What is the CBCS exam pass rate?
According to the National Healthcareer Association (NHA), the Certified Billing and Coding Specialist (CBCS) exam had a pass rate of 71.33% in its most recent annual report, across the 7,878 CBCS examinations administered that year — a report that separately counts 18,006 active CBCS certifications as of the end of 2025.
How the CBCS exam is scored
The CBCS is a 100-question exam that you have 180 minutes to complete. That works out to a little under two minutes per scored item — comfortable pacing, but not so generous that you can afford to stall repeatedly on unfamiliar coding scenarios. NHA reports your result as a scaled score rather than a raw percentage correct: scaled scores range from 200 to 500, and you must reach a scaled passing score of 390 or higher to pass.
Scaling matters because it accounts for small differences in difficulty between exam versions. Two candidates who see different question sets are held to the same standard of competence, not the same number of raw correct answers. Practically, this means you can't reverse-engineer an exact "how many can I miss" figure — you should aim to demonstrate solid mastery across every content area rather than banking on a comfortable cushion.
What drives pass and fail outcomes
Make sure your preparation covers real coding workflows — ICD-10-CM, CPT, and HCPCS conventions, claim life cycles, payer rules, and compliance concepts such as HIPAA. Because the exam is scaled to a fixed 390 threshold, uneven preparation is punishing: strength in one domain won't rescue a weak one if your overall scaled score lands below the line.
NHA builds a genuine second chance into the process. If you don't pass, you may retake the exam after a 30-day waiting period, and candidates are allowed up to three attempts, with that minimum 30-day wait between each. That structure rewards candidates who treat a first-attempt miss as a diagnostic — reviewing weak domains during the wait — rather than immediately re-sitting the same material cold.
How to improve your odds
NHA itself supports candidates with study guides and practice tests, and working through realistic questions under timed conditions is the closest proxy for the actual scored exam. A focused prep plan should:
- Rehearse under the real clock — 100 questions in 180 minutes — so pacing becomes automatic.
- Target the domains you score weakest on, since a scaled 390 rewards balanced competence.
- Build fluency with code-set conventions and claim scenarios rather than memorizing isolated facts.
You can start right now with our free CBCS (NHA) practice exam to benchmark where you stand against the passing threshold before you sit the real thing.
After you pass: keeping the credential
Earning the CBCS is the beginning, not the end. The certification is valid for two years, and to stay current you must renew every two years by completing 10 continuing education (CE) credits within each two-year period. If a certification lapses, NHA permits reinstatement within one year of the expiration date, though reinstatement requires evidence of 15 CE credits plus the applicable fees — a meaningfully steeper bar than routine renewal, and a strong reason to track your CE well before your expiration date.
How to read NHA's pass-rate table
NHA reports all eight of its certifications in one annual PDF, and each row carries three numeric columns that are easy to mistake for one another. For CBCS in 2025 the row reads:
| Column | CBCS, 2025 | What it actually means |
|---|---|---|
| Examinations administered | 7,878 | CBCS exams sat during the calendar year |
| Percent passing | 71.33% | The pass rate — this column, and only this one |
| Active certifications | 18,006 | Live CBCS credentials held as of 31 December |
The third column is cumulative while the first is annual, so dividing one into the other returns 43.8% — a figure that describes nothing, and roughly what you will find on pages publishing a "CBCS pass rate" well below NHA's own. If a number you come across does not match 71.33%, that division is the first thing to check.
The gap between the two counts is also informative in its own right. Roughly 18,000 people hold an active CBCS against about 7,900 exams sat in a year, which is what a credential looks like when holders renew steadily rather than churn — a useful signal for anyone weighing whether billing and coding is a field people stay in.
Why the CBCS credential carries weight
The credential's value rests partly on the organization behind it. NHA has been serving allied health since 1989 and offers eight allied health certifications in total, of which CBCS is one. The program is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), the accreditation that signals an exam meets recognized standards for validity and fairness — which is also why the scaled-scoring and fixed-threshold approach described above isn't arbitrary but part of a defensible testing standard. At a registration cost of $129, the CBCS is an accessible entry point into medical billing and coding, and NHA reports a 71.33% pass rate.
What the cited data shows
The charts below use only figures from the sources this article cites. A chart is left out where no source publishes the figure.
| Item | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Exam fee | $129 | NHA |
| Document | Effective date | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| NHA: Pass Rates for NHA Examinations Administered in 2025 | 2025-12-31 | 2026-07-21 |
| NHA (National Healthcareer Association): About NHA — Allied Health Certifications | Not stated | 2026-07-18 |
| NHA (National Healthcareer Association): CBCS Certification — Medical Billing and Coding Specialist | Not stated | 2026-07-18 |
| NHA (National Healthcareer Association): NHA Candidate Handbook | Not stated | 2026-07-18 |
| NHA (National Healthcareer Association): NHA Certifications Overview | Not stated | 2026-07-18 |
| NHA (National Healthcareer Association): NHA Renew / Reinstate Certification | Not stated | 2026-07-18 |
Free CBCS (NHA) practice test — 132 questions, instant feedback. No signup required.
Sources
- 1.Pass Rates for NHA Examinations Administered in 2025 — NHA (accessed Jul 21, 2026)
- 2.CBCS Certification — Medical Billing and Coding Specialist — NHA (National Healthcareer Association) (accessed Jul 18, 2026)
- 3.NHA Candidate Handbook — NHA (National Healthcareer Association) (accessed Jul 18, 2026)
- 4.NHA Renew / Reinstate Certification — NHA (National Healthcareer Association) (accessed Jul 18, 2026)
- 5.About NHA — Allied Health Certifications — NHA (National Healthcareer Association) (accessed Jul 18, 2026)
- 6.NHA Certifications Overview — NHA (National Healthcareer Association) (accessed Jul 18, 2026)
Frequently asked questions
How hard is the CBCS exam?
The CBCS is a moderately difficult entry-level credential — most candidates who sit for it pass. According to the National Healthcareer Association's 2025 annual pass-rate report, 7,878 of 18,006 candidates passed the Certified Billing and Coding Specialist exam, a 71.33% pass rate. You get 180 minutes to answer 100 scored questions, which works out to a comfortable pace of roughly a minute and a half per question. The difficulty comes less from time pressure than from breadth: you need working familiarity with coding systems, claims, and reimbursement rules rather than deep mastery of any one area.
What is the passing score for the CBCS exam?
You need a scaled score of 390 or higher to pass. NHA reports scaled scores on a range from 200 to 500, so 390 sits in the upper portion of that band. Because the score is scaled rather than a raw percentage, you cannot reliably translate it into "X questions correct" — scaling adjusts for small differences in difficulty between exam forms. The practical takeaway is to aim well above a bare pass on practice tests rather than targeting a specific raw number.
How much does the CBCS exam cost?
The CBCS exam costs $129, according to NHA. That fee covers a single attempt, so retakes carry additional cost — budget for the possibility of a second sitting if you are studying part-time around a job. Compared with many allied health credentials, this is a low barrier to entry, and the eligibility requirement is modest: a high school diploma or GED.
What happens if I fail the CBCS exam?
You can retake it, but you must wait 30 days between attempts, and NHA allows three attempts to pass. That waiting period is actually useful — it gives you a full month to rework the domains where your score report showed weakness rather than re-sitting on the same shaky foundation. Treat the first attempt's diagnostic breakdown as your study plan for the retake, and use the three-attempt limit as a reason to prepare thoroughly rather than testing early to "see what it's like."
How should I study for the CBCS exam?
Start with the official test plan and NHA's own preparation materials — the association supports candidates with study guides and practice tests built against the current blueprint. Because the exam is 100 questions in 180 minutes, timed full-length practice is the single highest-value activity: it builds pacing and surfaces the domains where you are guessing. NHA has served allied health since 1989 and the CBCS program is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, which means the blueprint is stable enough that studying the published domains is a reliable strategy. Aim for repeated practice sets over several weeks rather than a single cram week.
How long is the CBCS certification valid, and how do I renew it?
The CBCS certification is valid for two years and must be renewed to remain current. NHA requires 10 continuing education credits during each two-year period to renew. If you let it lapse, reinstatement is permitted within one year of the expiration date but requires 15 continuing education credits plus the applicable fees — so staying on top of the 10-credit cycle is meaningfully cheaper and simpler than recovering an expired credential.