ATA Certification Exam Policy
Candidates are informed only of whether they have passed or failed the exam. Exams are not returned and are the property of the ATA Certification Committee, which will not discuss them with anyone.
Each exam is evaluated according to ATA certification standards by two or more graders under the auspices of the Certification Committee. Given the nature of translation and of translation quality assessment, a candidate may disagree with certain grading decisions. In electing to sit for this exam, the candidate agrees to accept the outcome of the grading procedure, including the review procedure, if any.
Using unauthorized online resources may result in forfeit of your exam registration fee, restrictions on future certification eligibility, and ATA ethics sanctioning. The list of approved online resources can be found at: https://www.atanet.org/certification/prepare-to-take-the-ata-certification-exam/restrictions-and-requirements/resources/.
Candidates are not to discuss or reveal the contents of the examination. A breach of confidentiality may be grounds for loss of Certification.
If a candidate does not return all original exam passages at the end of the exam sitting, the exam will not be graded. The candidate will forfeit the exam fee and will not be eligible to sit for another exam until the following exam year.
A candidate who fails the exam may apply for Certification review within two months from the date of notice of exam results. Reviews are conducted after the exam year has ended. If the grade of fail is upheld, the candidate will receive a graded copy or partial copy of the examination. An appeal process is in place.
Upon passage of the Certification exam, ATA members will automatically be upgraded to voting membership. Student members must upgrade to full membership status in order to become Active or Corresponding members.
In order to claim the ATA Certification credential, translators must remain ATA members in good standing and fulfill certain continuing education requirements.
In-Person Exam Information
All in-person exams have a maximum capacity and admission is based on the order in which registrations are received at ATA Headquarters.
Paper copies of the exam will be available at all in-person exam sittings, if needed.
If problems occur during an in-person exam, ATA will only reimburse the exam fee. ATA does not reimburse travel or other expenses accrued if traveling to an in-person exam. You must report problems regarding an in-person exam to ATA 72 hours after taking the exam (before the exam is sent for grading). Once graded, exam fees can not be reimbursed.
Candidates can take only one exam per sitting.
Online Exam Information
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with detailed information including exam guidelines which you must review before the exam.
You must schedule your online exam within 30 days of registering with ATA.
If problems occur during an online exam, please end the exam as soon as possible for a refund and contact ATA at certification@atanet.org for information on rescheduling. Please note, depending on how long you were in the exam and where you were, you may need to take a rescheduled exam in-person so you can get new exam passages.Candidates can take only one exam per sitting.