Exam Development
What is the certification exam?
The ACA certification examination consists of one hundred multiple-choice questions across eight domains described in the Role Delineation Statement for Professional Archivists. Passing the certification examination is one of the requirements to becoming a Certified Archivist. Current Certified Archivists may also take the examination for recertification.
Who creates the certification exam?
Per the ACA bylaws, the Examination Development Committee (EDC) evaluates, monitors, and oversees regular revision of the reading list, Role Delineation Statement, and examination to ensure it is accurate and comprehensive. The committee is led by the Regent for Examination Development and is composed of ACA members from a variety of archival backgrounds and skill sets who serve three-year terms.
How is the certification exam developed?
ACA works closely with a professional psychometrician, or testing expert, to ensure each examination is developed and analyzed according to psychometric standards. The EDC meets regularly to write and revise examination questions. Questions in the item bank are linked to a domain, a task statement, and a knowledge statement from the Role Delineation Statement. Questions are also assigned a level of difficulty, based on psychometric standards and exam results. When building each exam, the committee selects questions from the item bank that correspond to the current reading list, reflect the range of the Role Delineation Statement, and have strong statistical results from prior exams.
Where do the certification exam questions come from?
The members of the EDC monitor archives-related publications to update and create new content for the reading list and examination. The committee gathers references for each question in the item bank by reading and assessing a variety of sources from both the historical and current professional literature. Sources are reviewed to determine if they provide theoretical and practical standards that apply across the profession; cover topics in the Role Delineation Statement; and are readily available via libraries, purchase, or open-access platforms.
Is the certification exam reliable?
Annually the EDC builds an examination that reflects the current state of the archives profession. ACA maintains a large bank of questions, which the EDC continually reviews for accuracy and relevance. Each examination is composed of questions to represent all domains and to ensure they encompass an array of theories and practices. In addition, the psychometrician offers specialized knowledge relating to the creation of examination questions and provides data around question performance on a given year’s exam or across multiple exams. The EDC uses this data to ensure the quality of the questions and verify that the examination continues to perform according to testing methods for certification.