How Hard Is the CCMA? NHA's 2022–2025 Pass Rates and the Topics That Trip Candidates Up

By NHA's own numbers, most CCMA exams end in a pass, and the share has risen. NHA publishes a pass-rate report for every year, computed from all the exams it administered in that calendar year, and those reports are the only official measure of how hard the CCMA is.

NHA's CCMA pass rates, 2022 to 2025

As checked on October 28, 2026, from NHA's reports for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025:

Each report states that the scaled passing score for all NHA exams is 390 out of 500. In Passy's reading of the table, about four in five CCMA exams passed in 2024 and 2025, against about three in four in 2022. The current CCMA exam launched on January 10, 2024, so the 2024 and 2025 rows are the ones that reflect today's exam; 2022 and 2023 describe the previous version.

What the CCMA pass rates can and can't tell you

• They count exams, not people. The reports cover every exam administered, so a candidate who tested twice appears twice. NHA doesn't publish separate first-time and repeat rates for the CCMA
• They describe groups, not you. An 81.73% rate isn't an 81.73% chance for any one candidate. The reports don't break results down by school, pathway or testing location
• They don't explain the trend. The rate rose after the 2024 version launched, but the reports give no reason, and it would be guesswork to name one
• They don't rank NHA exams. In 2025, NHA's Medical Administrative Assistant exam (CMAA) passed at 63.24% and its Phlebotomy Technician exam (CPT) at 77.44%. Those exams test different content and different candidates, so the comparison says nothing about which would be easier for you

What the numbers do show is that roughly one CCMA exam in five didn't pass in 2025 (Passy's arithmetic). That is a reason to prepare across the whole test plan, not a reason to delay once you're eligible.

Why the CCMA is hard: breadth across seven domains

The CCMA's challenge is range. NHA's test plan lists 222 knowledge statements behind just 150 scored questions, so on any given form the average statement gets less than one question (Passy's arithmetic), and you can't predict which ones appear.

The range also cuts across job roles:

• Clinical work dominates. Clinical Patient Care carries 84 questions across intake and vitals, general patient care, infection control, point-of-care testing, phlebotomy and EKG. General patient care alone runs from sterile fields and injections to staple removal, ear and eye irrigation, emergencies, electronic orders and telehealth
• The front office is on it too. Administrative Assisting (12 questions) includes insurance terms such as copayment, coinsurance and deductible, prior authorizations, advance beneficiary notices and billing. Someone whose externship was all clinical can be caught out here
• So are people skills and law. Communication and Customer Service and Patient Care Coordination and Education carry 12 questions each, and Medical Law and Ethics adds 7 on consent (including minors), advance directives, release of information and mandatory reporting

The handbook explains that NHA sets the pass line using judgments of what "a minimally qualified candidate" would answer correctly. The bar is entry-level, but across the whole job, which is why an experienced medical assistant who only does one kind of work can still find the exam hard. To spread your practice the way the exam does, the planned CCMA question bank weights Clinical Patient Care the way the test plan does.

Where CCMA candidates lose points

Four kinds of question deserve extra attention, based on how the test plan is written:

• Calculations. The plan names "measurements (for both metric and standard systems) and dosage calculations," conversion formulas for vital signs, and dosage calculations for injectables and oral medications. A calculator is built into the exam, but you still have to set up the problem
• Sequences. Order of draw for venipuncture, donning and doffing protective equipment, and the order of cleaning all appear as separate tasks or knowledge statements, and a sequence is either right or wrong
• What to do next. Tasks such as "Identify and respond to emergency/priority situations" and recognizing an abnormal EKG "versus artifact" call for judgment in a short scenario, not just a definition
• Recall facts. The Joint Commission's "Do Not Use" abbreviations, controlled-substance schedules, tube additives and in-range and out-of-range vital signs are pure memory, and there are many of them

One more trap is habit. Your clinic may do things its own way, and what a medical assistant may do varies by state, but the exam tests the standard practice in the test plan. When your workplace and your study material disagree, learn the standard for the exam. For the memory-heavy part, planned CCMA flashcards target the recall layer of the test plan.

Two CCMA practice questions written by Passy

These are original questions in the exam's style. They aren't NHA items.

1. A medical assistant finishes a venipuncture and removes their gloves. Under OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard, what must happen next?

• A. Wash hands immediately or as soon as feasible
• B. Wash hands only if a glove tore during the draw
• C. Wash hands at the end of the patient's visit
• D. Wash hands only if blood is visible on the skin

Keyed answer: A. 29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(2)(v) requires employers to ensure that employees "wash their hands immediately or as soon as feasible after removal of gloves or other personal protective equipment." Options B, C and D each add a condition or a delay the rule doesn't allow.

2. A patient's temperature is 38.5 °C, and the provider asks for it in Fahrenheit. Which value should the medical assistant record?

• A. 69.3 °F
• B. 101.3 °F
• C. 53.4 °F
• D. 126.9 °F

Keyed answer: B. NIST's temperature conversion is °F = (°C × 1.8) + 32, so 38.5 × 1.8 = 69.3, plus 32 = 101.3 °F. Option A multiplies but forgets to add 32. Option C divides by 1.8 instead of multiplying. Option D adds 32 before multiplying.

Both questions are short, but each tests a specific rule or formula you either know or don't, which is typical of how breadth makes the CCMA hard.

Judging your own CCMA readiness

Pass rates can't tell you whether you're ready; your own evidence can:

• Coverage. Read the test plan's task list and explain each task in your own words. Any task you can't explain is a gap
• Balance. Check your practice accuracy domain by domain. A strong overall score can hide a weak domain, and NHA's score report rates each one
• Pace. Practice at about one minute per question, since the exam gives 3 hours for 180
• Caution with practice scores. NHA's handbook says a high practice-test score "does not guarantee you will pass the certification exam"

Wrong answers are the most useful part of that evidence, and every missed question waits in Fix It in the planned CCMA prep so you can try it again later.

Your next step after sizing up the CCMA

Turn the breadth into a schedule: the CCMA study plan guide weights eight weeks by the 150 scored questions. To see how you do on mixed questions now, try the 20 free CCMA practice questions, and check the CCMA passing score guide for what 390 means.