This procedure is describing the examination process and the rules to be followed in order to get ranks and exams in the IVAO Network. You will have to fulfill the requirements detailed on the ATC Rating and Pilot Rating pages in order to apply for next IVAO ratings.
First, a minimum number of logged hours (logged time on IVAN) is required before applying for an exam.
When required by the rating table (see below), the exam consists of the success of:
The exams can be accessed via your main examination page on your profile.
| Pilot Rank | Required Hours | Exam Briefing | Theoretical Exam | Practical Exam |
| Flight Student 3 | 25 | - | Altitude theoretical | None |
| Private Pilot | 50 | Private Pilot briefing | PP theoretical | PP practical |
| Senior Private Pilot | 100 | Senior Private Pilot briefing | SPP theoretical | SPP practical |
| Commercial Pilot | 200 | Commercial Pilot briefing | CP theoretical | CP practical |
| Airline Transport Pilot | 750 | Airline Transport Pilot | ATP theoretical | ATP practical 1 + ATP practical 2 |
Note 1: You shall complete the units in the order.
Note 2: After you have achieved FS3 rating by passing this first basic online exam, you can apply for a Private Pilot (PP) exam and thereafter more advanced ratings. You can obtain the Ivap Exam before the amount of hours required for FS3 rank. The FS3 rank will be never obtained before the required amount of hours.
Rule: Advanced ratings above FS3 are only possible for members of active divisions.
| ATC Rank | Required Hours | Exam Briefing | Theoretical Exam | Practical Exam |
| ATC Student 3 | 25 | - | Aurora theoretical | None |
| Aerodrome Controller | 50 | Aerodrome Controller briefing | ADC theoretical | ADC practical |
| Approach Controller | 100 | Approach Controller briefing | APC theoretical | APC practical |
| Aera Centre Controller | 200 | Area Controller briefing | ACC theoretical | ACC practical |
| Senior Controller | 1000 | Senior Controller briefing | SEC theoretical | SEC practical 1 + SEC practical 2 |
Note 1: You shall complete the units in the order.
Note 2: After you have achieved AS3 rating by passing this first basic online exam, you can apply for an Aerodrome Controller (ADC) exam and thereafter more advanced ratings. You can obtain the Ivap Exam before the amount of hours required for AS3 rank. The AS3 rank will be never obtained before the required amount of hours.
Rule: Advanced ratings above AS3 are only possible for members of active divisions.
Any theoretical exam consists of 20 multiple-choice questions you will have to answer in a maximum of 45 minutes. The language used for questions and answers is only in English.
The question are mainly made from our extended training documentation material which can be found in our training HQ training database in Rank Documentation.
You can take the first 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).
Any theoretical exam shall be run in IVAO website by checking your examination status on your IVAO profile under My Personal Details link at the bottom of your profile, or directly in your own examination page.
All theoretical exams consist of 20 randomly selected multiple-choice questions (MCQ):
All questions are based on ICAO Rules and Regulations if not stated otherwise in the question.
Each question includes 4 proposed answers among which only one is correct.
You have a maximum of 45 minutes to fill in the examination paper. Should you exceed this limit, the exam will be automatically recorded as failed and noted 0 point.
Note: 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 form on a regular basis in order to avoid to be marked 0 if you are disconnected or if you exceed the 45 minutes limit.
Rule: The evaluation of the exam is automated by a script run by the HQ training department. You will received the result by mail (mail declared on your IVAO profile):
- each question will be scored 0 point when the answer is failed
- each question will be scored 5 points when the answer is success
The pass-mark for the exam is 75 points with a maximum of 100 points (corresponding to at least 15 correct answers).
Note 1: Be careful to check your IVAO registered email since it will be the only one the system will use to send the result. You can check this information on your personal details page. If your email address needs to be changed, you should mail the membership directors (MD/MAD) before requesting your exam (a link is provided on your page).
Note 2: 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 points or higher.
As far as the theoretical exam is marked as success, no delay is required between theoretical and practical parts of the same level.
Rule: Our system does not allow the resetting of theoretical exams. 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 point if a disconnection or a time out happen.
Any practical exam shall be asked in IVAO website by checking your examination status on your IVAO profile under My Personal Details link at the bottom of your profile, or directly in your own examination page.
When you ask an exam, you shall :
- Go to your exam page
- Ask new exam
- Specify in the “comments” part of the exam form everything that could be important, such as your availability (dates, hours) or chosen position only for ATC exams.
- 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 or TAx) or to an HQ training examiner (TD,TAD,SRTA).
When all examiners of the considered active division do not have the required rating for the requested exam, the training directors (TD/TAD) will assign it manually to an examiner from another division or to an examiner belonging to the HQ-Training Staff.
Note 1: When your previous exam has been cancelled, the system will reject your request since the exam you are asking for is already “Created”.
Note 2: 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 membership directors (MD/MAD) before requesting your exam (a link is provided on your page).
Rule: 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)
Rule: Any practical exams shall be done at the latest 1 month after applying for it. Refrain you from asking for an exam if you know you will be unavailable for a long time (vacation, school or professional obligations, Internet unavailability, etc).
Rule: Limited availability could result in exam cancellation. Reactivation of a cancelled exam can be done only by writing a mail to the HQ training directors (TD/TAD).
Rule: For any exams, you shall used only one approved IVAO software. The list of approved software should be consult here
Before applying for an ATC or pilot examination, you shall carefully read our Practical exam briefing guides.
The guides can be read in our IVAO HQ mediawiki database :
Note: You shall consult your division web site or contact your division training coordinators (TC/TAC) about any specific examination rules applicable for your division.
Note: Please also consult your national regulation of your division in order to know specific requirement for all exams: Division national regulation.
Your practical exam will be evaluated by your examiner in accordance with the published IVAO HQ-Training criteria.
Fulfilment 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-Training 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.
The list of HQ Training mentors for each division is available on this link.
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.
If your exam result is SUCCESS then :
- New rating is automatically updated, within 24 hours, when a successful practical exam has been validated.
- A waiting period of 60 days is required before attempting the next rank exam
If your exam result is FAILED then :
Rule : 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 :
Rule: The HQ Training Department reserves the right to assign a different examiner.
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.
Rule : The HQ Training Department shall assign an approval number which has to be mentioned in the exam report by the examiner. Exam reports without that approval number may be rejected during validation.
The presence of observers on voice channels during practical exams is submitted to the following procedure:
Rule: Observation by any training staff members from any other divisions and not member of HQ training department has to be requested beforehand and will usually be welcomed.
Rule : The presence of any members who do not own the tested rating shall be restricted. We leave at the examiner 's discretion depending on its relevance for training purposes only.
Rule : All observers are expected to behave in such a way that their presence will not disturb the exam at any time.
Allowed observer shall inform the examiner and the applicant of their presence. Examiners shall 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.
The above rule do not apply to public ATC channels.
Note: If examiners want to preserve exam confidentiality for non public part of examination, they shall create dedicated TeamSpeak channels.
The above rule does not apply to :
Rule: You shall do your exam alone without any external human help.
Note 1: Personnal documentation and IVAO documentation is not considered as cheating. You are free to use documentation during your exams, but it shall not be taken as the cause of an exam fail.
If you have been helped by another person in any type of exam, HQ will consider this as cheating.
If cheating is discovered, HQ training department will run the cheating procedure:
Note 2: When any doubt with the exam occurs, HQ training directors reserves the right to invite the candidate for an oral interview, about his/her exam.
As no one should be excluded from doing exams on IVAO, the HQ Training Department offers to make special exceptions for users with disabilities, like deafness or muteness.
To be eligible to make a special exam, contact your Division Director and Assistant Director, as well as HQ Training Director and HQ Training Assistant Director.
¶ AUTHOR
VID 514786 TDM - Update 19th of November 2024
VID 150259 TDAM - Update 03 January 2021 - New Wiki integration and rewording.¶ COPYRIGHT and DISCLAIMER
This documentation is copyrighted as part of the intellectual property of the International Virtual Aviation Organisation.
The content of this documentation is intended for aviation simulation only and must not be used for real aviation operations.