Free CMAA practice test with answer explanations
This free practice test for the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) exam, issued by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA), books 60 original questions into one clinic day and explains every answer option. Start at 8:00 AM; each miss comes back after 4:00 PM.
Practice day sheet · 60 patients booked
0/60 seen · 0 on time · 0 rebooked
8:00 AM · slot 1 of 60D2 · Communication & professionalism
A visually impaired patient requests large-print documents at check-in. To ensure this accommodation is consistently provided during the clinical encounter, the MAA should primarily:
Pick an answer. The chart note opens here: why the answer is right, and a note on every option.
Keys: 1–4 or A–D to answer · N for the next patient
How this CMAA practice test is built
The 60 questions follow the shape of NHA’s 2021 CMAA test plan, which splits 110 scored items across seven domains. The day sheet keeps the same proportions at a little over half scale, so the two heavy domains get 11 questions each and Billing gets 6.
Most questions hand you a front-desk situation and ask for the next move: a caller with two insurance cards, a chart that may be a duplicate, an EHR that just went down. The test plan is written as tasks, not definitions, and a definition you can recite rarely settles which of four reasonable-sounding moves is right. That is why every option carries its own note. Read the notes on the three wrong options too; on the exam, the distractors are where the points go.
CMAA practice questions by domain
Here is what each domain asks, how many questions it gets in this test, and the trap its items are built around. Use the domain chips above the sheet to book a whole day of one domain.
| Domain | Here | On the exam | What the questions test | The trap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 Foundational Knowledge | 6 | 10 | Terminology and abbreviations, care settings, EHR vs EMR | Anatomy is a sliver; spelling and the Joint Commission’s “Do Not Use” list carry more |
| D2 Communication and Professionalism | 11 | 21 | Phone and email etiquette, angry or anxious patients, language and hearing barriers, what you may and may not tell a patient | The kindest-sounding answer often gives medical advice, which is outside your scope |
| D3 Medical Law, Ethics, and Compliance | 9 | 17 | HIPAA disclosures, consent types, mandatory reporting, OSHA, fraud vs abuse | Mandatory reporting overrides confidentiality; fraud needs intent, abuse does not |
| D4 Scheduling | 9 | 16 | Wave, modified wave and double booking, no-show records, eligibility checks, preauthorization before the visit | Two identifiers before you book: a new chart under a married name is a duplicate in the making |
| D5 Patient Encounter | 11 | 21 | Check-in, insurance verification, the birthday rule, copay vs coinsurance, the ABN, what each code set is for | You recognize code sets, you don’t assign codes; ICD-10-PCS is for inpatient hospital procedures only |
| D6 Billing and Revenue Cycle | 6 | 11 | Revenue-cycle phases, clearinghouse scrubbing, denials and appeals, aging reports | A contractual adjustment is not a bad-debt write-off |
| D7 Medical Practice Administrative Procedures and Logistics | 8 | 14 | Filing systems, petty cash, phone procedures, downtime | Terminal-digit filing reads the number from right to left |
Exam counts from NHA’s test plan based on the 2021 job analysis, checked Oct 2026.
D2 and D5 are 42 of the 110 scored items between them, more than Billing, Foundational Knowledge and Logistics combined. If the end-of-day report rebooks you in either, open its guide before you book another day.
How to use practice tests without fooling yourself
The real exam is 135 questions in 2 h 15 min, so its pace is one minute a question. A full day sheet at that pace takes an hour.
Run the full day cold
All 60, no notes, no looking things up. You want an honest map of where the rebookings land.
Read the end-of-day report
It lists every domain with how many patients you saw on time. The domains with the most rebookings are your study list, in that order.
Book one-domain days
Pick the worst domain’s chip and work it slowly. Read the chart note on every option, including the ones you didn’t choose.
Read the guide for the big two
The study guide walks all seven domains; D2 and D5 have full guides with a 12-question drill each.
Run the full day again on the clock
Sixty minutes, no pauses. Then try questions you haven’t seen: the 9-question sampler on the home page, the 19-question set on the study guide and the two 12-question drills.
Scoring your practice vs the real exam
The end-of-day report is a practice count: patients seen on time, by domain. It is not a score, and nothing on this page turns it into one.
The exam is scored differently. NHA’s candidate handbook states a scaled score from 200 to 500 with 390 to pass, set by expert panels against a standard rather than by a fixed share of right answers. Of the 135 items, 25 are unscored pretest items that look exactly like the rest. No percentage of correct answers, here or anywhere, converts to a pass.
What does carry over is the domain view. The handbook describes a score report that rates each domain as above, near or below the passing standard. Read your end-of-day report the same way: as a ranking of which domains to fix first.
FAQ
Is there a free CMAA practice exam?
Yes: the 60 questions above, free, with no sign-up and nothing stored. For more unseen items, the home page has a 9-question sampler, the 19-question set on the study guide adds more, and each depth guide has a 12-question drill. NHA also sells its own CMAA practice tests; as of October 2026 its store lists four 110-item tests with up to six attempts.
How many questions are on the CMAA test?
135 under the 2021 test plan: 110 scored and 25 unscored pretest items, in 2 h 15 min. Material that says 100 scored plus 20 pretest is quoting the superseded 2014 job analysis. The exam page covers the format and test day.
What percentage do I need to pass the CMAA?
There isn’t one. NHA’s candidate handbook states a scaled passing score of 390 on a 200–500 scale, so any rule that turns a share of right answers into a pass is invented.
Are Quizlet CMAA decks enough?
Decks train recall, which helps with D1 terminology and the purpose of each code set. The exam mostly asks what you do at the desk: which plan is primary, whether a caller’s symptom gets escalated, what happens when the EHR is down. Use decks for vocabulary and explained scenario questions for the rest. Decks are user-made, so check any card that disagrees with the 2021 test plan.
How difficult is the CMAA exam?
Expect a minute per question for 135 questions, four plausible options each, and few pure definitions. Communication and Patient Encounter carry 42 of the 110 scored items; coding is tested as recognition, not assignment. If you haven’t confirmed you qualify yet, the two eligibility pathways are on the certification page.
Take the day sheet home
The CMAA practice app keeps the questions on your phone for the break room and the bus.