Contents
Examination procedures and ratings
The organization of pilot and ATC exams is similar. The first exam is only a theoretical exam that will test your ability to use the online software, either IvAc for Advanced ATC Trainee (AS3) or IvAp for Advanced Flight Student (FS3). It consists of 20 multiple-choice questions you will have to answer in a maximum of 45 minutes.
You can take this test, after you registered with IVAO for at least 2 weeks AND logged a minimum of 25 hours (as ATC or pilot depending on the exam you request).
After you have achieved AS3/FS3 rating by passing this first basic online exam, you can apply for an Aerodrome Controller (ADC) / Private Pilot (PP) exam and thereafter more advanced ratings.
All advanced ratings (beginning with the ADC/PP exam) are awarded after successfully completing both a practical and theoretical exam. Both are marked out of 100 and you will need to obtain at least 75/100 at theoretical AND practical exams to pass. Advanced ratings are only possible for members of active divisions.
Detailed requirements you will have to fulfil to apply for IVAO ratings are detailed on the ATC ratings and Pilot ratings pages.
Note that the following limitations also apply:
- A minimum number of logged hours is required to apply for an exam (see tables) ; logged time on IVAN as a controller is used for ATC exams (pilot hours are not taken into account) while logged time on IVAN as pilot is used for pilot exams
- You must complete the units in the order required by the controller and pilot rating requirements
- A waiting period is sometimes required between 2 exams:
- No delay between theoretical and practical parts of the same level, as far as the theoretical exam is marked as success,
- 15 days for practical exams evaluated and validated between 51/100 and 74/100 (50/100 to 70/100 for theoretical exams),
- 30 days for practical exams evaluated and validated between 1/100 and 50/100 (5/100 to 45/100 for theoretical exams),
- 90 days for exams evaluated and validated with 0/100,
- 60 days, after a successful exam, and starting the next higher level.
Theoretical exams
Making a request for a theoretical exam is easily done after checking your status.
Whether or not you can apply for a theoretical exam will be indicated at the bottom of your status page.
All theoretical exams from Private Pilot up to Airline Transport Pilot (pilots) and from Aerodrome Controller up to Senior Controller (ATC) consist of 20 randomly selected multiple-choice questions (MCQ). All questions are based on ICAO/JAR OPS Rules and Regulations if not stated otherwise in the question. Each question includes 3 to 5 proposed answers among which only one is correct. You have a maximum of 45 minutes to fill in the examination paper, and should you exceed this limit, the exam will be automatically recorded as failed. These MCQ exams are automatically corrected (each question will be marked 0 or 5). The pass-mark for the exam is 75/100 (corresponding to at least 15 correct answers).
Note that you can submit your answers as often as you want during the 45 minutes of the exam. Only the last submission will be taken into account. We greatly recommend you submit your examination paper on a regular basis in order to avoid to be marked 0 if you are disconnected or if you exceed the 45 minutes limit.
Our system does not allow the resetting of theoretical exams, as in this case the same exam will appear again. Consequently, the Training department will always refuse to reset unfilled or timed out exams. In order to shorten the time for applying again, members should save their answers on a regular basis so as to avoid the exam being marked 0 if a disconnection or a time out happen.
All exam information (i.e. applicant answers, marks, and references) will be available for consultation (from the exam number) as long as your exam is marked 50/100 or higher.
Practical exams
1 – General points
Requests for practical exams are only possible for members of active divisions. Members of inactive divisions will have to change to an active division in order to get higher ratings (R&R 4.6.2.1)
Making a request for a practical exam is done in a similar way than asking for a theoretical exam via your status page.
Note that in some cases (especially if your exam has been cancelled), the system will reject your request since the exam you are asking for is already “Created”. In such a case, you will need to:
- Go to your personal page,
- Click on Exam at the top of this page,
- Then click on the exam number whose status is marked as “Created” to assess the Take exam submit button.
Your exam will be assigned to an examiner of your division (DIR, ADIR, TC, TAC and Training Advisors) if his rating is equal or higher than the one you request.
ATC or Pilot training as well as practical exams are only provided within active divisions. If your division is not active, consider moving to an active division to obtain training and exams. When all examiners of a member of an active division do not have the required rating for an exam to take place, the TD/TAD will assign it manually to an examiner from another division who has a rating equal or higher than the required rating or to an examiner belonging to the HQ-Training Staff
Be careful to check your IVAO registered email since it will be the only one your examiner will use to contact you and arrange the practical details. You can check this information on your personal details page. If your email address needs to be changed, you should mail the MD/MAD before requesting your exam (a link is provided on your page).
Feel free to specify in the “comments” part of the exam form everything that could be important, such as availability or preferred position for ATC exams.
Since practical exams should be done at the latest 1 month after applying for it, refrain from asking for an exam if you know you will be unavailable for a long time (vacation, school or professional obligations, Internet unavailability, etc). Limited availability could result in exam cancellation. Reactivation of a cancelled exam can be done by writing a mail to the TD/TAD.
2 – ATC and Pilot exam briefing guides
Before you apply for an ATC or pilot examination, carefully read our Practical exam briefing guides. These guides provide the necessary information with regard to exam requirements and progress.
3 – Evaluation and validation
Your practical exam will be assessed by your examiner in accordance with the published IVAO HQ criteria.
Fulfillment of exam tasks will be explained in detail during the debriefing part of the exam and summarized in the exam remarks field. Some details and comments will also be added by your examiner for the attention of the validator.
After evaluation, the exam is sent to the HQ T-Staff department and registered into a list of exams pending for validation. One of the member of the HQ-Training Staff department will be assigned for assessing and validating your exam. Note that some delay may occur between exam completion and final result in case examiner and validator have to share some information and/or discuss some marks. Avoid posting on the forum, contacting the validator by mail or online chat, or the HQ Training Staff in such a case. Do not trust validator last connection date also (he may work without connecting). If your exam is not validated within 1 month, ask your examiner (he may know the reason and/or could mail the validator).
Be also aware that exam result is not set before it has been validated. As soon as your exam is validated, it is registered as “Success” or “Failed”. You will be able to take it again (if failed) or take the next (if success) according to the general rules indicated above. Rating is automatically updated, within 24 hours, when a successful practical exam has been validated.
4 – Special procedure for exams of Staff members
For all exams in which a staff member is to be examined, the presence of an observer in addition to the scheduled examiner is required. The observer may be any member of the same or another division staff, and is required to hold at least the rating of the planned exam.
The HQ Training Department reserves the right to assign a different examiner and/or to dispatch an additional observer of their choice.
The planned date and time of the exam of any staff member shall be announced to the HQ Training Department not less than seven days prior to the exam. Shorter reporting times can be accepted if reasonable circumstances are present.
The HQ Training Department will then assign an approval number which has to mentioned in the exam report by the examiner. Exam reports without that approval number may be rejected during validation.
5 – Observation of practical exams
The presence of observers on TeamSpeak channels during practical exams is submitted to the following rules:
- Member(s) who wish to listen to exams on dedicated (“private”) TeamSpeak channels shall be authorized by the examiner. The examiner may accept or deny the presence of one or several observers at his discretion, the examiner will also have to request the examinee's agreement before granting any observer.
- The above rule doesn't apply to other T-Staff members of the same division (including the division's DIR and ADIR) and HQ Training Staff members who can freely observe any exam. They will normally inform the examiner and the applicant of their presence. Examiners must grant access to them and, in case they restrict TeamSpeak channel access for whatever reason, must ensure they can be contacted by chat for giving them the possibility to enter the exam channel. Observation by T-Staff members of other divisions has to be requested beforehand and will usually be welcomed.
- The presence of non-T-Staff members who do not own the tested rating must be restricted, but is left at the examiner's discretion depending on its relevance for training purposes.
- The above rules don't apply to “public” TeamSpeak channels where normal control is provided in addition to exam monitoring. Consequently it is recommended that, if examiners want to preserve exam confidentiality, they create dedicated (“private”) TeamSpeak channels.
- All observers, whether on a public or private TeamSpeak channel, are expected to behave in such a way that the exam is not disturbed at any time.
ATC/Pilots rating transfer
The procedure for a rating transfer from real-world licences or rating on other networks may be viewed at the page Rating Transfer.