank. Looking for recalled items puts your credential at risk. More on that below.
• You want to know what a medical assistant is legally allowed to do in your state. That's a separate question from the exam. See scope of practice by state →

Your CCMA exam, on one screen

Every number here traces to NHA's own published documents, checked on the date above.

A few terms, once, so the rest of the page reads clean. A scaled score is your raw performance converted onto a common 200–500 range so different exam forms can use the same passing standard — 390 is not 390 questions and it isn't a percentage. The test plan is NHA's free public document listing what the exam can cover. A task statement describes work a candidate needs to know how to perform. A knowledge statement identifies information that can support a task or be tested on its own. A major content area is what NHA calls each of the seven big domains — that's the level your score report reports at, which turns out to matter a lot for retakers. On this page, topic is shorthand for one numbered task or knowledge statement.

Sources: NHA CCMA Detailed Test Plan and NHA Candidate Handbook, rev. 06/01/2026. Item counts are NHA's. Statement counts, percentages, and pacing calculations are ours — method below.

What a CCMA study plan actually is (and what most of them aren't)

A CCMA study plan is a dated schedule that assigns specific test-plan statements to specific days or weeks before your exam. It is not a list of domain percentages. Percentages tell you what each area is worth on test day; they don't tell you how many evenings it takes to learn.

Here's the sentence you've probably read five times already: "Clinical Patient Care is 56% of the exam, so spend most of your time there."

That sentence isn't wrong. It's just the least useful thing anyone can tell you, and we can now prove it with a number. Clinical Patient Care is 56% of the scored items and 53.5% of the counted statements. On this baseline, it costs almost exactly what it pays. Studying it "because it's 56%" tells you nothing you can put on a calendar.

The places where the two numbers don't match — that's where a percentage-only plan misallocates your calendar. And you can't see those places until somebody counts the statements.

So we did. We opened NHA's free Detailed Test Plan and counted every numbered line in it. 222 knowledge statements, numbered k1 through k222. 120 task statements, numbered by domain like 3E7 or 5M. 342 total. Then we lined the count up against NHA's item counts.

The right prep path isn't the same for every candidate — it depends on the exam version you'll actually sit, your test date, and which domains look weakest today. The official handbook and NHA set the requirements, not a checklist. Because a general answer can't resolve those for you, take the free Castleport CCMA diagnostic and get a directional baseline before you spend anything.

Find the domain that deserves hour one.

25 original questions, instant domain-level results, full written explanations, no email address required. It is a directional baseline, not a readiness verdict.

Take the free Castleport CCMA diagnostic →

How much material is on the CCMA exam? All 342 topics, counted

Our count of NHA's CCMA Detailed Test Plan finds 342 numbered statements across the seven scored domains: 222 knowledge statements and 120 task statements. NHA publishes the item count per domain but not this statement-count total, so every figure below is our count of the official document. Every one can be checked against the free PDF.

Our method, so you can check us: we opened the official Detailed Test Plan and counted the numbered lines in each section. Knowledge statements run k1–k222 with no gaps. Task statements are lettered and numbered by domain. Item counts are NHA's. The statement counts and the ratios are ours. Here's the document.

The count is reproducible. Equal workload is not. One numbered statement can be broader or harder than another, and NHA does not assign study minutes to statements. The ratios below are a transparent calendar baseline, not a psychometric weight. Your diagnostic, miss log, and actual time-on-task are what correct it.

One important note on how we use it: we do not republish NHA's statement text as a substitute for the official document. We reference statements by their official numbers and describe them in our own plain language, so you can find the exact text in NHA's free PDF yourself.

Where the statement load and the points don't line up

This is the table that should change your calendar.

Those labels are planning shorthand, not an NHA ranking. The statement-width limitation above still applies. Start with the baseline, then move time toward the areas where your diagnostic and miss log show real friction.

Read that bottom row again. Administrative Assisting is 12 scored questions and 45 numbered statements. Scheduling, insurance verification, prior authorizations, coding, billing, denials and appeals, charge reconciliation, records management, inventory, patient portals. Forty-five separate lines, for eight percent of the scored items.

Now the top row. Anatomy and Physiology is 8 scored questions and 8 numbered statements. It's the only 1:1 area on the entire exam. Everybody assumes A&P is a semester of college because the name sounds like one. NHA gives it eight lines.

That's not a reason to skip A&P — it's a reason to knock it out in one sitting and stop dreading it. And it's a reason to stop being surprised when Administrative Assisting eats a weekend.

Two domains have no tasks in them at all — and that changes how you study them

Foundational Knowledge and Anatomy & Physiology contain zero task statements. Forty-two knowledge statements between them, no tasks. Every one of the 120 task statements lives in Domains 3 through 7.

That's a study-method fact, not a weight fact:

• Domains 1 and 2 contain knowledge statements only. Terminology, drug classes, organ systems, developmental stages. Recall practice belongs here: say it out loud, cover the page, say it again — then check that you can apply it.
• Domains 3 through 7 mix tasks and knowledge. Order of draw. What to do when a patient shows signs of anaphylaxis. Which appointment type this call needs. Flashcards can support the knowledge; scenario questions test whether you can use it.

Most people study all seven domains the same way and then wonder why the clinical questions felt different. Of course they did: these domains mix knowledge with task judgment.

Which of the seven is actually your weak one?

Guessing costs you a week. The diagnostic scores you by domain and gives you a written explanation on every question — including why the wrong answers looked right.

See where you stand — free, no sign-up →

How long should I study for the CCMA exam?

NHA's current handbook and test plan do not prescribe a study length, and anyone who gives you one number is giving you an editorial estimate. What you can calculate is how much time each of the 342 counted statements gets on your runway. That number tells you whether your date is realistic, which is the actual question behind "is two weeks enough?"

Here's the honest math. We reserve about 70% of your total hours for learning topics; the rest goes to your baseline, mixed practice, one timed run, and test-day logistics. That's our planning split, not an NHA rule. Divide the learning time by 342 and you get this:

Our calculation, from NHA's official test plan: (total hours × 60 minutes × 70%) ÷ 342 counted statements.

Now "is two weeks enough?" has an answer instead of an opinion. Two weeks at eight hours a week gives you two minutes per topic. Not two minutes to master it — two minutes total, including reading it, and answering a question about it, and figuring out why you got it wrong.

One week at eight hours a week is 59 seconds per topic. That isn't studying. That's turning pages.

That doesn't mean short runways are hopeless. It means a short runway is a triage plan, not a coverage plan — and triage has rules, which are in the next section. What it can't be is the plan you'd build with eight weeks, compressed.

Pick your runway honestly

These are our editorial fit categories, not NHA requirements:

• 8 weeks — you're working full time, coming back after a gap, learning several domains fresh, or rebuilding after more than one fail. Eight minutes a topic is real learning time.
• 4–6 weeks — the clean default for a first attempt out of a training program. This is where the standard plan below is built.
• 2 weeks — workable only if you finished training recently and can protect daily blocks. You will be triaging.
• 1 week — triage only, for someone who already knows most of this and needs to find the holes. Not a way to learn medical assisting.

One thing we'd rather say now than have you find out later: a calendar label hides everything that matters. Somebody's "two weeks" is 70 hours off work. Somebody else's "two weeks" is six hours between shifts and a toddler's bedtime. Same words, completely different plan. Use the hours column, not the row label.

What should I study first for the CCMA exam?

Start with your weakest domain, then weight that choice by both what it's worth and how much of it there is. If you haven't tested yourself yet, start with General Patient Care — 28 scored items and 54 topics, the largest single block on the exam — and get a diagnostic before you commit the rest of your hours.

The method, in four steps. It's ours, and it's built to be checked.

Step 1. Divide. Total hours × 70%, then ÷ 342. That's your minutes per topic. (Four weeks at eight hours a week ≈ 4 minutes.)

Step 2. Multiply. Each area's baseline time = its topic count × that number.

Step 3. Floor it. No tested domain gets zero. We keep every domain at a minimum 5% slice, because Medical Law & Ethics being small is not the same as Medical Law & Ethics being optional. Seven scored items are too many to abandon.

Step 4. Bend it with your evidence. On a first attempt, label each domain Weak, Shaky, or Strong from your diagnostic result and confidence. On a retake, use NHA's Below, Near, or Above ratings. Weak or Below × 1.5. Shaky or Near × 1.2. Strong or Above × 0.75. Then re-total to your real hours.

Here's what step 2 looks like for a 32-hour plan before any weakness adjustment:

Look at what that does. It gives Administrative Assisting more time than infection control. A percentage-only plan does the opposite because it sorts only by score share. Ours starts with how many numbered statements there are, and Administrative Assisting has 45 to Infection Control's 28.

Times in the table use the rounded four-minute planning unit, which produces 22h 48m. The exact 70% learning block in a 32-hour plan is 22h 24m. This is our planning method, not an NHA formula; NHA's contribution is the item counts and the test plan.

One sequencing rule worth following

Put the expensive areas early and the cheap ones late.

Administrative Assisting, Phlebotomy, and General Patient Care are the three heaviest loads by statement count. Cover them in week one or two so they get two or three passes before test day. Anatomy & Physiology is eight statements — save it for the final week, where it becomes a fast, confidence-building win that's still fresh when you sit down.

A chapter-order plan does this backwards. It starts with anatomy because it feels like the beginning of a textbook, then runs out of runway right when it hits billing and coding.

The CCMA study plans: 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks

Each plan below assigns specific official statement IDs to specific weeks or days, so you can hold the free PDF next to the schedule and tick off exactly what you've covered. The short plans are triage plans, not compressed versions of the long ones — the rules for what to skip are stated, not hidden.

The 4-week plan (~32 hours) — the default

Week 3 is brutal. That's not a scheduling mistake — 151 of the 342 counted statements live in infection control, lab, phlebotomy, EKG, and administrative work. Better to know that going in than to discover it on a Thursday night.

The 2-week plan (~16–24 hours) — triage with a rule

You cannot cover 342 topics properly in two weeks. So don't pretend to. Use this rule instead:

Read all 120 task statements once. Then read the knowledge statements in your two weakest domains only.

Task statements are the "do this" layer: the duties NHA says candidates need to know how to perform. That makes them the cleanest triage spine when time is short, but NHA also says exam items may test a knowledge statement, a task statement, or both. Roughly 120 tasks plus about 60 knowledge statements is 180 statements — which at four minutes each fits in twelve hours.

What you're accepting: you will not have read every knowledge statement. That's the trade. It's a real trade and we're not going to dress it up.

The 1-week plan (~8–14 hours) — for people who already know this

Only for someone who recently finished a training program or works in the role now. This finds holes; it does not teach content.

Read only the task statements in the five heaviest areas: General Patient Care, Administrative Assisting, Phlebotomy, Infection Control, and Point of Care Testing. That's 76 task statements. Add Intake & Vitals and EKG if you have room — 90 total.

If you're learning several of these domains for the first time, this is the week to talk about your date, not the week to grind harder. There's a section on that decision below.

The 8-week plan (~64 hours) — best for working candidates and rebuilds

Eight weeks buys you almost eight minutes per counted statement and, more importantly, room for a second pass. Spend it on repeats, not on reading further.

The failure mode on a long runway isn't lack of time — it's weeks 2 through 5 quietly evaporating. Put the dates in your actual calendar this week or the eight-week plan becomes a two-week plan with more guilt attached.

What a single study block should look like

At the 4-week, 8-hour pace you're covering about 11 counted statements per total study hour. Here's an hour that actually moves them:

The miss log is the whole trick. Five columns, and it takes fifteen seconds a row:

| Date | Statement/topic | What I picked | Why it was wrong | When I'll retest it |

Reading a chapter twice feels like studying. It isn't. Answering a question, getting it wrong, and writing down why the wrong answer looked right — that's the part that shows up on test day.

Before you put dates on this, find hour one.

The live 25-question diagnostic gives you a directional seven-domain baseline, instant rationales, and no email wall. Use that result to apply the multipliers above, then put the plan into your calendar.

Take the free Castleport CCMA diagnostic →

Pacing: how fast do you have to move on test day?

The CCMA shows you 180 questions in 180 minutes, so plan for 60 seconds per question — not the 70 seconds you'll see quoted elsewhere. That higher number comes from dividing three hours by only the 150 scored questions, but you're shown all 180 and you can't tell which 30 don't count.

Our checkpoints, calculated from NHA's official item count and time limit.

Three rules that save people real points:

1. Put an answer on every item before time expires. A blank cannot help you.
2. Never spend four minutes proving one answer. You just spent four other questions.
3. Practice the way you'll test. No phone, no notes, one timer. NHA provides an on-screen calculator; your own is prohibited.

If you're testing by live remote proctoring — a proctor watching you online while you test at home — rehearse at least one timed set on the actual computer, in the actual room. The handbook is explicit: no breaks are allowed during a remote session, and you may not leave the room. For in-person testing, any break you take still runs your clock.

I failed the CCMA. What should my study plan be now?

Start with your score report, not page one of a textbook. NHA rates seven major content areas as Above, Near, or Below the passing standard — it does not break out the six subdomains inside Clinical Patient Care, so a single "Below" there covers 84 scored questions and 183 counted statements without telling you which ones. Treat "Near" exactly like "Below," because the handbook says Near does not mean your performance was satisfactory.

First, the encouraging math, because you've probably had a rough week.

You have a mandatory 30-day wait. One focused hour a day is 30 hours. Reserve 30% for practice and you still have 21 hours of learning time. If your Below domains total 90 topics, that's 14 minutes per topic — more than three times what a first-timer at four weeks and eight hours a week ever gets. A retaker with a targeted plan is often in a better position than a first-timer with a general one. You know something now that you didn't know before.

What your score report is and isn't telling you

Two things in that table are worth pausing on, because both are easy to miss.

First, the top two rows. The handbook tells retakers to review "all of the tasks associated with each content area" where they scored Below or Near. But Foundational Knowledge and Anatomy & Physiology have no task statements. If that's where your Below landed, NHA's generic instruction has no task list to point at. The fix is simple once you know: work the knowledge statements, k1–k42, with recall and applied questions.

Second, the Clinical row. One word — Below — for 56% of the exam. It doesn't tell you whether the problem was order of draw or lead placement or PPE sequence or CLIA-waived testing. Our 25-question diagnostic reports the seven top-level domains; it does not claim to diagnose all six Clinical subdomains. Use it to see whether Clinical is still a priority, then tag focused-practice misses 3A through 3F. The repeating tag is where the rebuild starts.

Three more handbook facts you should have:

• Don't drop your "Above" areas. Each category is a range, and Above can mean anywhere in that range — including the bottom of it.
• The categories don't add up to your score. NHA says so directly, because the categories account for question difficulty and your overall score doesn't.
• Your ratings may not repeat. Different attempt, different form, different difficulty spread. Above last time does not guarantee Above next time.

A 30-day rebuild rhythm

Ours, not NHA's:

• Days 1–3. Read the score report properly. Sort your misses into four buckets: didn't know it, knew it but botched the order, misread the qualifier, or got fooled by a distractor. Those four need four different fixes.
• Days 4–14. Rebuild your Below domains. Concept, then questions on that concept immediately, then the miss log.
• Days 15–21. Near domains, plus mixed sets that jump between domains the way the real exam does.
• Days 22–26. Timed work. This is where pacing problems surface.
• Days 27–29. Miss log only. Light recall. Confirm logistics.
• Day 30 or later. Retest, once you've re-registered.

And one thing to change no matter what: if you studied by re-reading last time, don't re-read this time. Repeating the routine that produced a fail tends to produce another one.

A "Below" in Clinical covers six different subjects. Start by separating them.

Use the free diagnostic for the seven-domain baseline, then tag every focused-practice miss 3A through 3F. The repeating tag is your rebuild target.

Get the free seven-domain baseline →

How much practice testing belongs in the plan?

Practice testing does a different job at each stage: a short diagnostic at the start to find weak areas, focused sets during rebuild, mixed sets once you've covered everything, and one timed full-length run near the end. A practice percentage can tell you what to study next; it cannot be converted into NHA's 390 scaled score.

There's more detail on choosing between free practice tests, how many questions a test needs before its domain breakdown means anything, and why full-length simulations sit at the end — all of that lives on our free CCMA practice test page.

Three claims to stop believing

A plan built on a wrong number is a wrong plan. These are live-page observations from August 8, 2026; the corrections come from NHA's current handbook, test plan, and annual pass-rate report. Pages change, so the check date stays attached.

We're not naming those to score points. We're naming them because a 387 is not "three questions short," the retake clock does not reset on January 1, and a 2020 plan cannot prove alignment to a 2024 exam.

What should I actually study from?

Use NHA's free test plan to define the scope and the Candidate Handbook to define the rules, then pick one teaching source and one question source. Assigning each resource a job beats stacking five overlapping ones, which mostly produces switching instead of studying.

Both NHA documents are free. Start there before you spend a dollar. NHA says it plainly in its own handbook: buying preparation materials "is not required" and "does not guarantee a passing score." That's true of NHA's materials and it's true of ours.

Need a paid teaching source or larger question bank now? Compare eight live CCMA prep courses by price, access, and guarantee terms →

What we don't have

Here's our plain disclosure, and it's a real one. We don't sell a CCMA study guide or question bank yet. Our CCMA Exam System is in development — it isn't for sale, there's no price on this page, and we're not going to imply otherwise on a page about how you should spend your hours.

So this plan is deliberately built to run on free material: NHA's Test Plan, your program's book, and our free diagnostic. If you want a paid book on top of that, NHA sells its own and there are third-party options — evaluate them on whether they name the current test plan, break Clinical into its six subdomains, and state an update policy. A cover year proves nothing.

What we do have is the 342-statement count, four calendars built on it, and a diagnostic that's free with no email wall. We'd rather earn your attention with that than with a checkout button we don't have.

We do not offer a pass guarantee, and we won't imply one. Nobody honest can promise your result.

About "real" and "recalled" CCMA questions

Be careful here. When you register, you attest that you will not memorize, reproduce, solicit, discuss, or disclose exam questions. NHA can invalidate scores, suspend or revoke a credential, and rule a candidate ineligible for its exams after a violation finding.

So words like "real," "actual," and "recalled" are warning signs, not quality signals. Every question in Castleport's live CCMA diagnostic is written from scratch against NHA's published test plan. We have no access to NHA's question bank, and no legitimate publisher should imply that it does.

Should I keep my CCMA exam date or move it?

Base this on coverage, pacing, and logistics — not on one scary practice percentage. The arithmetic is simple: count the statements or topics you haven't touched, divide by the rate your runway allows, and compare that to the hours you actually have left.

Keep your date if:

• Every one of the seven domains has been covered at least once
• Your weak areas have a realistic repair plan for the time remaining
• You can work near the 60-second pace without running out of clock
• Your ID, route, device, and any accommodation are confirmed

Consider moving it if:

• Whole high-load areas — Administrative Assisting, Phlebotomy, General Patient Care — are still untouched
• You're learning core content for the first time with no realistic hours left
• Your timed sets keep ending unfinished
• Your accommodation request or remote setup isn't sorted

Nerves alone are not a reason to move. A hundred untouched topics and six hours left is.

Two scheduling deadlines worth knowing. NHA lets you move to a new date within six months without repaying the fee. But PSI and remote appointments must be changed at least 24 hours ahead or you forfeit and re-register. And if you need accommodations under the ADA, NHA asks you to allow 30 days for review — approved extra time is standard at 150%. Both rules are in the current handbook.

For current registration steps, scheduling, and accommodation forms, go straight to NHA's official CCMA page and the Candidate Handbook. NHA sets those rules, not us.

Which exam version is this plan built for?

CCMA 3.0 is the current publicly posted version, available since January 10, 2024, based on NHA's 2022 job analysis. Every statement count on this page comes from that test plan. Check NHA's test-plan page once before your test date.

From NHA's current CCMA test plan and CCMA 3.0 announcement, checked August 8, 2026.

That's not a prediction and it's not a countdown. It's one reason to open NHA's test-plan page before you sit. If the count changes, this page changes with it, and the date at the top will tell you when.

What we actually verified for this study plan

We separate official NHA facts, our own calculations, and our editorial judgments — so you know which is which and can check the first category yourself.

Read directly on August 8, 2026:

• NHA CCMA Detailed Test Plan — domain and subdomain item counts, and all 342 numbered task and knowledge statements
• NHA Candidate Handbook, revision dated June 1, 2026 — scaled scoring and the 390 standard, score reports, the Above/Near/Below definitions, retake waits and attempt limits, the retaker study guidance, the modified Angoff cut-score method, rescheduling windows, accommodation lead time, test-day rules, and the statement that prep materials are not required
• NHA CCMA 3.0 announcement — January 10, 2024 availability
• NHA CCMA certification page — delivery options and results timing
• NHA 2025 Annual Pass Rates — 98,609 CCMA exam administrations and 81.73% passing; no first-attempt split
• Castleport's live CCMA diagnostic — 25 questions, instant domain-level scoring, written explanations, no sign-up; directional, not definitive
• Castleport's CCMA Exam System page — the paid system is in development and is not for sale

What we calculated ourselves: the 342 total and the 222/120 split, every per-area statement count, statements per scored item, each area's share of scored items versus share of counted statements, minutes per statement by runway, the 60-second pacing checkpoints, the hour allocations, and all four calendars.

What we decided editorially: the 70/30 learning-to-practice split, the 5% domain floor, the weakness multipliers, the sequencing rule, the triage rules for short runways, and the keep-or-move framework.

What we don't claim: access to live or recalled exam questions, a raw percentage that equals 390, a required number of study hours, a readiness verdict, a first-attempt pass rate, your odds of passing, or a pass guarantee. If we can't verify it, we don't print it.

You can check any of it. Our methodology · Editorial standards · Independence · Corrections

CCMA study plan FAQ

How many hours a day should I study for the CCMA?

There's no official requirement. Pick a repeatable amount and protect it. One focused hour you actually complete beats three you schedule and skip. At the 4-week, 8-hour-a-week pace, one total study hour covers about 11 of the 342 counted statements.

Is one week enough to study for the CCMA?

One week at eight hours a week gives you 59 seconds per topic, so it can work as triage for someone who already knows most of the material and needs to find holes. It is not enough to learn several domains for the first time. Use the 1-week task-statement-only plan above.

Is two weeks enough to study for the CCMA?

Two weeks at eight hours a week is about two minutes per topic. That's enough for a focused review with a triage rule — read all 120 task statements, plus the knowledge statements in your two weakest domains — but not enough for comprehensive relearning.

What should I study first for the CCMA exam?

Your weakest domain, weighted by both item count and topic count. Without a diagnostic, start with General Patient Care: 28 scored items and 54 topics, the biggest single block on the exam.

Which CCMA domain has the most questions?

Clinical Patient Care, at 84 of 150 scored items — 56%. Its largest subdomain, General Patient Care, is 28 items on its own.

Which CCMA domain has the most material?

Clinical Patient Care again, at 183 of 342 topics. But per scored question, Administrative Assisting is the heaviest: 45 topics for 12 questions. Anatomy & Physiology is the lightest at 8 topics for 8 questions.

Is 390 the same as 78% correct?

No. 500 is the top of the score scale, not the number of questions — there are 150 scored questions. NHA reports a scaled score and sets cut scores using a modified Angoff method based on expert judgment about question difficulty. There is no published raw-to-scaled conversion, so no practice percentage converts into a 390.

How many questions are on the CCMA exam?

180 shown in 3 hours: 150 scored plus 30 unscored pretest questions. You won't be told which 30 don't count.

Should I take a practice test before I start studying?

Yes — a short one. Use it to find your relative weak areas, not to predict a result. Save full-length timed work for the final week, when it can also test your pacing and stamina.

What should I do the day before the CCMA exam?

Light recall from your miss log, then stop. Confirm your government-issued photo ID, your route or your device and room, and your start time. Trying to learn an untouched domain the night before mostly costs you sleep, which costs you more than the domain would.

How should a retaker study differently?

Start from the score report, not the textbook. Put the most time into Below and Near areas, keep lighter spaced review on Above areas because those categories are ranges, use the diagnostic to compare the seven top-level domains, then tag focused Clinical misses 3A through 3F — your official report will not split them.

Is Quizlet safe for CCMA prep?

Sets built from published material can be useful. Sets marketed as real, actual, or recalled exam questions are a warning sign. NHA prohibits soliciting, memorizing, reproducing, or disclosing exam content and may invalidate scores or revoke credentials after a violation finding.

Is CCMA 3.0 still the current version in 2026?

As of August 8, 2026, yes. It became available January 10, 2024. Check NHA's test-plan page before your test date, since exams do get updated.

Do I need to buy the NHA study guide?

No. NHA states in its own handbook that buying its preparation materials is not required and doesn't guarantee a passing score. The Detailed Test Plan and the Candidate Handbook are both free.

What's the CCMA pass rate?

NHA reported that 81.73% of the 98,609 CCMA exams administered in 2025 were passed. That's the share of all exams taken — not a first-attempt rate — and it isn't a personal probability.

How many times can I retake the CCMA?

Three attempts, with at least 30 days between each. After a third failed attempt you wait a full year, and every retake requires re-registering and paying the full exam price.

Will following this plan make me pass?

No plan can promise that, and we won't pretend otherwise. The 4- and 8-week coverage plans schedule all 342 counted statements. The 1- and 2-week plans are triage plans and state what they omit. None predicts your result.

Not sure where you stand?

Take the free Castleport CCMA diagnostic — instant results, no sign-up required.

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Take the free diagnostic →

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