SC QUALITY GUILDCertified Quality Technician (CQT)
Hands-on and unforgiving. Metrology, sampling, inspection and calibration, tested at the level of somebody who has to get an answer and be right about it.
The paper carries 110 questions in total: 100 that are scored and 10 unscored pretest items that do not count toward your result.
The Quality Technician Primer is published, in two volumes. Volume 1 works the CQT Body of Knowledge section by section. Volume 2 is practice and worked solutions.
What the CQT examination covers
The Body of Knowledge divides into 6 sections. The question count is what each section is worth on the paper, which is not the same as how long it takes to learn.
| Section | Topic | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| I | Quality Concepts and Tools | 19 |
| II | Statistical Techniques | 17 |
| III | Metrology and Calibration | 16 |
| IV | Inspection and Test | 21 |
| V | Quality Audits | 13 |
| VI | Risk Management | 14 |
Section by section
I — Quality Concepts and Tools
Quality concepts and the tools a technician actually reaches for. Operational definitions are taught first, because two people measuring the same characteristic and disagreeing is the root of most disputed data.
II — Statistical Techniques
Statistical techniques at working depth — central tendency, dispersion, confidence limits, control charts, capability and the arithmetic behind each. Standard error is worked repeatedly because dividing by n instead of its square root is a common slip.
III — Metrology and Calibration
Metrology and calibration, including traceability, resolution and what to do when an instrument is found out of tolerance. The impact assessment on product measured since the last good check is the step most often skipped and most often examined.
IV — Inspection and Test
Inspection, test and acceptance sampling. Sampling plans are taught through their operating characteristic curves, so that raising the sample size or the acceptance number becomes a reasoned trade rather than a table lookup.
V — Quality Audits
Audits from the technician's position: what to say, what not to speculate about, and why stating the limit of your knowledge is more useful to an auditor than a helpful guess.
VI — Risk Management
Risk assessment and mitigation (FMEA, trend analysis, control plans), then containment, correction, corrective and preventive action, with effectiveness verification treated as a separate proof that cannot be given until the process has run.
Questions from the free practice test
Every item carries the reasoning, not just the answer, and none of them appears in any book. The CQT self-assessment covers every requirement in the Body of Knowledge: choose a 20-question random sample, a quick check at half the exam's length, a full exam at its real length and section mix, or work on your weak spots.
A technician finds a marginal part at the end of a shift with no supervisor available. The organization has not stated which goal wins, and no procedure covers the case. The technician will most likely:
- Escalate the next day
- Scrap the part
- Decide from whatever they believe is rewarded
- Follow the procedure exactly
Where the trade between schedule and conformance has not been stated, the person standing there resolves it from what they have seen rewarded. Culture is what people do when no procedure applies, and it speaks louder than any goal statement.
Calibration establishes that a gauge:
- Is repeatable
- Gives consistent results between operators
- Reads correctly against a traceable standard
- Is suitable for the tolerance
Calibration concerns accuracy against a standard. It says nothing about repeatability or reproducibility, and a fully calibrated gauge can contribute half the observed variation.
A first article inspection establishes that:
- The process is capable
- The setup as configured can produce a conforming part
- The gauge is adequate
- The lot conforms
It is a snapshot of one occasion, which is why it catches a wrong setup before a lot is made. It says nothing about stability, so an organization relying on first articles alone has evidence about beginnings only.
The practice test is free and needs no account. The CQT test is a full self-assessment covering all 63 requirements in the current Body of Knowledge, with the reasoning on every answer, a score for every requirement and your progress over time. Or work through the primer week by week in the free six-week self study, with a check after every reading.