Part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog: PassProfessor’s Certified Clinical Medical Assistant program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — a practice program being built for the NHA CCMA examination, organized around the exam’s seven test-plan domains with Clinical Patient Care at its center. Enrollment is not open yet. Join the notify list and we will email you when enrollment opens.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
The Certified Clinical Medical Assistant examination from the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) administers 180 questions — 150 scored plus 30 unscored pretest questions — in 3 hours, across seven domains led by Clinical Patient Care at 84 of the 150 scored questions. PassProfessor’s CCMA Exam Prep is being built for that examination: preparation organized domain by domain against NHA’s current CCMA test plan, so your study follows the same structure the exam is scored on.
CCMA is the clinical credential — read this first if you found CMAA
Two NHA credentials sit one letter apart, and they certify different jobs. The CCMA — Certified Clinical Medical Assistant — is the clinical credential: its examination is dominated by direct patient care, and this program prepares for it. The CMAA — Certified Medical Administrative Assistant — is NHA’s administrative credential, examined on the front-office side of healthcare, and it is served by its own separate PassProfessor program. Nothing on this page describes the CMAA examination, borrows its facts, or prepares you for it. If your goal is the administrative credential, this is the wrong page; if your goal is clinical medical assisting — vitals, phlebotomy, EKG, injections, infection control, and the patient-care workflow around them — you are in the right place.
What is the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant credential?
The CCMA is NHA’s certification for medical assistants who provide direct clinical care alongside providers — in clinics, physician offices, and outpatient settings. The work the credential certifies is hands-on: rooming patients and taking vital signs, assisting with examinations and procedures, collecting specimens and performing phlebotomy, running EKGs and point-of-care tests, administering medications and injections within scope, and keeping the clinical encounter documented, safe, and moving — together with the foundational science, administrative assisting, communication, and medical law and ethics that surround clinical work.
Eligibility, as NHA publishes it, rests on a high school diploma or GED/high school equivalency (or being scheduled to earn one within the next 18 months) plus one of two routes: completing a medical assistant training or education program within the last 5 years, or supervised work experience in a medical assisting field — 1 year within the last 3 years, or 2 years within the last 5 years. NHA’s Candidate Handbook carries the full wording and governs eligibility. The credential is maintained on a two-year cycle: certification must be renewed every two years, with 10 continuing education credits required in each cycle.
What is this program being built to cover?
The seven test-plan domains, in the exam’s own proportions. NHA’s current CCMA test plan — built on its 2022 job analysis — divides the 150 scored questions across seven domains, and Clinical Patient Care alone carries 84 of them, more than half the scored examination. The program in development is organized on that same map, so practice results can be read domain by domain and a thin domain shows while there is still time to repair it.
Clinical depth where the exam puts its weight. Inside Clinical Patient Care, the test plan itemizes six subdomains — patient intake and vitals, general patient care, infection control and safety, point-of-care testing and laboratory procedures, phlebotomy, and EKG and cardiovascular testing. Preparation that treats “clinical care” as one undifferentiated block misses how the exam actually samples it; the program is being built subdomain-aware for exactly that reason.
The supporting domains at their real size. Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science, Anatomy and Physiology, Patient Care Coordination and Education, Administrative Assisting, Communication and Customer Service, and Medical Law and Ethics together carry 66 of the 150 scored questions — a minority of the exam, and far too large a minority to slight. The program covers all seven domains, weighted as NHA weights them.
The program at a glance
| CCMA program | Detail |
|---|---|
| Credential served | Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA), awarded by the National Healthcareer Association (NHA) |
| Built to | NHA’s current CCMA test plan (2022 job analysis) — seven domains, 150 scored questions |
| Domains | Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science · Anatomy and Physiology · Clinical Patient Care · Patient Care Coordination and Education · Administrative Assisting · Communication and Customer Service · Medical Law and Ethics |
| Status | In the works — program in development; enrollment opens through the notify list |
This page states no price for the program, because no price for it stands decided on the record behind this page. It also states no question count for the program’s practice bank, because the bank is in development and this page makes no claim about a finished bank.
The real exam at a glance
| Fact of record | NHA CCMA |
|---|---|
| Administered questions | 180 — 150 scored plus 30 unscored pretest |
| Time | 3 hours |
| Passing standard | Scaled score of 390 on NHA’s 200–500 scale — a scaled score, not a percentage of questions correct |
| Eligibility | High school diploma/GED (or scheduled within 18 months) plus a medical assistant training program within the last 5 years, or qualifying supervised work experience (1 year in the last 3, or 2 years in the last 5) |
| Certification validity | 2 years; renewal requires 10 continuing education credits per cycle |
Read the passing-standard row carefully, because it is the fact candidates most often misread. NHA reports CCMA results on a 200–500 scaled score, and the passing standard is a scaled score of 390. A scaled score is a conversion of your performance onto NHA’s scale — it is not 390 out of 500 questions, and it does not convert into a percentage of questions you must answer correctly. Preparation aimed at “78%” is aimed at a number that does not exist on this exam; preparation aimed at strength across all seven domains is aimed at the standard as NHA actually sets it.
How the seven domains divide the exam
| Domain (NHA CCMA test plan) | Scored questions |
|---|---|
| Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science | 15 |
| Anatomy and Physiology | 8 |
| Clinical Patient Care | 84 |
| Patient Care Coordination and Education | 12 |
| Administrative Assisting | 12 |
| Communication and Customer Service | 12 |
| Medical Law and Ethics | 7 |
| Total scored | 150 |
Clinical Patient Care (84 questions) is the examination. Its subdomains — patient intake and vitals (14), general patient care (28), infection control and safety (15), point-of-care testing and laboratory procedures (9), phlebotomy (12), and EKG and cardiovascular testing (6) — together outweigh the other six domains combined. General patient care is the single largest subdomain on the test plan. A preparation plan that does not give clinical care the majority of its hours is not a plan for this exam.
Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science (15) covers the ground the clinical work stands on: healthcare systems and settings, medical terminology, basic pharmacology, nutrition, and psychology. Anatomy and Physiology (8) covers body structures and organ systems, pathophysiology and disease processes, and microbiology — small in count, and woven through the clinical questions as well.
Patient Care Coordination and Education (12) covers the continuity work: coordinating care across providers and settings and educating patients so plans survive contact with real life. Administrative Assisting (12) covers the clinical practice’s administrative spine — scheduling, records, and the office systems a medical assistant keeps running. Note carefully: this domain’s presence inside the CCMA exam does not make the CCMA an administrative credential — the CMAA fence at the top of this page still applies in full.
Communication and Customer Service (12) covers professional communication with patients, families, and the care team. Medical Law and Ethics (7) is the smallest domain and the one with no partial credit for good intentions: consent, confidentiality, scope of practice, and the legal frame of clinical work.
How to use it
- Join the notify list today. The program is in development and enrollment is not open yet; the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the CCMA exam guide — it walks all seven domains and the scaled-score question in depth.
- Confirm your eligibility route early. Training program within five years, or the work-experience route — know which one is yours, from NHA’s own wording, before you build a study calendar around a test date.
- Allocate hours by the test plan, not by preference. Clinical Patient Care earns the majority of your time because it is the majority of your score; the six supporting domains divide most of the rest.
- Study clinical skills as sequences. Vitals, phlebotomy, EKG, and specimen handling are tested as ordered workflows with decision points — the right step, in the right order, for the stated situation.
- Finish with timed, mixed practice, read by domain. Three hours, 180 questions. Test when every domain is consistently strong — remembering that the passing standard is a scaled score of 390, not a percentage, so margin across domains is the only honest readiness measure. Where this program uses 70 in practice scoring, 70 is a PRACTICE BENCHMARK ONLY: a study target we set, not NHA’s standard.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between the CCMA and the CMAA? Different credentials for different work. The CCMA (Certified Clinical Medical Assistant) is NHA’s clinical credential — its exam is dominated by direct patient care. The CMAA (Certified Medical Administrative Assistant) is NHA’s administrative credential, examined on the front-office side of healthcare, and is served by a separate program. This page and program concern the CCMA only.
How many questions are on the CCMA exam, and how long is the sitting? 180 questions — 150 scored plus 30 unscored pretest questions — in 3 hours. The pretest questions do not count toward your result and are not identified during the sitting.
What score do I need to pass? A scaled score of 390 on NHA’s 200–500 scale, as NHA publishes it. That is a scaled standard, not a percentage: it cannot be converted into a share of questions you must answer correctly. In this program, 70 appears only as a PRACTICE BENCHMARK ONLY — a study target, never NHA’s standard.
What are the seven domains? Foundational Knowledge and Basic Science (15 scored questions), Anatomy and Physiology (8), Clinical Patient Care (84), Patient Care Coordination and Education (12), Administrative Assisting (12), Communication and Customer Service (12), and Medical Law and Ethics (7) — 150 scored questions in total, under NHA’s current test plan.
Am I eligible to take the CCMA exam? Per NHA: a high school diploma or GED/high school equivalency — or being scheduled to earn one within the next 18 months — plus either a medical assistant training or education program completed within the last 5 years, or supervised work experience in a medical assisting field (1 year within the last 3 years, or 2 years within the last 5 years). NHA’s Candidate Handbook governs; confirm your route there.
How long does the certification last? Two years. Renewal requires 10 continuing education credits in each two-year cycle, per NHA.
What does the program cost? No price for this program stands decided on the record behind this page, so this page states none. The price will appear here when enrollment opens.
What does the real exam cost? This page states no examination fee. NHA confirms its current fee when you apply; the companion exam guide discusses the fee NHA publishes, labeled as NHA’s.
How many practice questions will the program include? This page states no count, because the program and its bank are in development and are not presented as finished. The program’s stated ground is NHA’s current CCMA test plan across all seven domains.
When will enrollment open? The program is in development as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. Join the notify list on this page and we will email you when enrollment opens. We are not publishing a date we cannot keep.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider; NHA does not endorse this program, and PassProfessor is not affiliated with or sponsored by the National Healthcareer Association. CCMA and CMAA are used on this page as factual references to NHA’s credentials. This program is examination preparation only: it provides no certification and no clinical instruction or patient-care advice. The credential is awarded solely by NHA to candidates who meet its requirements. Examination details on this page are limited to the verified record described in the guide and are current as of November 2026; NHA’s official publications govern if anything here differs from them.