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ICP Policies

Products + Services / Individual Certification Programs (ICP) / Policies

Applications & Exams

  1. Each new application is valid for a period of 12 months from the date of the first exam date requested by the applicant. After the 12-month period the application will expire, regardless of the number of exams scheduled or taken. If the applicant does not obtain a certification within this period of time and still wishes to obtain the certification, they must start the application process again, including re-submission of a full fee and a new application.
  2. Exam Appointments:
  3. Candidates will be required to comply with all testing center rules and regulations, including those of API's exam administration vendor, Prometric, which can be found here. Any violation of these rules is prohibited. If API learns, either independently or through Prometric, that any such prohibited activity has occurred, or that a candidate has refused to comply with any rules or regulations of the testing center, API reserves the right to cancel said candidate's exam results and deny certification. 
  4. Final exam results are emailed from Prometric within 24 hours of testing.
  5. API will not disclose or return the contents of a failed exam to any applicant.
  6. Candidates who pass their exams and have no deficiencies in their application, will be certified. Candidates will not be certified until all deficiencies are cleared, even if a passing score is received on the exam.
  7. As of June 2025, ICP issues all certifications in a digital format. 
    • Upon passing your examination and becoming certified, you will receive an email containing a link to instantly access your digital certificate and share your achievement with your professional network. (You may also access your certificate at any time by logging into your ICP Portal and selecting the "View Certificate" option located next to your certificate.) 
    • If you would like a hard copy of your certificate, you may request one through your ICP Portal by clicking the "Order Hard Copy" link next to your certificate. 
    • API mails certificates to the preferred mailing address provided by applicants on their ICP applications. API is not responsible for mishandled or undelivered mail. 
  8. The term of certification is three years.

API Payment Policy

  1. Applications will not be processed until payment is received and applied.
  2. All payments need to be made in United States currency and checks drawn from a U.S. bank. Applicants are responsible for all taxes, banking fees, and other service charges, including all applicable withholding taxes.
  3. Mail checks to: API, P.O. Box 1425, Merrifield, VA 22116-1425 USA
  4. When paying by electronic/wire transfer:
    • Applicants are responsible for all electronic transfer and banking fees.
    • Add a $50.00 USD handling fee for electronic payments not drawn on a U.S. bank.
    • Reference the ICP invoice number found in your online application.
    • Please refer to your invoice for banking details.

API Refund Policy

Refund requests must be submitted to API within three months from the date payment was received by API and prior to the exam window, as set forth below. In order to submit a refund request, you must fill out the form below:

API has a contract with the exam applicant. Therefore, API will only honor refund requests that come directly from the applicant, regardless of whether payment was made by a third party. Requests from said third parties will not be honored. 

Refunds that have not been issued due to customers not responding to API's request for information within one (1) calendar year from the original payment date will be canceled and API will no longer be obligated to return the funds. 

Refunds will be issued under these circumstances:

  1. API will refund the initial New Application fee for requests made before the application deadline, minus $100 for processing.
  2. API will refund 50% of the initial New Application fee for requests made after the application deadline and before the start of the testing window.
  3. API will refund 100% of a Reschedule Application fee when an applicant submitted a reschedule request then subsequently passed the examination from a previous application.

Refunds will not be issued under these circumstances:

  1. if applicant is unqualified for a certification for which he or she has applied, or has provided any inaccurate or false information in an application or renewal document.
  2. if request is made three months or more after the initial payment date.
  3. if request is made after the applicant has already scheduled an exam date and location with Prometric.
  4. if applicant does not show up for a scheduled exam.
  5. if applicant has already taken an exam.

Recertification application fees are nonrefundable. 

Reschedule application fees are nonrefundable.

Late application fees are nonrefundable.

Complaints

ICP appreciates all customer feedback, including complaints. We consider complaints as a way to improve our processes. Complaints against ICP may be transmitted to Inspector@api.org, or to any ICP employee in writing. ICP personnel will attempt to resolve the issue upon receipt. If the complaint requires further investigation, ICP will escalate appropriately.

Complaints regarding the conditions or environment of test locations or technical issues experienced while testing must be submitted to API in writing no later than seven business days after the date of exam. Please email ICPExamCoordinator@api.org and API will investigate the complaint to determine if retesting is appropriate. However, exam scores will not be adjusted based upon complaints. 

General customer inquiries related to application processing in regard to application submission, processing time, application status, deficiencies, and actions needed are handled by ICP Program Staff and should be emailed to Inspector@api.org. 

Appeals

Individuals who want to contest a decision on their application preventing them from taking the exam or becoming certified or who decide to contest their final exam results, should follow the appeals process below.

All appeals should be sent to ICPAppeals@api.org to be reviewed and investigated as appropriate by ICP Staff. 

  • Only exam appeals that contest the structure and overall subject matter of the exam should be sent.  

All appeals must be submitted within 30 days of the application decision or 7 days after exam date and must include all of the following:

  • Candidate name
  • API ID
  • Application/exam being appealed
  • Specific reason why the candidate believes the decision was in error, with evidence to support the candidate's claim

Copyright Policy & How to Purchase API Publications

  1. Papers, publications and materials in any form are not allowed into computer testing centers. In cases where applicable codes and standards are allowed into exam rooms, such as at special paper-based exams, API’s Document Policy will be strictly enforced, and unauthorized materials will not be permitted. API will conduct random audits, and illegal copies will be confiscated prior to the exam.
  2. Purchasing Authorized API Publications:
    • Refer to your ICP program’s effectivity sheet for a list of standards and codes that you will need to study for your exam. Copies of these publications can be obtained from the API Publications Store.
    • API has an agreement with IHS and Techstreet which allows them to distribute API standards via electronic subscriptions. Companies that have an API subscription may print the relevant ICP documents for their employees only. View the key provisions of the restrictions on printing: API Document Policy

For more information, contact: apipubs@api.org

If you have difficulties logging into your API account, or a problem submitting an application for certification, please contact the ICP Help Desk at or call 1-877-562-5187.

The ICP Portal will only allow you to add a business email address. Addresses from public domains, such as Gmail, Yahoo, etc. are not accepted.

Before submitting an application, please read the qualification requirements for the selected program. The necessary minimum experience MUST be documented on the application. Applications that do not meet the minimum requirements or do not contain all the necessary information will be marked as unqualified. Candidates will then need to submit a new application and pay a full application fee again.

No, ICP does not require candidates to take a training class to prepare for exams. It is the candidate’s decision whether to attend training before an ICP exam. API does not endorse test preparation classes, courses or companies. Classes on specific API standards are periodically offered through API-U Training and may be useful to the candidate. Other classes that are part of a certification requirement, such as the Auditor Certifications, are routinely offered through API-U.

Questions on ICP exams are derived from the publications listed in each program's Publications Effectivity Sheet. Additional information and specific topics are included in the program’s Body of Knowledge. These documents, along with other pertinent reference materials, are found on the Exam Info tab for each ICP Certification.

API may allow candidates to take an exam while waiting on employment verifications, or copies of a diploma/transcripts. In these instances, an email notification will be sent from API stating the reason(s) that your application is deficient. However, API will not complete your certification or certification renewal until all deficiencies have been cleared.

There are more than 500 computer testing centers worldwide from which to choose. When selecting a testing location on the Prometric website, it is always best to search by city, not by country. Prometric’s search engine defaults to a 200-mile radius. Try expanding your search as far out as 400 miles, or search using a different city name. If you still cannot locate a testing center, please contact ICPExamCoordinator@api.org.

All Prometric computer testing centers operate on the first-come-first-served basis. Therefore, API cannot promise that you will be able to obtain a seat at your preferred location. Schedule your exam immediately upon receiving your Exam Authorization Notice email. If seats are not available, please try a different date, or another nearby location. If you still cannot find a seat, please contact the ICP Exam Coordinator.

API utilizes the scaled score method for all exams. Scaled scores are obtained by statically adjusting and converting the total number of correct answers onto a common scale to account for differences in difficulty across different test forms. Using scaled scores enables test results to be reported consistently from one test form to another.

The passing scaled score for these exams will differ with each exam period. Each exam has different questions in it, and consequently, different exams will vary in the level and range of difficulty. API uses an industry-standard statistical process called equating to adjust the passing scaled score according to the relative difficulty of the exam form. Thus, the passing scaled score used for each exam always represents the minimum knowledge required and the absolute knowledge standard is held constant. Passing the exam is not affected by any other candidate's performance.

ICP offers final score results following all computer-based exams. Candidates will receive final score reports via email from Prometric within 24 hours of testing.

For the majority of exams, a set number of questions are designated as pretest. Pretest questions are not scored and will not affect the final score of your exam. You can learn more about Pretest Questions here. For any additional details about scoring, please visit our Exam Scoring section.

Exam results will be available within 24 hours of testing. Results are emailed directly from Prometric to the email address that candidates provided when scheduling an exam on Prometric's website.

The certification process typically takes 3 business days after exam results are released, at which time a paper certificate and wallet card will be mailed to the "Preferred" address in your API account profile. If you have questions, please contact ICP Program Support at 202-682-8064, or by email at Inspector@api.org.

If you pass the exam and your application is showing "Scheduled-Deficient", API will not certify you until all deficiencies are cleared. Please log into your account in the ICP Portal and select the "Notifications" tab across the top of your account. Review your Deficiency Letter and submit the necessary information so that your certification can be completed.

Candidates looking to recertify their API 510, 570, 653, 936, or 1169 certifications are required to take an online, open-book quiz every six years to renew their certification. To take the recertification quiz, or to determine if a quiz is needed for a current certification, log into your account in the ICP Portal. If a web quiz is due, there will be an alert at the top of your certification page with a link that will take you to the quiz. (If you do not see the quiz alert, click "Return to myAPI" at the top right of the webpage, which will take you to the myAPI Dashboard. Then, click the "ICP Quiz" tile on the myAPI Dashboard.) NOTE: If prompted to log in to take the quiz, the login credentials are the same as those for the ICP Portal.

Go to Certifications for additional recertification information for your program, including the Publications Effectivity Sheets for web quizzes.

You can print a copy of the receipt from any of your applications by going to the Applications tab on your API account, and clicking on the ID link located on the left side of the page. On the Application Details screen, click on the ICP number located under “Invoice/Payment Details.”

Accreditation from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) indicates that the certifications meet the same rigorous requirements established under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17024, ensuring that these ICP exams have been developed to the highest standard for openness and integrity. For more information about the significance of this process, follow this link.

To request a name change, candidates must send a copy of a government-issued photo ID, in English, of their new legal name to Inspector@api.org. If making the request due to a legal name change, the candidate must send in the old Government ID with their original legal name, their new Government ID, and the official name change documentation. ICP staff will review the information for final approval of the name change.