Prior to starting your exam application please review the information below so that you know what will be needed for your CAE exam application. In addition, please review the eligibility requirements and CAE Exam FAQ page for details on what qualifies for CAE credit.

Higher Academic Education

Here you will be able to confirm if you have a bachelor’s degree or higher. If you do not have a bachelor’s degree you will need to provide eight years of professional work experience within the work experience section of the application.

 

Employment Experience

First, enter your most recent qualifying employment within the past five years. Enter additional qualifying experience if needed to ensure that you meet the employment experience requirement.

 

In lieu of employment at a qualifying organization, you may illustrate within your application that you have 10 years’ paid service as an employee, independent contractor, or consultant with demonstrated professional involvement within the association community by providing services as defined by the CAE exam content outline or five years of such service if substantially all of your work is devoted solely to qualifying organizations. No additional supporting documentation needed.

 

Professional Development Activities

ASAE courses that you have previously completed through ASAE will be automatically imported to your application. ASAE courses completed after you begin the application process will be imported into your application after they are completed. Please contact CAE staff if you have previously taken courses through ASAE that are not reflected within your application. Courses completed outside of ASAE will not be automatically imported into your application. You will need to add them manually. Below is what your application will look like if you have previously completed courses through ASAE.

 

Adding Professional Development

To add professional development to your application you will first click on the “add another activity” button.

The required information is marked with a red asterisk.

 

Types of programs

There are various types of programs you may add to your application. Below are brief descriptions along with what time of documentation is needed for the professional development.

Live - A live course is any course that you must attend at the initial broadcast. Courses do not have to be in person to qualify as live. Webinars, conferences, seminars, etc., may qualify as live if you attend the course when it is initially broadcast. No supporting documentation needed when adding live events to your application.

Self-study - A self-study course is any course that you complete at your own pace. Self-study courses may have an online facilitator. If you are given a period in which to complete a course at your own pace, this would be considered a self-study course. A certificate of completion must be uploaded with your application. (A maximum of 50 credits from self-study courses can be applied toward the professional development requirement.)

College course – a college course is any face-to-face, independent study/correspondence, online taken for academic credit at a U.S. accredited academic institution, directly related to association or nonprofit management. An unofficial transcript must be uploaded with your application.

Mentoring - Certificants providing and/or receiving mentoring or coaching specifically focused on the field of association management and representative of the exam content outline. The mentor or coach must be a CAE or CAE (Ret.). The mentor/coach and the mentee/individual being coached may not be employed by the same organization. A mentoring form must be uploaded with your application.

 

Adding multiple courses to your application

After you have entered all the required information for a course/conference you will need to click the “add” button located just below the “description of program” box. The course will then be added to your application. Repeat this process for each of the courses you wish to add to your application. After you have entered all of your courses you may click the “save and next” button located at the bottom of the screen. This will save all of the courses you have entered. You may come back to your application at a later time to include additional professional development.

 

Payment

An invoice will be created once you have submitted your application. You may mail a check to ASAE or submit your credit card payment online.