Overview of the CPSA Exam

BGC conducts a Job Task Analysis (JTA) study, also known as the Role Delineation Study (RDS) or Practice Audit, and prepares supporting documentation and reports consistent with ISO/ANSI17024, NCCA, and CESB accreditation standards.

A panel of professionals is selected and convened who must represent a variety of practice settings, geographic regions, educational levels, gender, ethnicity, and years of experience. A BGC board member is also included on the panel to assist in documenting the credibility of the process for the BGC board.

Panel members must identify the domains, tasks, knowledge, and skills essential to performing the work of the practitioner. A large sample of professionals who were not involved in the JTA meetings is asked to review and validate the information and to ensure that the certification exam reflects the essential knowledge necessary for competent practice as a professional. The results are analyzed from the context to become the basis of the final Examination Blueprint, the document, which lists the domains and elements for the credential. The subject matter experts also determine eligibility requirements and recertification requirements for the credential. As an additional validation step, participants can compare and contrast their work against documents prepared by other groups (if available), which identify tasks and supporting knowledge and skills in practice.

In order to ensure that credentialed practitioners protect the public through their work, BGC conducts a JTA every five to seven years so that eligibility, domains, tasks, knowledge, skills, examination, recertification, and ethical requirements reflect current, real-world practice.

Examination Purpose and Format

The CPSA examination is a two-part exam. You may schedule to take both exams on the same day or on different days.

• Part 1 is designed to test your general knowledge of auditing practice. The exam contains 131 multiple-choice questions and takes two hours to complete.
• Part 2 is designed to test your specialty knowledge of process safety. The exam contains 200 multiple-choice and true/false questions and takes three hours to complete.

You may go back and review questions at any time during the exam. There is a short tutorial prior to the examination and a short survey following the exam. Instructions for the exam also explain how you can submit comments about the content of specific questions during the exam. BGC staff will review your comments; however, for exam security reasons, staff will not be able to discuss your comments with you.

Individuals holding the Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) or Certified Public Accountant (CPA) are eligible to be exempt from taking the Part 1 Exam. In order to claim an exam exemption, the applicant must:

• complete an exemption form
• provide supporting documentation
• pay the non-refundable exemption fee for each exam

BGC staff must confirm the validity of your documentation before an exemption will be granted.

Examination Scoring

The CPSA exam is in two parts. Your passing score is based on the total number of questions that you answer correctly over the entire examination. In order to pass the exam, you must answer 70% or more of the total exam items correctly. It is to your advantage to answer all questions.

• All questions have the same point value.
• There is no penalty for incorrect answers (such as “number correct minus a percentage of the number of incorrect answers”).
• A “passing” score is not required in each of the individual parts or in subareas.

Examinees may request a review of their exam score by filling out the Review of the Exam Score Request Form, which will be forwarded to our testing vendor to conduct a score verification. The examinee should consider that, given the quality control procedures that are in place, it is highly unlikely that the score will change.

Notification of Examination Results

Examinees will receive their official results in writing approximately four to six weeks after completing all parts of the examination. If you fail your examination, we will inform you of your overall score.

All examinees will receive a performance report indicating their scores in the individual areas.

Confidentiality

As noted in the BGC Privacy Policy, examination reports, scores, and failures are not released outside of BGC without your authorization. Studies and reports concerning candidates will contain no information identifiable with any candidate unless authorized by the candidate. The names of those who pass the examination will be listed on the BGC website and entered in the web rosters.

Duplicate Score Report

Requests for a duplicate score report must be made in writing to PSI within one year of the examination date. The request must include the candidate’s name, mailing address, telephone number, date of examination, and examination taken. Submit this information along with a fee of $25.00 payable to PSI Services Inc., by cashier’s check or money order. Duplicate score reports will be processed and mailed within approximately five business days following receipt of the request.

Re-Examination

If you are not successful in your examination attempt, you must wait 120 days before you may retake the examination.