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passing grade?

i just took the cma exam. i was a 4.0 gpa student, but this test kicked my rear. i thought i was prepared, but it was more difficult than i anticipated.

that said..... what do i need to score on this test to pass? i know there is some sort of formula or something. does anyone have anything encouraging to say???

Your Professional Title/Credentials: MA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? yes

Re: passing grade?

I think it is standard scoring. Like a C is a pass which is gen 70%

But it should tell you if you passed or not whe you get the scores back.

Re: passing grade?

You know, funny... I took the test yesterday.... It kicked my behind too! I don't feel so bad now! Everyone who went to take it yesterday where I was said they all flunked as well.... Nothing encouraging to say... just "good luck"
I'll pray for us BOTH!!

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes

Re: passing grade?

nothing like replying to my own post!

i took the exam in rockford, IL. how about you?

i know that we are supposed to be well-rounded with regard to all facets of office procedures, but!!!!!! why on earth do we have to know so darn much about mail and bookkeeping. in my humble opinion, there was a disproportionate amount of those questions given the likelihood that an MA will actually be doing that. unless you are working for a small and/or private office, chances are pretty low that you will be doing that stuff.

i work for a specialty doctor. i don't file. i don't do mail. i don't charge. none of that

i also wonder why there are questions on the exam that required us to make a "diagnosis" of sorts. as diagnosing is out of our scope of practice, that seemed to be useless. (although those questions were on the easy side.)

finally, i am hearing that there is some sort of formula for calculating grades on this exam. i believe you take your percentage (of correct answers), multiply it by 10, then subtract a number of approximately 100 or 110. that number is compared to some other number and anything over that "some other number" is passing. BUT WHAT IS THAT OTHER NUMBER?

i think i feel so defeated because i'm a total perfectionist and there is no way my grade approaches perfection in this case. :(

Your Professional Title/Credentials: MA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? yes

Re: passing grade?

You know, I Feel rather defeated myself. I was the only student in my class to NEVER miss a question on ANY of the tests in school. I am also a "perfectionist" of sorts when it comes to grades. I have decided in my own mind that I did in fact FAIL this test. If by some great miracle I did pass I will be pleasantly surprised.

I took my test in Las Vegas. There were only 9 others testing & because I was waiting for someone outside I got to see everyone leave. They all looked just as defeated as me. It was sad.

I know that they look the tests over & eliminate questions that the majority of test takers found difficult. How many, I don't know. I DO know that if I DID in fact fail, I will take it again in June.

I didn't appreciate the administrative questions. However, I was more upset with the questions asking which drug should be prescribed for which condition. I am NOT a doctor or nurse. I draw blood, do vitals, ua's etc.... The test was NOT designed to test MY knowledge of thos things.

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes

Re: passing grade?

Thank you for your question regarding the scoring process for the AAMA CMA certification/Recertification Examination.

The pass/fail decision is based on a single scaled score representing performance on the entire examination. The Certifying Board of the American Association of Medical Assistants establishes the minimum scaled score required to pass the exam for each examination. The Certifying Board reserves the right to change the minimum passing (scaled) score as appropriate.

The minimum passing score for the examination is 425.  If the score received is equal to or greater than 425, the candidate passes.  If a candidate receives a score less than 425, the candidate fails. The scaled scores are not the number of items answered correctly, although they are based on that number. They have a wide range of distribution, but the majority of the scores lie between 200 and 800.

The Certifying Board also reports the percentile rank in certain content areas (e.g., General, Administrative, Clinical) to help candidates interpret exam performance and identify areas of strength and weakness. The percentile rank reveals each candidate’s relative position in the reference group (students/graduates of CAAHEP-accredited schools taking the exam for the first time). These ranks are obtained by ranking the candidates from highest to lowest score. The percentile rank then indicates what percentage of the reference group scored lower than the candidate in that content area. For example, if a candidate’s percentile rank in Clinical was 16, then only 16% of the reference group scored less on the clinical items. And, if the percentile in Administrative was 94, then the candidate scored higher than 94% of the reference group on the Administrative items.
Obviously, the candidate’s area of strength is Administrative and her/his weakness is Clinical. These percentiles are percentages of people at a certain performance level, and are not themselves scores, so they cannot be added, subtracted, or averaged. No decisions are based on any of these ranks. They are only intended as feedback to help candidates compare their level of performance relative to the reference group. Should you have further questions, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you,

June Henley, Certification Communications CoordinatorAmerican Association of Medical Assistants


That was no help to me.... hope it helped someone else.

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes