CPA Exam Testing Windows

What they are, when they return, and the July 2027 blackout

The window you are asking about is probably a scoring batch

Most people who search for a CPA testing window are not asking when they are allowed to test. They are asking when their score arrives, and the answer runs on a schedule that has nothing to do with the day they sat. Core exams are scored in batches. Your batch is set by the day Prometric transmits your file to the AICPA, usually a day or two after you test, and each batch has one target release date. Sit two days before a cutoff and a slow transmission pushes you into the next batch.

So there are two different calendars, and only one of them constrains when you can book. Look up your own release date →

Discipline testing windows through June 2027

BAR, ISC and TCP only. Test outside these months and there is no appointment to book. ✓ = closed.

Testing window	Target score release
July 1 - 31, 2026	Sep 11, 2026
October 1 - 31, 2026	Dec 15, 2026
January 1 - 31, 2027	Mar 16, 2027
April 1 - 30, 2027	Jun 9, 2027

The July 2027 transition

From July 12, 2027 every section tests inside a window and every window has a single target release date. Core and Discipline windows are not the same, which is the detail most summaries get wrong.

Why the windows come back

A question's difficulty is not a property of the question. It is measured from how real candidates answered it on a particular system. Change the platform, the navigation and the screen layout, and the same question can behave differently. Until the AICPA has collected enough responses from the new platform to recalibrate its items, it cannot convert raw performance into a scaled 75 with confidence. Batching the releases is how it gathers that sample.

That is also why this should end. The AICPA describes the adjusted schedule as lasting 12 months following launch, and it has published nothing past June 2028. Treat quarterly windows as a transition measure rather than the new permanent shape of the exam, and treat anything you read about 2029 as a guess.

What the windows do to your planning

The arithmetic that matters is not how many windows there are. It is that after July 2027 you will often have to decide whether to study for a retake before you know whether you failed. Sit FAR in August 2027 and your score lands October 19. The next window closes December 15. That leaves about eight weeks to study, book and sit again, against a 30-month credit clock that never pauses. Under today's cadence you almost always know your result before you would sit again.

Two things follow. If you can finish all four sections before July 12, 2027, none of this touches you. If you cannot, assume you will study through the uncertainty, and plan the credit window with fewer attempts in it than you are used to. The full 2027 planning piece →

Common questions

Can I take FAR any time of year?

Yes, through June 2027. Core sections run on continuous testing, so you can sit any day Prometric has an appointment. From July 12, 2027 you will need to sit inside a quarterly window.

When can I take BAR, ISC or TCP?

Only in the first month of each quarter: January, April, July and October. This is the one real testing window on the current exam, and it does not move.

Is there a blackout period in 2027?

Yes. No appointments exist July 1 through 11, 2027, while the old delivery system is retired. Testing resumes July 12 on the new platform.

Why do people still say "testing windows" if there are none?

The pre-2017 exam ran in quarterly windows, the vocabulary stuck, and most candidates now use it to mean the scoring batch that decides when their result appears. Both meanings will be correct again after July 2027.

Do testing windows affect my 30-month credit clock?

Not directly, but they compress how many attempts fit inside it. Fewer release dates mean longer gaps between a failed section and a retake, and the clock does not pause for the transition.

Will the exam go back to continuous testing after 2028?

Unknown. The AICPA has described the adjusted schedule as covering 12 months after launch and has published dates only through June 2028. Nobody outside the AICPA knows what happens next, and anyone telling you otherwise is guessing.