CWS Welding

The CWS is two separately administered computer-based exams: Part A (Fundamentals of Supervision) and Part B (Welding Practices & Economics). Both are delivered at Prometric exam centers, with more than 450 locations worldwide. Because the parts are administered separately, a retake can be scheduled for just the part you did not pass.

No. Formal training is recommended but not mandatory - self-study is an accepted route, and AWS publishes a self-study page plus a CWS Examination User Guide and an Exam References and Editions Guide. The instructor-led option is a five-day seminar, and the Welding Supervisor Bundle provides over 80 hours of instruction across seven self-paced courses.

You need a high school diploma or state/military-approved equivalency, plus one of two experience paths. Option 1: at least three years of practical welding work in a fabrication, construction, or welding-related industry. Option 2: at least two years of that practical welding work plus three years of teaching experience in welding or related subjects. Two years of welding supervision experience is preferred.

Prometric exams are $665 for AWS members and $756 for non-members; retest fees are the same for everyone - $445 per part or $650 for all parts. Renewal runs $425 member / $516 non-member. Other priced options include the Supervisor Seminar, the Supervisor Value Pak, and 9-year recertification by PDH or by exam.

The credential is valid for three years. You renew at year three and again at year six, each time submitting written documentation of continued activity as a welding supervisor. After nine years of continuous certification you recertify by passing Part A and Part B again, or by exemption through 80 professional development hours over the nine years, including 20 PDH in the three years immediately before recertification.

AWS sets those details in the CWS Examination User Guide and exam references documents rather than on the program page; confirm the current item count, time limit, and passing score there before you book. Do not rely on secondhand figures, since exam forms are revised periodically and older numbers circulate widely.

A practical sequence is safety and quality first, since defect prevention and inspection/testing underpin everything else; then production and cost control, where welding economics, lean principles, and productivity techniques reward a grasp of process variables; and supervisory leadership last, tying team management, communication, and code compliance back to the first two areas.

Two recurring weaknesses are treating the exam as pure welding technology and ignoring the management half - cost, throughput, labor forecasting, documentation - and studying to the seminar slides alone rather than the referenced body of knowledge, which includes AWS A2.4 symbols, AWS A3.0 terms, ANSI Z49.1 safety, and the welding handbook economics volume.

No. The CWS is an operational-oversight credential: planning and coordinating welding production, managing teams, tracking material usage, forecasting labor, enforcing procedures, and keeping work on schedule and within specification. Inspection credentials such as the CWI are separate programs with their own requirements and exams.