What Time Are Exam Scores Released? Official Times by Exam

Short answer

Only three major US exams publish a release time: the LSAT (9:00 a.m. ET), the MCAT (by 5:00 p.m. ET) and COMLEX-USA (by 5:00 p.m. Central time). The others give a date, a target date or a timing rule, and scores appear when the organization posts them.

The short answer

Most testing organizations tell you when scores are due but not what time they will appear. A published time is the exception. If an organization has not published one, any time you see elsewhere is a guess, often based on when scores appeared for someone in a past cycle.

This matters because a missing time changes how you should wait. With the LSAT you know exactly when to log in. With a bar exam, results can appear at any point on the release date. With the CPA Exam, the date itself is a target, and NASBA says a delayed score is not a sign of a problem with your exam.

Release times by exam

This is what each organization says in its own materials. The links go to our page for each exam, where the official source is named.

Published score release times, checked against each official source
Exam	Release time	What the organization says
LSAT	9:00 a.m. ET	LSAC releases scores at 9 a.m. ET on the score release date for each administration.
MCAT	By 5:00 p.m. ET	AAMC releases scores by 5 p.m. ET on release days and emails you when they are ready.
COMLEX-USA	By 5:00 p.m. CT	NBOME releases scores by 5 p.m. Central time on the release date for each testing window.
PANCE	None published	NCCPA emails you when results are posted, about two weeks after the exam.
CPA Exam	None published	AICPA publishes target dates only. No time of day is given.
Bar exam	Set by each board	Every jurisdiction sets its own date, and most do not publish a time in advance.
GRE General Test	None published	Official scores reach your ETS account 8 to 10 days after the test, with an email from ETS.
NCLEX	None published	Quick Results two business days after the exam where offered. Official results from your board within six weeks.
USMLE	None published	Results are typically ready within four weeks. USMLE advises allowing at least eight.
CFA	None published	An email arrives within 5 to 9 weeks after the exam window closes.
MPRE	None published	Scores are typically released within five weeks of the exam.
Praxis	No single time	Scores are reported on Tuesdays and Fridays, on a date that depends on the test.
SAT	None published	College Board publishes a student and an educator release date for each weekend test, with no time of day.
ACT	None published	ACT lists an initial score release date for each national test date. Writing scores can come later.
AP	None published	Scores come out in July. The exact date is published each spring.
CMA	None published	IMA releases results about six weeks after the end of your testing month, by email.
CFP	None published	A preliminary result at the test center; official results by email about 4 weeks after the window closes.
TOEFL iBT	None published	Scores reach your ETS account 3 days after the test.
FE and PE	None published	Results are typically available in 7 to 10 business days, and NCEES emails you.

"At" a time vs "by" a time

The wording of a published time tells you how to read it.

"At" a time means scores are released at that moment. LSAC says LSAT scores are released to test takers at 9 a.m. ET, so checking before then will not show a score.
"By" a time is a deadline. AAMC releases MCAT scores by 5 p.m. ET, which means they can appear earlier in the day. If they have not appeared by 5 p.m. ET, the published deadline has passed.

Our countdowns follow the same rule. A countdown to an "at" time ends at that time. A countdown to a "by" time ends at the deadline, with a note that scores can come sooner.

When there is no published time

For exams without a published time, three things help.

Know which kind of date you have. A CPA date is a target date that AICPA says can change. A CFA, USMLE or MPRE date is an estimate from a timing rule. Our guide to official, target and estimated dates explains the difference.
Watch for the official notice. ETS, AAMC, NCEES and CFA Institute say they email you when results are ready. For USMLE, the email comes from the organization that registered you. That email, or your account, is the real signal.
Do not rely on reported times from past cycles. Forums often say scores for an exam came out at a certain hour last time. Organizations do not commit to repeating that.

Time zones

The LSAT and MCAT times are in Eastern Time. ET switches between standard time and daylight time, but the label stays the same, so 9:00 a.m. ET is always 9:00 a.m. on a clock in New York. COMLEX-USA is the exception: NBOME gives its time in Central time, and 5:00 p.m. Central is always 6:00 p.m. ET.

9:00 a.m. ET is 8:00 a.m. Central, 7:00 a.m. Mountain and 6:00 a.m. Pacific.
5:00 p.m. ET is 4:00 p.m. Central, 3:00 p.m. Mountain and 2:00 p.m. Pacific.
Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. From March to early November, 9:00 a.m. ET is 6:00 a.m. in most of Arizona; the rest of the year it is 7:00 a.m.

Every date on ScoreCalendar is an Eastern Time date, and the clock in the site header shows the current time in ET. To see every upcoming release in one place, open the 2026 score release calendar.

Official sources

Every fact in this guide comes from these pages, checked on the update date above.

ScoreCalendar is independent and not affiliated with any testing organization. Rules can change; the organization's own page is always the final word. Spotted something out of date? contact@scorecalendar.com