Certified Professional Technical Communicator (CPTC™)

Digital badges allow you to easily showcase your achievements online.

When you pass an exam - you'll instantly have the option to claim a digital badge representing your new certificate.

Your badge can be embedded on an email signature, website, social media or digital CV.

With just one click employers, customers and clients can easily view and verify your credentials and skills.

Please download our digital sharing presentation for more information.

Once you’ve been notified that you’ve passed your exam - you will have the option to create a digital badge in APMG's Candidate Portal.

Visit APMG's Candidate Portal, view your exam results and select 'Create Badge'.

This takes you to the Acclaim website where the digital badges are hosted. You will be guided through the Acclaim account creation process.

Once you have created an account with Acclaim - login into the account and accept your pending badge.

Technical communication is a broad field and includes any form of communication that exhibits one or more of the following characteristics:

• Communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations.
• Communicating by using technology, such as web pages, help files, or social media sites.
• Providing instructions about how to do something, regardless of how technical the task is or even if technology is used to create or distribute that communication.

The CPTC Foundation scheme will assess whether an individual can recall, recognize, and demonstrate comprehension of the theories, concepts, models, genres, and approaches outlined in 9 key areas. The areas are: Project Planning, Project Analysis, Content Development, Organizational Design, Written Communication, Visual Communication, Reviewing and Editing, Content Management and Production Delivery.

The Body of Knowledge used for the Foundation exam is Technical Communication Today, Fifth Edition by Richard Johnson-Sheehan. All of the answers can be found in this text book, so obtaining a copy and studying it is a good preparation for individuals taking the exam. Preparation courses or other training for the CPTC Foundation examination is not currently available. We expect to have accredited training organizations in early 2016.

APMG International administers public and online exam sessions. Click here to book an exam.

If you are a member of STC you can take advantage of a discounted exam price. All you need to do is provide APMG with your member ID at the time of booking your exam for the discount to be applied. The cost of the exam for STC members is $250 and for non-member it is $495.

The course is based on Technical Communication Today, Fifth Edition by Richard Johnson-Sheehan.

The exam is currently only available in English.

The CPTC Foundation certification does not expire. However, for it to remain current, certificants are required to stay current in the field as demonstrated by achieving a certain number of Continuing Education Units (CEU) over a 24 month period. The CEU requirements can be found on the STC web site at http://www.stc.org/education/certification/certification-main. Additionally, STC will keep a list of current certified practitioners on its web site so that employers can easily verify currency.

The CPTC Foundation examinations can be marked on location with provisional results provided immediately after marking.

Your official results will be sent directly to you via the relevant APMG-International office approximately 7-10 days after the date of your exam.

A foundation certificate will be dispatched to you approximately 2 weeks after we have received your exam paper back into our offices.

Please note that if you have taken your examinations via an ATO, certificates will be dispatched based on the preferences that the ATO selected when booking the exam. The ATO can select either an e-certificate or hard copy and whether this type is sent to the ATO or directly to the candidate.

If you have not received your certificate shortly after the above time frames please contact our Customer Interaction Team – servicedesk@apmg-international.com .

Individuals who have passed the CPTC Foundation exam are permitted to use the green CPTC Foundation logo to demonstrate they hold this certification.

CPTC™ is a registered trade mark of the Society for Technical Communication.

If you do not pass the CPTC Foundation exam, you can re-take it at any time – there is no waiting period - and there is no restriction on the number of times you can take the exam. Please note that the full examination fee will be payable each time.