AWS ASME IX Endorsement

It is an endorsement. AWS lists ASME BPVC Section IX (B31.1) (B31.3) under its CWI and SCWI Endorsements menu, alongside endorsements for D1.1, D1.2, D1.5, D15.1, D17.1, API 1104, magnetic particle, penetrant and ISO standards. That placement indicates you add it to an existing inspector credential rather than sitting it as an independent certification.

Multiple choice and open book. AWS publishes an Exam and Reference Guide describing the open-book reference materials, so check that guide before your test date to confirm exactly which documents you may bring and in what form. Do not assume a particular quantity of questions or a time limit - those details are set by AWS and are not published on the page summarised here.

Those figures are not stated in the AWS material this page is based on, so no number is given here. Exam length, pass marks, fees and scheduling windows are published by AWS in its Exam and Reference Guide, its Price List and the Seminar and Exam Schedule. Confirm them there before you plan your study timeline or budget.

Difficulty comes from navigation, not from obscure theory. The content is straightforward if you can find it quickly. Candidates who know Section IX's Article and Part structure, and who can jump straight to the paragraph listing essential variables for a process, finish comfortably. Those who try to answer from memory of a code they have not handled recently tend to run short of time.

Follow the code's own order: QG first for scope, definitions and the split of responsibilities between manufacturer, contractor and inspector; then QW for procedure and performance qualification, variables and testing; then QB for brazing. QG gives you the vocabulary that QW and QB assume, so skipping it makes the later articles read as isolated rules instead of a system.

Do not treat QB as an afterthought. The endorsement's content is split roughly into thirds across QG, QW and QB, so time proportional to that split is reasonable. Brazing procedure qualification and brazing performance qualification mirror welding concepts but use their own variable designations, and inspectors who only revise QW commonly lose marks by applying QW logic to QB questions.

Three recur. First, confusing essential, supplementary essential and nonessential variables, and forgetting that supplementary essential variables only bite when notch toughness is specified. Second, mixing welding and brazing variable designations. Third, not practising with the actual code volumes and tabs, so the open-book advantage evaporates under time pressure. Drill variable tables until lookup is automatic.

The endorsement title explicitly names B31.1 and B31.3, so expect questions framed by those piping codes' adoption of and additions to Section IX requirements. Have all three documents available if they are permitted references. At minimum, know how each piping code invokes Section IX qualification and where it imposes extra requirements.

Yes. AWS groups this endorsement under CWI and SCWI Endorsements, so the endorsement route is presented as available to both Certified Welding Inspectors and Senior Certified Welding Inspectors. Check your own credential status and current eligibility rules with AWS before applying, since endorsement eligibility depends on the underlying certification being active.

The retake policy, waiting periods and any fees are not published in the AWS material summarised here, so no policy is stated. AWS maintains a Policy on Certification Credentials and a complaints process, and its staff can confirm retake rules for endorsements. Ask AWS directly rather than relying on second-hand accounts of how retakes have been handled.