UX Certification

The UX Certification Program provides an internationally recognized, vendor-neutral credential that is exam based and serves as the ISO standard for User Experience professionals. The CPUX-F exam and preparation are offered in the USA by American Graphics Institute.

About UX Certification

• How it works: Attend a UX Certification course, pass the internationally recognized UX Certification exam, and receive a UX certificate.
• Timing: The UX Certification exam requires less than two hours to complete; the certification course to prepare for the exam is two days in length.
• Preparation: Prepare as part of a two-day UX Certification course for the CPUX-F exam which prepares participants for the exam, alternatively prepare as part of a long-term UX Certificate program, or independently.
• Exams: UX Certification exams are proctored and are offered online or in-person. Exams can be scheduled immediately following the UX Certification preparation course, or can be scheduled separately. Exam fees are sepraate from the preparation course.
• Recognition: Upon passing the UX Certification exam, you will receive a UX Certificate and badge issued by the UXQB, the International Usability and UX Qualification Board, and be eligible for listing on the UXQB website. More than 5,000 individuals have attained UX Certification. The exam is developed by the international organization responsible for creating UX standards.

UX Certification: Three options

There are three options for obtaining UX Certification: Pass the UX certification exam, pass a UX specialization exam, or obtain a certificate through a course of study. These three options for obtaining UX certification are discussed here:

Pass the UX Certification Exam

Attend a UX Certification preparation course, or study on your own independently and pass the international recognized UX Certification exam from UXQB. This certification provides credibility and recognition as a UX Professional, showing international standards have been satisfied.

Pass a UX Specialization Exam

Obtain a UX specialization in addition to the foundation UX Certificate to show expertise in specific areas. Specialized, advanced level certification is available for User Requirements Engineering, Usability testing and Evaluation, and Designing Solutions.

Obtain a UX Certificate through a course of study

Professionals starting in the UX field may wish to start with the UX Certificate program to gain foundational skills as a pathway to preparing for the UX Certification. This program provides more than 100 hours of UX training and serves as a good foundation for those starting in the UX field.

UX Certification Benefits

The internationally recognized UX Certification helps professionals become better user experience practitioners and provides recognition of UX expertise to clients and coworkers. Obtaining UX Certification demonstrates competence and skills in the field of user experience and usability through an objective, industry-standard exam. Practicing professionals use the UX Certification to validate their skills and ensure the use of current best practices.

UX Certification also provides the opportunity to obtain advanced certification in specialized areas of user experience that include usability testing, usability engineering, and user requirements engineering, information architecture and prototyping.

The industry standard UX Certification provides the ability to create a baseline of common skills and vocabulary across organizations and teams, with the foundation level exam suitable for all participants in the UX process, including all user experience professionals, business analysts, project managers, developers, and product managers.

Recognition is provided by the nonprofit, global standards body for UX: The UX Qualification Board.

Process for UX Certification

The UX Certification process requires candidates to pass the industry standard exams, which is created by the UX Qualification Board. American Graphics Institute administers the exam within the United States.

Candidates for UX Certification may prepare for the exam with training or self-study. The exams are open for those who pay the exam administration fee to cover the costs of their administration by the accredited, independent certification provider.

Available UX Certification

Three UX Certification exams are currently available. The foundation level UX Certification is also known as the CPUX-F exam. The more specialized exams are available separately and include the advanced level User Requirements Engineering, known as CPUX-UR and separately the Advanced level Usability Testing and Evaluation, known as CPUX-UT. A new exam, the Certified Professional for Usability and User Experience – Designing Solutions, or CPUX-DS, is expected to be available by the middle of 2021.

Foundation level UX Certification

The international standard UX Certification foundation is the Certified Professional for Usability and User Experience – Foundation Level (CPUX-F) exam. The foundation level certification validates an understanding of key UX concepts, topics, and terms in the human-centered design process, the ability to specify user requirements, produce design solutions, and understand usability testing and surveys. Preparation for this UX Certification is available through classes or self-study. This certification is developed and maintained by the UXQB.

Specialized UX Certification for User Requirements Engineering

The UX Certification for user requirements and engineering is known as Certified Professional for Usability and User Experience – User Requirements Engineering (CPUX-UR). Those that hold this certification have demonstrated proficiency with the concepts in the field of user requirements engineering and apply them to creating personas, scenarios, and user group profiles, as well as determining user needs from descriptions of the context of use. User requirements and engineering specialists can also identify, specify, and structure the priority of user requirement, and are able to manage, plan, conduct, and document user observations and interviews.

Obtaining this UX Certification requires passing both a practical and theoretical exam, which includes questions and practical demonstration of skills taken over a 90-minute period. A portion of the exam includes observing a contextual interview and defining user requirements based upon the scenario presented. This UX certification is developed and maintained by the UXQB.

The foundation-level UX Certification is required before it is possible to obtain the user requirements engineering certification.

UX Certification in Usability Testing and Evaluation

The UX Certification for Usability Testing and Evaluation, also known as CPUX-UT, demonstrates proficiency with the concepts relating to usability testing for evaluating and testing user interfaces. This specialized UX Certification shows skills with all areas of usability testing, including planning, conducting, and reporting results from usability testing as well as user interface expert reviews along with proficiency with qualitative and quantitative user surveys.

This UX Certification requires an exam comprised of both theoretical and practical components administered over 90 minutes. The practical component of the exam requires administering a usability test with several users of a website, including submission of a report and a video of the user test.

As with other specialized UX Certifications, this certification is developed and maintained by the UXQB. the foundation-level certification is required before it is possible to obtain this usability testing and evaluation certification.

UX Certification for Designing Solutions

The UX Certification for Designing Solutions is an advanced certification which demonstrates skills and familiarity with the fields of information architecture, prototyping, and interaction specification and modelling. This certification, also known as the CPUS-DS shows competence with creating and documenting task models as a basis for interaction specification. This includes defining scenarios, specifying user interface components based upon scenarios, and organizing information structures that are user centered, with efficient access to content, information, and navigation structures. Those with UX Certification for Design Solutions also have demonstrated capabilities producing prototypes in various formats for user interfaces to allow for their evaluation.

The foundation-level UX Certification is required before it is possible this UX certification.

UX Certification Cost

The cost of the CPUX-F UX Certification is aproximately $250 USD and is separate from any training fees for the certification course .The exam fees set by the independent exam administrators hired to maintain the validity of this internationally recognized UX Certification exam, not by AGI. For those who attend training, statistics from the UXQB indicate approximately 90% of participants pass the exam on the first examination.

History of UX Certification

The internationally recognized UX Certification started in 2006 with work on a qualification and certification program that was consistent. The German UPA’s working group on Quality Standards developed, tested and refined the certification documents and then founded the UXQB, a nonprofit organization that manages the UX certification process. The entire purpose of the UXQB is to promote a consistent certification program for usability professionals.

The UX certifications are built on the foundation of definitions created for various tasks and deliverables of usability engineering roles as well as the quality standard for usability engineering. These contain the basis for professional work carried out by usability specialists.

Recognition of UX Certification

The UX Certification process that AGI teaches and is certified by the UXQB is recognized internationally as the standard for verifying UX skills. It is the only UX certification based upon the recognized standards defined in ISO 9241-series, as well as practitioners with a minimum of 15 years’ experience in the field of user experience. Obtaining a UX Certification validates skills with an independent, internationally recognized credential.

Training for UX Certification

Training is available to prepare for UX Certification. Courses to prepare for the foundation-level CPUX-F include two-day courses are available. Courses are delivered by practicing professionals who work in the field, teaching UX classes and leading UX consulting practices, and have passed the UX Certification exams they teach.