How ASE certification tests work

In January of her fourth year at Ridgeline Auto Service, Kiran Dhaliwal found an envelope in her locker with a copy of her work history and a note in Marty Kowalchuk's handwriting: "You have the experience now. Eight tests, one season. We start studying Thursday." Marty held ASE Master Automobile Technician status and the L1 advanced engine performance certification, and he still remembered the parasitic draw question he had answered wrong on the A6 test years earlier because he read too fast. Bev Ostrowski, Ridgeline's owner, had agreed to pay the test fees for every test Kiran passed and to let the study group use the customer lounge after closing on Thursdays. Theo Banks, who was preparing for his first two tests, asked if he could sit in.

This course is the study group. It explains how the certification exams work, how to plan and pace your study, and then reviews each part of the trade in the order you met it in this program, with worked examples, the traps exams like to set and practice questions written in the exam's style. It finishes with a full practice exam and a plan for the years after certification. This first lesson is about the exam itself: who sets it, what it covers, how it is scored and what happens on the day.

Who sets the tests and why

ASE, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, is an independent, non-profit organization that has tested and certified automotive professionals in the United States since 1972. ASE certification is voluntary in most states: no law requires it to work on cars. It matters because employers, customers and many dealer and fleet programs use it as proof of knowledge. Shops that employ certified technicians can display the ASE sign, and many employers pay more for each certification. Unlike a license, an ASE certification belongs to the technician and moves with them from shop to shop.

ASE certification has two parts: pass a test, and document relevant work experience. For the automobile tests, the experience requirement is usually two years of hands-on work, and formal training such as a community college automotive program can count for part of it. You can take a test before you have the experience; you receive the certification when the experience is accepted. Technicians holding a valid Canadian provincial automotive certificate can use it to meet the experience requirement. Kiran's two years at Ridgeline plus her college program met the requirement.

The automobile test series

The automobile and light truck series, the A-series, has nine certification tests. Each test covers one area of the vehicle and has its own task list, published by ASE, that describes what the test covers. Passing A1 to A8, with the required experience, earns the Master Automobile Technician status. A9, light vehicle diesel engines, is part of the series but is not required for Master. Each test has a set number of scored questions plus about ten unscored research questions that ASE is trying out for future tests. You cannot tell which questions are unscored, so you answer every one as if it counts.

Two things stand out in that table. First, the tests are short and focused, so a weak area cannot hide behind a strong one the way it can on a single long exam: if you do not understand network diagnosis, A6 will find out. Second, the time per question is tight on some tests. A6 allows 90 minutes for 60 questions, but A1 allows 75 minutes for 60, so the pace is about 75 seconds a question including the time you spend reading the long diagnostic stems.

How the questions are written

Every question has a stem, which sets up a situation or asks something, and four options. One option is correct; the other three, called distractors, are written to be plausible to someone who half knows the material. Questions are written to test what a qualified technician does on the job, so most are about diagnosis and procedure rather than definitions: what to check first, what a reading means, which part is most likely at fault, what should be done next. Some give a reading or a short scenario and ask for the most likely cause. Some ask for the exception, with wording such as which of the following is least likely or which is not a cause, and those are the ones that catch people who read too fast.

ASE questions come in a few standard formats. The direct question asks something and gives four options. The completion format gives an incomplete statement. The Technician A and Technician B format gives two statements, each made by a technician, and asks whether only A is right, only B, both or neither. The except or least likely format asks for the one option that does not belong. ASE publishes sample questions of each type in its free study guides, and reading them before the test is one of the cheapest ways to avoid losing marks to format alone.

Scoring and the pass mark

ASE does not publish a fixed percentage pass mark. Each test has a passing score set by a panel of subject experts who decide how many questions a minimally qualified technician should answer correctly, and the scores are reported as scaled results along with your performance in each content area of the test. As a working rule, the study guides and instructors aim for 70 percent or better on practice tests in each area. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so never leave a question blank. If you fail a test, you can take it again after a waiting period, and the score report shows which content areas need work.

# What the pass mark means in questions and minutes
import math
tests = {"A1": (60, 75), "A4": (50, 60), "A5": (55, 75), "A6": (60, 90), "A8": (60, 75)}
for t, (q, mins) in tests.items():
    print(f"{t}: {q} questions in {mins} min = {mins * 60 / q:.0f} seconds per question")
scored = 50
print(f"a 70% working target on {scored} scored questions = {math.ceil(scored * 0.7)} correct")

A1: 60 questions in 75 min = 75 seconds per question
A4: 50 questions in 60 min = 72 seconds per question
A5: 55 questions in 75 min = 82 seconds per question
A6: 60 questions in 90 min = 90 seconds per question
A8: 60 questions in 75 min = 75 seconds per question
a 70% working target on 50 scored questions = 35 correct

Exam day

ASE tests are computer-based and are given at proctored testing centers, with appointments available most days of the year. You register online, pay a registration fee and a fee for each test, choose a center and a time, and bring photo identification. You can take several tests in one sitting if the total time fits the appointment. A basic calculator is built into the testing software for the tests that need one. Results appear in your online account, and certificates follow when your work experience is on file.

Marty's advice for the day is practical. Sleep the night before and eat before you go; tired candidates misread questions. Arrive early enough to be calm. Read every stem twice, the second time looking for the words that change its meaning: first, most likely, least likely, except, not, always. Answer the ones you know, mark the ones you do not, and come back. Never change an answer without a reason; your first choice is usually better than a nervous second guess, unless you find you misread the question. And account for the clock every quarter of the way through.

What the study group agreed

At the first Thursday session, the group agreed on a plan that the next lesson builds out. Kiran would take the tests in an order that built on itself: A5 Brakes and A4 Suspension and Steering first, then A6 Electrical and A8 Engine Performance, then A1, A2, A3 and A7. She would study each test's task list, write a practice test under real time limits before booking, and keep an error log: every practice question she got wrong, with the reason she got it wrong, because, as Marty put it, the reason matters more than the answer.

Preparing for the format

Kiran wrote a practice A5 set two weeks into the study plan, before she had reviewed anything, so that she would know her starting point. The result, 71 percent, told her two things. She already knew enough to pass on a good day, which took some of the fear out of the test. And a good day was not guaranteed: one weak content area would put her below the line. Marty's response was that a narrow pass is a fail you have not had yet, and that the point of studying was to make passing boring.

The group also agreed on a few rules for practice sessions that copied the real thing. Practice sets were timed. Phones stayed in the office. Answers were marked only after the whole set was done, not question by question, because checking each answer immediately trains you to need feedback that the real exam will not give. And every set ended with ten minutes on the error log while the reasoning was still fresh.

Elimination works because exam writers build distractors from common misunderstandings. One option often contradicts a fact in the stem; one often belongs to a different system; one is often true but does not answer the question asked. If two options remain and both seem right, reread the stem for the word that decides between them, such as first, most likely or least likely.