Peninsula College’s most recent cohort of Medical Assisting Program graduates scored in the top 1 percent in the country on the Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) exam, through the American Association of Medical Assistants.

The CMA test is considered the national gold standard in medical assisting exams, PC officials said last week. Candidates must have completed an accredited program in order to be eligible to sit for this challenging exam.

Candidates must score a minimum of 430 to pass the exam, and a minimum of 620 in order to be placed in the top 99th percentile. Of the more than 10,500 candidates nation-wide who sat for the exam in 2018 only 60 percent passed, with an average score of 475.

Peninsula College’s Medical Assisting Program students had a 100 percent pass rate and an average score of 648, putting their graduates in the top 1 percent of Certified Medical Assistants in the United States in 2018.

PC Medical Assisting students who completed the exam in 2018 include Corenna Klimp. She received the highest score to date in the Program’s history, with a final score of 751.

For more information, contact Rachel Pairsh at 360-417-6414 or rpairsh@pencol.edu.