Exams

Once you have submitted the online application, our office will contact you within 3 business days to schedule your exam. Please do not submit an online application unless you will be ready to write the exam within 8 weeks.

Please plan ahead, as all exams are booked a minimum of 15 business days in advance pending availability. In the busy spring season our exam seats fill up very quickly and the wait to write may be longer. The proctor locations are Vermilion, Olds, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurry and Lethbridge.

Important Note: The Structural and Seed Treatment manuals and exams were updated June 1, 2023. Between June 1 and August 31 you can still write the old exams, based on previously purchased materials. As of September 1, 2023 you will only be able to write the new exams.

• Complete course packages include the Core Lesson (common to all certification classes) and a series of lessons that differ depending on the certification class.
• Individual lessons can be ordered separately to add other certification classes to your qualifications.

You can order homestudy package on our online continuing education portal.

Please note: We work on a 15-business day minimum turnaround time on all applications.

What you need to know:

• You request an exam using our online continuing education portal where you'll also pay the exam fee.
• Exams vary in length from 1.5 – 4.5 hours.
• All exams are closed book.
• You ​are sent an email with instructions about how to write the online exam 2 weeks before your exam.
• Exams are available at 7 locations in Alberta. Vermilion, Olds, Lethbridge, Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. All exams are booked a minimum of 15 business days in advance.
• Exams are specific to the class(es) of applicator certification.
• You may challenge the exam without doing the home study course. However, the lessons are specifically designed to help you pass the certification exam.
• The pass mark is 70% or higher.
• Once an exam is paid for you have 8 weeks to write the exam.
• You may apply for a rewrite if you get less than the passing grade.
• The rewrite fee is $225.

All of Alberta Environment's pesticide applicator related forms are available on the pesticide management application forms page.

Those forms include:

• Pesticides - Application forms for Service Registration- applying pesticides as a service, on rights-of-ways, public land or for forest management.
• Pesticides - Application forms for ​Workshop/Conference Request for Credit - course or event coordinators use to apply for pesticide applicator credits at a workshop/conference or a training event

Authorized assistant training checklist: The training checklist must be completed with supervising certified applicators: Prior to any pesticide application; whenever the pesticide, application equipment or use location changes; and at least yearly afterwards. The training checklist is also available in the Environmental Code of Practice for Pesticides.

Additional Resources (for information only):

• Registered Pesticide Product Listing was developed to help sellers determine who can purchase and use pesticides in Alberta.
• Alberta Invasive Plant Identification Guide - a guide to prohibited noxious and noxious weeds

All Pesticides exams are booked by registering online using our continuing education platform. You will then be contacted to select an exam date and location.

The links below are to proctored centres you may write our exams at. Please don't contact the proctor directly, all communication regarding the exam must be through the Pesticide office.

• Olds College test centre
• NAIT Assessment Centre in Edmonton
• Lethbridge College testing services
• Northwestern Polytechnic testing centre in Grande Prairie
• Medicine Hat College exam centre
• Keyano College exams and testing services in Fort MacMurray