Certification Exam

To qualify for discounted fees, the minimum number of collectors for the tier must be submitted at one time. Once a tier has been reached, the fee remains in effect for the current certification year. For example, a company that has submitted 22 registrations and hires a new employee one month later may register the single employee at the 16-25 tier rate.

Certification Examination

DATIA offers the Certification examination online, you can sign up and get a password at datia-exams.org. All exams are conducted online rather than in person to accommodate the needs of certification candidates.

All questions and answers on the certification exam are derived from the standards taught in the DATIA CPCT Training Course and contained in the CPCT and Collector manuals.

To register for an examination, DATIA must receive the registration form either online or via fax. DATIA reviews the application and processes it for online. Please note: To register for the exam, you will need the name and contact information of the monitor.

Mock Collection Requirements

As part of the certification process, you must attest that you have successfully completed the Department of Transportation's required five mock collections before taking the DATIA Certification Exam. You can find more information regarding these five collections here. As part of the examination registration process, you must include the name of the person that monitored the mock collections and include his/her contact information. A random sampling of candidates will be audited each year, and monitors will be contacted to confirm that mock collections were successfully completed.

If you do not have a qualifed collector to monitor your five collections, you should contact a DATIA Regional Trainer to complete the mock collections. Each R-CPCT has his/her own pricing and scheduling and some may travel to you. It is advised to call the closest trainers in your area for pricing/scheduling quotes.

You can also find a monitor through our national database of service providers. You can enter the zip code and check off “collection services” as search criteria to help narrow your selections. These collectors will also have their own scheduling and pricing.

Examination Scoring and Reporting

All certification candidates will receive written notification of their exam scores as follows: 1) at the conclusion of the exam; 2) as a printable pdf report under that CP-ID at datia-exams.org. 3) in the form of a certificate mailed to you within two weeks of completion. No exam scores will be reported over the telephone.

The pdf and the results shown at the conclusion of the exam notifications will indicate the number of questions missed and whether this constitutes a passing or failing score. Applicants for certification must receive a score of 80%.

Pass Fail Standard

The passing score on the certification examination is based on a minimal level of knowledge that is expected of passing candidates. Each candidate is measured against a standard of knowledge, not against the performance of other individuals taking the examination.

An 80% is required to receive certification. The examinations are developed to ensure that all aspects of the collection process are covered, and that there is an equal amount of questions on each criterion. The test questions do not stress one area of the collection process over another.

Appeals Process

Within 30 days of announcing examination results, unsuccessful candidates may appeal their results to the DATIA Specimen Collection Committee. Candidates should submit the question that is being appealed and any documents to support the answer provided by the candidate. These materials should be sent to the attention of the DATIA Specimen Collection Committee at DATIA's headquarters (attn: exam appeals) in written hard copy form with a signature of the petitioner.

The committee will review the appeal and respond to the candidate within 30 days. The committee's decision is the final decision and cannot be further appealed by the candidate of DATIA.

Examination Honor System

Candidates for collector certification are required to verify that they have not received any assistance in completing the certification exam beyond the allowed reference materials. Specifically, candidates are not permitted to seek assistance from other collectors, jointly complete exams, or use exams taken previously by themselves or other candidates when completing the exam. Use of any of these means is considered cheating.

If a candidate is suspected of cheating in completing their exam, they will be given the reasons for such suspicion and offered the opportunity to explain the circumstances. All information concerning the reasons for suspicion and follow-up information from the candidate will be forwarded to the Specimen Collections Committee (candidate's name and any identifying information will be withheld), who will vote and determine if cheating has occurred.

If the committee determines that cheating has occurred, the candidate will be ineligible for certification until the next certification year. If the committee determines that cheating did not occur, the candidate's score on the exam will stand.

Reexamination

Candidates who fail to achieve a passing score on the certification exam will be offered the opportunity to take the exam a second time within 60 days for no charge. The second exam will cover the same material as the original exam, but will contain different questions.

Should a candidate register to take the retest after the 60-day period has elapsed, the candidate must remit the full certification fee with the registration form. All registrations are located at datia-exams.org.

A candidate can take the certification exam 3x during the certification year, which runs June 1 to May 31. Should a candidate fail to pass the examination after three attempts in one certification year, they will need to wait until the following June to re-register for the examination.

Recertification

Both CPCTs and CPCs are required to be recertified each June. This recertification is achieved through a certification renewal exam conducted online at datia-exams.org. Each user will receive a CP-ID# and a password 5 business hours after submitting their renewal application. DATIA CPCTs and CPCs will be notified beginning two months prior to their certification expiration of the need to recertify. Other questions on this process can be found on the exam frequently asked questions page.

Every 5 years you must perform mock collections and refresher training, as required by the DOT. The online CPC course can serve as your refresher course and you can either use your previous trainer (assuming they are up to date on requirements) or use our directory of R-CPCTs.

The recertification exam will be the same as the initial certification exam for the current year. This examination will cover items intrinsic in the specimen collection process to include any and all new regulations, guidelines, and or procedures that have been enacted since the candidate received their initial certification. All of the above policies and procedures apply when recertifying.

Certification examination fees also apply to recertification.