- What the Credential Actually Is
- Who Issues and Delivers It
- The Six Exam Objectives, Domain by Domain
- Exam Format and Question Style
- Registration, Vouchers and Fees
- Scoring: What 700 Really Means
- The Outdated Outline Problem
- Readiness, Prerequisites and a Domain-Based Study Order
- How Long the Credential Lasts
- Who Hires for It and Where It Fits
- Frequently Asked Questions
- ITS-AI is the Pearson IT Specialist - Artificial Intelligence exam, delivered through Certiport, a Pearson VUE business.
- The current objectives cover six domains, from AI Problem Definition through Maintaining and Monitoring AI in Production.
- Expect roughly 45-50 questions in a 50-minute timed limit; the passing score is 700 on a 1-1000 scale.
- Awards earned on or after 2025-06-18 are valid for five years, and recertification means passing the current exam again.
What the Credential Actually Is
The Information Technology Specialist - Artificial Intelligence Certification, abbreviated ITS-AI on this site, is a computer-based, proctored knowledge assessment. Its public name is IT Specialist - Artificial Intelligence, and Pearson's catalogue lists it under the identifier INF-307. It is one exam in the broader IT Specialist family, aimed at people who need to show they understand how AI work is framed, built, shipped and kept healthy, rather than at people proving deep research-level machine learning skills.
That distinction matters for how you prepare. The exam is a knowledge assessment of the lifecycle: defining a problem, preparing data, engineering features, choosing and evaluating models, deploying responsibly, and monitoring in production. If you are brand new to the topic, our overview pages such as What Is ITS-AI? and What Does ITS-AI Stand For? cover the naming basics, while this article focuses on what the certification contains and how it is delivered.
Who Issues and Delivers It
Pearson issues the credential, and Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, administers the exam. You can sit it through two distinct routes:
- Pearson VUE test centers or OnVUE online proctoring. OnVUE requires a system check and a live webcam proctor.
- A Certiport Authorized Testing Center (CATC). This is a separate channel with its own voucher products and rules, covered below.
Knowing which channel you are using before you buy anything saves real money, because vouchers from one channel are not interchangeable with the other.
The Six Exam Objectives, Domain by Domain
The revised objectives document (Pearson/Certiport, copyright 2026) lists six domains. Pearson does not publish official percentage weights, so do not trust any site that claims exact domain percentages. Practice-bank item counts you may see in retail products are not official exam weights either. For a deeper per-domain walkthrough, see ITS-AI Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 6 Content Areas.
Domain 1: AI Problem Definition
This domain is about deciding whether and how AI should be applied before any code is written.
- Framing a business need as an AI problem with a clear goal
- Assessing feasibility, including whether the data, resources and approach make sense
- Understanding human interaction considerations in how people will use or be affected by the system
Domain 2: Data Collection and Transformation
Models are only as good as the data behind them, so this domain covers sourcing and preparing it.
- Collecting and assembling datasets appropriate to the problem
- Cleaning and transforming raw data into usable form
- Recognizing data quality issues that undermine later stages
Domain 3: Feature Engineering
Current coverage treats feature engineering as its own domain rather than a footnote to data prep.
- Selecting and constructing inputs that help a model learn
- Understanding how feature choices affect model behavior
- Connecting feature decisions back to the problem defined in Domain 1
Domain 4: AI Algorithms and Models
The core modeling domain, and the one where the revised objectives are notably broader than older outlines.
- Matching algorithm families to problem types
- Natural language processing concepts as a distinct topic
- Model-evaluation metrics: knowing which measure fits which task
- Explainability: why and how model decisions can be interpreted
Domain 5: Application Integrity and Deployment
This is the exact domain name in the revised PDF. Application integration appears here as objective 5.1.
- Integrating an AI component into an application
- CI/CD concepts as they apply to AI delivery
- Security considerations for AI-enabled applications
Domain 6: Maintaining and Monitoring AI in Production
The lifecycle does not end at launch, and the exam reflects that, running through the final objective, 6.5.
- Monitoring deployed models and detecting drift
- Maintaining performance over time
- Decommissioning systems properly when they reach end of life
Exam Format and Question Style
The exam is computer-based and proctored. Pearson MindhubPro estimates 45-50 questions with a 50-minute maximum. Treat that as a variable range rather than a fixed form count: your session may land anywhere in that span. The 50 minutes is timed exam time and excludes administration and the tutorial screens.
Certiport publishes an IT Specialist Exam Tutorial (copyright 2021) that describes how answer-option navigation works in the testing interface. That same document carries a generic 36-40 question estimate, but it is older than, and less specific than, the exam-specific listing above, so use the 45-50 figure for planning. Reading the tutorial once beforehand removes interface surprises, which is worth doing since 50 minutes across up to 50 questions leaves little slack for fumbling with controls.
| Format Detail | What the Sources Say |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Computer-based, proctored knowledge assessment |
| Question count | Estimated 45-50 (variable range) |
| Time limit | 50 minutes maximum, timed exam time only |
| Where to test | Pearson VUE center, OnVUE, or CATC channel |
| Online requirements | System check and live webcam proctor (OnVUE) |
To gauge how demanding that pace feels, read How Hard Is the ITS-AI Exam?, and when you want realistic timed repetition, our ITS-AI practice tests are built around this question-and-clock format.
Registration, Vouchers and Fees
Two separate voucher routes exist, and mixing them up is the most common purchasing mistake.
Standard exam voucher (Pearson MindhubPro)
- Displayed at USD 127 for web/member pricing, exam only.
- Country-restricted, and unavailable in some listed markets.
- Expires 12 months after purchase. Voucher expiry is separate from credential validity: the clock on the voucher has nothing to do with how long your certification lasts once earned.
CATC voucher with retake
- Listed at USD 133, US-only, and includes a retake.
- Proctoring may cost extra at the testing center.
- Not usable at Pearson VUE centers or through OnVUE.
CATC candidates should also expect center conditions: photo and signature ID, an NDA, parental consent for candidates under 18, and no personal paper or communication devices in the room. For a full cost comparison, including how these pieces add up, see ITS-AI Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Key Takeaway
Decide your testing channel first. If you want OnVUE or a Pearson VUE center, buy the standard voucher; if you plan to test at a CATC and want a built-in retake, the CATC voucher is the one that works, but only there.
Scoring: What 700 Really Means
The passing score is 700 on a 1-1000 scaled score. A scaled score is not the same as a raw 70%: it is a converted figure, so you cannot calculate how many questions you may miss by multiplying 0.7 by the question count. Certiport does not publish pass rates, so any "pass rate" quoted without a source should be treated skeptically; we discuss what can and cannot be said in ITS-AI Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows, and the scoring mechanics are unpacked in ITS-AI Passing Score 2026.
The Outdated Outline Problem
This is one of the most practical things to know about the certification. The exam content was updated in English on June 30, 2026, as listed in Certiport's exam content updates archive, following an announcement on April 29, 2026. Other-language rollout dates differ, so the release statement here concerns English only.
However, Pearson's general IT Specialist resources page still links a legacy copyright-2025 outline with five domains. That older document should not be treated as complete current English coverage. The revised six-domain document is the one that adds separate treatment of feature engineering, NLP, explainability, human interaction, feasibility, model-evaluation metrics, CI/CD, security, drift and decommissioning.
Readiness, Prerequisites and a Domain-Based Study Order
There is no degree requirement beyond the objective-domain knowledge itself. Pearson/Certiport describe the target candidate as having roughly 150 hours of preparation or experience. Treat that as a readiness profile, not an application requirement: nobody verifies a logged-hours total before you register. Eligibility details are collected in ITS-AI Requirements 2026.
Because the domains follow the AI lifecycle in order, a sequence that mirrors it works well, with extra time on the later domains that older outlines under-covered:
Domains 1 and 2
- Practice turning vague business goals into testable AI problems
- Review data collection and transformation fundamentals
Domain 3
- Work through feature engineering as a standalone topic, since it is no longer folded into modeling
Domain 4
- Spend the most time here: algorithms, NLP, evaluation metrics and explainability
Domains 5 and 6
- Cover CI/CD, security, integration, drift and decommissioning
- Finish with timed mixed practice
For a fuller plan, the ITS-AI Study Guide 2026 goes deeper, and the ITS-AI Cheat Sheet works well as a last-day review.
How Long the Credential Lasts
Awards earned on or after 2025-06-18 are valid for five years. Earlier awards remain nonexpiring. Recertification requires purchasing a new voucher and passing the current exam, so a renewal is a fresh attempt at whatever the exam looks like at that point, not a paperwork update. Exam scheduling windows are covered in ITS-AI Exam Dates 2026.
Who Hires for It and Where It Fits
ITS-AI is an entry-to-early-career signal. It suits students, career changers, IT support and junior development staff, and professionals who work alongside AI teams and need credible vocabulary across the whole lifecycle. Employers who care about it tend to be organizations adopting AI tools and building small internal AI efforts, and training programs and schools that use IT Specialist exams as measurable outcomes.
Be realistic about its role: it documents lifecycle knowledge, not hands-on production experience, so it works best paired with projects or a portfolio. We do not publish invented salary numbers here; for a grounded discussion of how certifications relate to pay and role titles, see ITS-AI Salary Guide 2026, ITS-AI jobs and the cost-benefit view in Is the ITS-AI Certification Worth It?
Key Takeaway
The strongest case for this certification is a candidate who can explain not just how to train a model, but how to scope it, secure it, deploy it and retire it. Domains 5 and 6 are where that story becomes distinctive, so do not skimp on them.
Frequently Asked Questions
It covers six official objective domains: AI Problem Definition; Data Collection and Transformation; Feature Engineering; AI Algorithms and Models; Application Integrity and Deployment; and Maintaining and Monitoring AI in Production. Pearson does not publish percentage weights for them.
Pearson MindhubPro estimates 45-50 questions with a 50-minute maximum of timed exam time. The question count is a variable range, not a fixed number, and administration and tutorials are not counted against the clock.
A scaled score of 700 on a 1-1000 scale. This is not a raw 70% requirement, and Certiport does not publish pass rates.
No. The standard MindhubPro voucher (USD 127 displayed) is for Pearson VUE centers or OnVUE and is country-restricted. The USD 133 CATC voucher with retake is US-only and cannot be used at Pearson VUE centers or through OnVUE.
Awards on or after 2025-06-18 are valid for five years; earlier awards remain nonexpiring. Recertifying means buying a new voucher and passing the current exam. Voucher expiry (12 months after purchase) is a separate matter from credential validity.
For related background, you can also read ITS-AI Certification, ITS-AI Meaning and What Is ITS-AI Certification?, then test yourself on the full objective list with the ITS-AI Exam Prep practice tests.