When calling an insurer about a claim, what should the medical assistant record?

The rep's name, date and reference number

The rep's name and the claim total

The call date and the claim number

When entering a new patient, which detail is required before the first claim can be sent?

Her primary care provider's name

Free CMAA (NHA) Practice Test 2026

200 original questions on the NHA CMAA test plan: communication, HIPAA and compliance, scheduling, check-in and insurance, billing and front office procedures. Four 50-question practice tests. Tuned for mobile. Free to start, no account needed.

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The CMAA (NHA) exam at a glance

The Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA) exam is the National Healthcareer Association's (NHA) certification exam for front office and administrative medical assistants. NHA's test plan gives it 110 scored questions plus 25 unscored pretest questions, with 2 hours 15 minutes to finish. It is scored on a 200 to 500 scale and 390 passes, which is not a fixed percentage. The test plan, based on a 2021 job analysis, has seven domains: Communication and Professionalism 21 items, Patient Encounter 21, Medical Law, Ethics, and Compliance 17, Scheduling 16, Medical Practice Administrative Procedures and Logistics 14, Billing and Revenue Cycle 11, and Foundational Knowledge 10. It is taken at a school, a PSI test center or by live remote proctoring.

Tigertest has 200 CMAA (NHA) practice questions with explanations, free to start with no account required.

Questions: 135 (110 scored, 25 pretest)
Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Passing score: 390 on a 200 to 500 scale
Largest domains: Communication and Professionalism 21, Patient Encounter 21, Law and Compliance 17
Eligibility: Training program within 5 years, or diploma plus 1 year of supervised work in the last 3 years (or 2 in the last 5)
Where: School, PSI test center or live remote proctoring
Retakes: After 30 days; three attempts, then one year between attempts
Given by: NHA

Updated November 2026 by the Tigertest team. Practice questions follow NHA's CMAA test plan (2021 job analysis), CMAA certification page and Candidate Handbook (updated October 2026), checked November 2026. Exam rules change, so confirm current details with NHA: Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA).

How It Works

Train by Domain

Four training sets cover all seven domains of the NHA test plan: foundations and communication; law, ethics and scheduling; the patient encounter; and billing and office procedures. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.

Weighted Practice Tests

Four practice tests of 50 questions, each weighted like the 110 scored questions on the real exam. Aim for 70% or better. No question appears in more than one test, and every one comes with an explanation.

Built on the NHA CMAA Test Plan

NHA publishes how many of the 110 scored questions come from each domain, and every practice test here keeps that balance, scaled to 50 questions. Communication and the patient encounter are the two largest domains. Medical administrative assistant program instructors can set Tigertest as CMAA review at tigertest.io/teach and see which topics the class misses most.

Communication and Professionalism21 items

Patient Encounter21 items

Medical Law, Ethics, and Compliance17 items

Scheduling16 items

Administrative Procedures and Logistics14 items

Billing and Revenue Cycle11 items

Foundational Knowledge10 items

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How to Pass the CMAA Exam

1. Master the patient encounter

Check-in, insurance and check-out make up 21 of the 110 scored questions. Know the intake forms, how copays, coinsurance and deductibles work, coordination of benefits, the ABN, the EOB and the code sets.

2. Practice how you talk to people

Communication and professionalism is 21 items too. Know open and closed questions, active listening, empathy, de-escalation, phone and email etiquette, and how to adapt for language, age, hearing and vision needs.

3. Learn HIPAA and the schedule

Law and compliance is 17 items and scheduling is 16. Learn what counts as PHI, when an authorization is needed, the types of consent, mandatory and incident reporting, and the scheduling methods, telehealth rules and no-show procedures.

4. Fix your misses, then retest

Tigertest tracks your accuracy by domain. Aim for 70% or better on every practice test before your exam date. After each test, drill the questions you missed and retrain the weakest domain.

CMAA Exam Frequently Asked Questions

What is the CMAA exam?

It is the certification exam for the Certified Medical Administrative Assistant credential from the National Healthcareer Association (NHA). It covers front office work: communication, scheduling, check-in and insurance, billing, health records and compliance. You can sit for it after a medical administrative assistant training program within the last five years, or with a high school diploma and supervised work in the field: one year within the last three years, or two years within the last five.

How many questions are on the CMAA exam?

NHA's test plan lists 110 scored questions and 25 unscored pretest questions, with 2 hours and 15 minutes to finish. You cannot tell which questions are pretest items. The exam is taken on a computer at your school, at a PSI test center or by live remote proctoring.

What score do you need to pass the CMAA exam?

NHA reports a scaled score from 200 to 500, and 390 or higher passes. The scale weights questions by difficulty, so 390 is not a fixed percentage, and the 70 percent line on these practice tests is a readiness target. After a failed attempt you wait 30 days to retake; NHA allows three attempts with 30 days between them, then a year between attempts.

What is on the CMAA exam?

The test plan has seven domains: Communication and Professionalism 21 questions, Patient Encounter 21, Medical Law, Ethics, and Compliance 17, Scheduling 16, Medical Practice Administrative Procedures and Logistics 14, Billing and Revenue Cycle 11, and Foundational Knowledge 10. Each practice test here keeps that balance.

Are these the real CMAA exam questions?

No. Every question is original, written by Tigertest from NHA's published test plan and the laws it names, such as HIPAA and OSHA rules, so it covers the same knowledge without copying the exam. Tigertest is not affiliated with the National Healthcareer Association.

I teach a medical administrative assistant program. Can my students use Tigertest?

Yes, for free. Make a class at tigertest.io/teach, post one link, and students join with just their name. You see who practiced, their test scores and the topics your class misses most.

CMAA (NHA) sample questions and answers

6 of the 200 practice questions, one from each topic, with the answer explained.

1. Under CMS rules, what must support every service billed to Medicare?
- A.The front desk's memory
- B.Notes in the medical record
- C.The patient's verbal request
- D.A note on the schedule
Answer: B. If a service is not documented in the record, Medicare treats it as not provided, and payment can be recovered.
2. When calling an insurer about a claim, what should the medical assistant record?
- A.The rep's name and the claim total
- B.The call date and the claim number
- C.Only the outcome of the call
- D.The rep's name, date and reference number
Answer: D. Documenting who was spoken to, when, and the call reference number supports any later follow-up or appeal.
3. When entering a new patient, which detail is required before the first claim can be sent?
- A.The policyholder's name and ID
- B.Her emergency contact's phone
- C.Her preferred pharmacy
- D.Her primary care provider's name
Answer: A. A claim needs the insured person's name, member ID and relationship to the patient, so these are captured at registration.
4. A patient injured the wrist in a fall. Compared with the elbow, where is the wrist?
- A.Medial
- B.Posterior
- C.Distal
- D.Proximal
Answer: C. On a limb, distal means farther from the trunk, so the wrist is distal to the elbow. Proximal means closer to the trunk.
5. Who owns the physical chart or the electronic record a practice keeps?
- A.The insurer
- B.The state health board
- C.The practice
- D.The patient
Answer: C. The practice owns the record itself; the patient has the right to access and copy the information in it.
6. The EHR goes down during clinic hours. What should staff use?
- A.The office's downtime forms
- B.Sticky notes to enter later
- C.Yesterday's printed schedule
- D.A spreadsheet on a home laptop
Answer: A. Downtime procedures use paper forms and printed reports so care continues, and the data is entered once the system is back.

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