Exam Day
Exam Day
Make sure you reach the Prometric test center at least half an hour before the scheduled time.
If you reach the test center 15 minutes after the exam, Prometric may refuse to admit you.
Prior to letting you in to sit for the exam; they shall:
check your photographic government ID (such as valid Passport or Driving License),
ask you to sign in;
check you with a metal detector;
ask you to turn up your sleeves and tip of your trousers;
check your pockets;
look at your reading glasses to ensure it does not have any camera,
ask you a security question (Date Of Birth, email address) and
take your picture and finger print.
You cannot carry anything with you except a bottle of water.
No ornaments are allowed except a wedding ring.
They shall supply you with a couple of green color A4 size papers and a pencil for taking notes plus a simple calculator.
You are required to have a Valid government issued photo identity card such as a passport or driving license and keep it with yourself during the examination.
If you don’t produce a government photo ID card at the Prometric test center, you shall be refused entry and it is treated as a ‘’no show up’’ which is as good as failing the exam.
Make sure your government issued photo ID (driving license, passport) is VALID.
If your ID is expired, you shall be refused entry.
During API 653 exam, one of our candidates had an expired driving license and was refused entry although he returned half an hour later with a valid passport but by that time it was too late, Prometric said.
As a result, he had to pay the rescheduling fee (USD 350 $) and appear for the exam 6 months later. It is recommended to check your photo ID to ensure it is valid and preferably carry two valid government issued photo ID as plan B.
It is simply not worth it to be refused for an ID issue after all the time, effort and money you have put in.
Prior to the examination, you shall be given the key to a locker to keep your belongings.
You are not allowed to use the locker until you have completed the exam.
Immediately, upon completion of the exam, you shall receive an email notifying you whether you have passed or failed.
Your preliminary exam result may be a ’’ preliminary pass’’ which is normally a pass; a ‘’marginal result’’ (too close to call; may be a pass if you are lucky) and a ’’preliminary fail’’ which is normally a fail.
You shall receive your confirmed score within 1 day and can download your certificate from API portal through your account within 3 days.
It takes 2 weeks after receipt of confirmed score to receive the hard copy of the certification and the wallet card by post, however, you can print off the wallet card and certification from you API account.
The pass mark is approximately 70% (or minimum 400 on a scale of maximum 500) for all the API examinations.
No negative marking is applied, therefore, answer 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 challenge any question you may wish, by writing on its comment sheet but please note that the clock keeps running so you shall be spending the exam allocated time to fill in the comment sheet.
After ID verification, security check and letting you into the examination room, you will first go through the tutorial that may last for maximum 10 minutes or earlier if you press the ‘‘end session button’’.
You can see the remaining time at the right-hand corner of the computer screen.
Remember, if during the examination, you wish to leave the examination room for say, using the toilet, you need to take your ID with you, report to the security outside the examination room and sign out.
On return, you shall go through the same initial security check and sign in. During all this time, the clock is running.
Sitting for an exam can be stressful, so, try to have enough sleep the night before.
Before the exam day, just peruse through the important parts of the reference documents or look at the figures and charts for a couple of hour maximum (use our flash cards).
Let your brain rest. You need to be alert and full of energy to endure the exam.
Remember your exam is not concluded until your time is up or when you press the ‘End exam’ button which asks for confirmation to ensure that you have not pressed it accidentally.