There are three definite leads to help you understand what type of questions to expect during examination. These are:
- API 577 and it’s cross references (ASME V & ASME IX),
- Body of Knowledge or what you are expected to know
- Exam Score Report (showing the areas where you are scored against and the number of questions from each topic).
API 577 Body of Knowledge
API 577 exam tests the individual’s knowledge and expertise in the field of welding and metallurgy.
You shall be able to:
- Know about terms, definitions, vocabulary
- Know about popular welding process, advantage and disadvantage
- Know about Welding Inspection, common issues encountered and how to handle them.
- Know about WPS/PQR and can verify a WPS against the supporting PQR using ASME IX.
- Can verify a Welder Qualification against a WPS and welding position requirement using ASME IX.
- Know about (NDE) Non-Destructive Examination (Concept, application, examiner qualification, NDE procedure, report, and equipment); The NDT methods are UT, RT, MT/ACFM, PT, VT and Hardness testing. Pressure and leak testing.
- Have basic knowledge of Metallurgy; Physical & Mech. Properties of metals, PWHT, Mill Test Report, and Weldability of materials.
- Know about common welding defects; welding repair while in service (Hot tapping) and caustic service,
- And finally have sufficient safety awareness in welding and NDE environment.
How the API 577 exam questions developed?
Periodically a question writing session is conducted. Subject Matter Experts (SME’s), or individuals who specialize in pressure vessels, write questions from specific sections of the Code. Each question is then checked by three other SME’s.
This validation exercise answers two questions;
- Is the question written clearly?
- Does the question cover knowledge that is important to a vessel inspector?
These questions then go into a question data-bank as non scored exam questions.
Presently there are over 500 questions in the data-bank and are grouped by topics. For each examination, there are 80 questions on the exam pulled in specified proportion from various categories. Only 70 Questions are scored. The remaining 10 are pre-test questions and not marked towards your score, meaning these pre-test questions do not affect your score whether you have answered them correctly or incorrectly. API does not tell you which ones these questions are.
API needs to ensure that these questions are not significantly challenged by the candidates and also has been answered by a reasonable number of people before adding them to their question bank as scored questions.
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| Scoring area
| Percentage of Questions |
| API 577 | 70% |
| ASME V | 15% |
| ASME IX | 15% |
Area of examination scores
You are scored for your performance in the following areas during the examination:
- Metallurgy
- Welding Process, Procedure and Qualifications
- Definitions, Acronyms and Symbols
- Welding Inspection and NDE Examination
- Refinery and Petrochemical Plant Welding Issues
- Welding Materials
No Negative Marking
The pass mark is roughly 70% for all the API examinations. No negative marking is applied. Therefore, make sure that you have answered all the questions. At the end, click the ‘’review all’’ button and peruse through the list to ensure that you have not skipped any question. You can also check ‘’review incomplete questions’’ to ensure there is nothing on the list, that is, no question left unanswered.
