Just a week ago, Prometric announced that 90% of its global testing centers were open and ready to welcome candidates of all kinds. The news comes just a few short months after they closed down every location in the U.S. and Canada and delayed reopening several times due to changing conditions surrounding everyone’s favorite global pandemic.
Although the initial Rona panic is behind us, obviously there are still some issues to work out. Candidates across multiple CPA exam jurisdictions continue to report scheduling issues and cancellations of existing exam appointments. It’s inconvenient but shouldn’t be surprising given the “500 clients in the academic, professional, government, corporate and information technology markets” Prometric serves exams for and the fact that alllllllll these tests were delayed this past spring.
With that in mind, and inspired by a Reddit post I saw earlier in which a candidate was asking if they can sit for the exam in a state other than the one they applied to, I thought it would be a good time to remind y’all that yes, you can sit in any jurisdiction. This might come in handy should you be one of the lucky many experiencing difficulties in scheduling your desired testing location, date, or both.
Don’t believe me? Let’s ask NASBA. From the CPA Exam FAQ:
May I take the examination outside of my jurisdiction?
Yes. You may schedule your examination at any Prometric site in any of the 54 jurisdictions. You do not have to sit in the same state where you applied.
Let’s be clear: sitting for the exam in a jurisdiction other than the one you applied to doesn’t have anything to do with reciprocity or your license. But since the exam is uniform — meaning candidates share the same bank of questions regardless of jurisdiction — you have some flexibility in scheduling should the testing center near you or even every testing center in your state be out of appointments.
Now might be a good time to remind you to check the Prometric Site Openings page to see if your desired testing center — whether it’s across the street or two states over — is open and operating at full capacity or not. Just in case.
