01
Before you book
Sittings are capped per time slot, so book early if you need a particular day. You need a paid exam seat before a slot can be held; buying the seat and booking the time are two separate steps, and neither expires for a year.
·Fees. CIGP $349, CIIS $449, CISP $599, CIAMP $449, and the CIGA and CAISA architect credentials $549 each. Professional members pay $100 less on every exam, and a retake is $149 ($99 for members). Buying an exam together with your first year of membership costs the same as the exam alone.
·One attempt per seat. A seat covers a single sitting. If you do not pass, a retake is available at a reduced fee.
·Practice first. The free practice exam uses the same question style and gives explanations. It is not a predictor, but a low score there is a good reason to keep studying.
·Check prerequisites. Specialty credentials assume the relevant core credential. We do not block you, but the exam is written on that assumption.
02
Equipment and connection
The exam runs in your browser and is monitored throughout. A phone or tablet cannot meet the requirements — screen sharing is unavailable on mobile browsers, so you must use a laptop or desktop.
✓A laptop or desktop running Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari, kept up to date.
✓A working webcam and microphone, not covered, and pointed at your face.
✓A stable internet connection. Frames upload continuously; a brief drop is tolerated, a long one ends the sitting.
✗No second monitor. Disconnect extra displays before you start — an extended desktop is detected and flagged.
✗No virtual machines or remote-control software, and no virtual camera drivers.
Test your camera on the check-in screen at least a day before your sitting. Camera permission problems are the single most common reason candidates miss a slot.
03
Your room
You must sit the exam alone in a private space where you will not be interrupted. Shared offices, cafés, libraries and moving vehicles are not acceptable, however quiet they seem.
✓Clear desk. Nothing on it but your computer, ID, and a glass of water.
✓Lit from the front. A window behind you silhouettes your face and triggers "camera blocked" warnings.
✗No other people. A second face on camera is the most heavily weighted flag we record, even briefly.
✗No notes, books, phones, headphones or smart watches within reach.
✗No talking. Reading aloud, dictating, or someone speaking nearby is detected as speech in the room.
04
Identity check
At check-in the system captures two photographs: your face, and a photo ID held up to the camera. Both are stored with your sitting and reviewed if anything is flagged. The name on your ID must match the name that will appear on your credential.
·Acceptable ID: passport, national ID card, driving licence, or employer photo ID.
·Hold it steady and close. The name and photo must be readable. You may cover a document number if you wish.
·Retake as often as you need. Nothing is uploaded until you press Begin.
05
What is monitored
From the moment you press Begin until you submit, the system records your webcam, your microphone level, your shared screen, and your interaction with the exam window. A member of our team may also watch the sitting live.
·Webcam frames are captured every few seconds and analysed for whether you are present, alone, and facing the screen.
·Your whole screen must be shared. Sharing a single window, or stopping the share, is recorded.
·Window activity: leaving full screen, switching tabs or applications, resizing, and attempts to copy, paste, right-click or open developer tools.
·Room audio level only — we measure whether speech is occurring, and store no audio recording.
·Where you are looking. Sustained downward gaze is recorded, because a phone or second device in your lap is the most common form of cheating and screen sharing cannot see it.
·A face reference from check-in is compared with the live frames, so a different person sitting down part-way through is detected.
·Whether monitoring keeps reporting. If the images stop arriving, that gap is itself recorded — blocking the monitoring is treated more seriously than anything it would have seen.
06
The integrity score
Every sitting starts at 100. Each signal above deducts points, weighted by how serious it is and capped so a single recurring nuisance cannot sink an otherwise honest sitting. You can see your score live in the sidebar during the exam.
·90–100 — clean. Your result is released automatically and your credential issued.
·70–89 — noted. Your result stands, and the recording is kept for spot-checking.
·Below 70 — held. Your exam is graded but the result is withheld until a reviewer has watched the recording. Expect a decision within two business days.
·Below 35 — ended. The sitting stops automatically and is reviewed as a suspected breach.
Warnings appear on screen as they happen. Treat them as help, not as an accusation: stepping back into frame or reopening full screen immediately stops further deductions.
07
Checks made after you submit
Some checks only make sense once the exam is finished. They run on our servers, they apply to every sitting equally, and they are what protects the value of your credential against people who cheat and pass.
·Recording completeness. We compare the images received against the length of your sitting. Long gaps are flagged.
·Answer pace. How long you spent on each question. An exam answered in a few seconds per question suggests a leaked answer key rather than knowledge.
·Answer patterns. Your exam is compared with other recent sittings for the same credential. Matching the same wrong answers as another candidate is a strong signal of shared material.
·Human judgement last. None of these decide anything on their own. They put a sitting in front of a reviewer, who looks at the recording before any decision is made.
08
Prohibited conduct
The following are breaches of the exam policy. Where a breach is established the sitting is invalidated, and in serious or repeated cases we may withdraw a credential and decline future registrations.
✗Help from another person, in the room, on a call, or through messaging.
✗Any reference material not provided inside the exam, including notes, sites, and AI assistants.
✗Recording, photographing, or reproducing exam content in any form, including from memory afterwards.
✗Sitting on behalf of somebody else, or letting somebody sit on your behalf.
✗Tampering with the proctoring, including a covered camera, a virtual camera, or blocking uploads.
09
During the exam
The exam is timed, questions are shuffled for every candidate, and answers are graded on our servers — never in your browser. You can move between questions freely and change answers until you submit.
·The clock does not pause. Take a short break only if you must, and stay in frame; the timer keeps running.
·Unanswered questions are marked incorrect, so answer everything — there is no penalty for a wrong guess.
·If your connection drops, reopen the exam page. Your sitting resumes rather than restarting, and does not consume a second attempt.
·When time runs out the exam is submitted for you exactly as it stands.
10
Rescheduling, no-shows and retakes
Plans change and connections fail. The policy is deliberately forgiving about time and strict about integrity.
·Reschedule free of charge up to 24 hours before your slot, twice per booking, from your exam page.
·A missed window does not cost your seat. The booking is marked as missed and you simply book another time.
·You may start up to 20 minutes late, but not earlier than five minutes before your slot.
·Retakes are available at a reduced fee once a result is final. If we invalidate a sitting for reasons outside your control, the retake is free.
11
Your recording and your data
Proctoring media exists to protect the value of the credential, and nothing more. It is never used for marketing, never sold, and never published.
·Stored privately. Images are held outside the public web root and can only be opened by an authenticated administrator.
·Thinned, then deleted. A few days after your sitting most webcam and screen frames are removed; everything is deleted within 45 days.
·You may request a copy of your own sitting record, or ask us to explain a flag, by contacting the exam team.
·Consent is explicit. Nothing is captured before you tick the consent box at check-in — and without it, the exam cannot start.
12
Results and appeals
Scores are shown immediately, with your integrity score and any flags. A clean pass issues your credential straight away; a held sitting waits for a reviewer.
·Reviewers see the full record: your identity photos, the event timeline, and the frames around each flag.
·Three outcomes: the result is released, the sitting is voided with a free retake, or the sitting is invalidated. You are emailed the decision and the reason.
·To appeal, reply to that email within 14 days quoting your sitting reference. A second reviewer who was not involved in the first decision looks again.
Ready when you are
Book a start time, run the room check, and sit the exam. Your credential is issued to your profile the moment you pass a clean sitting.
These rules form part of our terms of use and are read alongside our privacy notice. We may update them; the version in force is the one published here on the day you sit. Last reviewed July 2026.