The certification examination is administered by an independent test organization. Information on how to schedule an examination is sent to an applicant after the application package has been received and reviewed by the INCOSE Certification Program Office to confirm that the education and experience requirements have been met.

Once your application has been approved, you will then have the opportunity to take the exam at any one of the 6000 Prometric locations in nearly 100 countries. You will make an appointment to take the exam at a time convenient to you. There are no prescheduled group examinations at events such as the International Symposium or International Workshop. For more information on testing locations, please visit www.prometric.com.

Prometrics authorizes international testing centers to offer exams as local applicants are identified. To see if a testing center near you has already been already been authorized to administer the CSEP exam, visit: http://www.prometric.com/ICSE. To request that a new testing site be activated, please contact the Certification Office.

The examination is two hours long. It consists of 120 multiple-choice questions. Typically, each question will have about five possible answers of which three are correct. All correct answers to a question must be selected to receive credit for a successful response; no credit is given for a partially correct answer to a question.

The certification examination is based on INCOSE’s Systems Engineering Handbook, version 2A. The certification examination will continue to be based on this version of the handbook throughout 2006 and thereafter until a change announcement is made by the Certification Office as to when the use of a new reference for the examination will become effective. The Certification Office will give a one-year advance notice of a change in the reference used for the examination. The Systems Engineering Handbook, version 2A, is available to INCOSE members for free download from the product area of INCOSE Connect. Hardcopies may be purchased from the INCOSE store.