CAIBOK Exam Rules

Version 1.0 · effective 2026-08-20. What you may have with you during a CAIBOK exam, what you may not, and what happens if the rules are broken. These rules apply to every CAIBOK examination, whether or not it is proctored.

Related: Exam blueprints · What each credential attests · Code of Professional Ethics and the Discipline and Appeals Procedure · Terms of Service

1. The short version

Every CAIBOK exam is closed-book, and you sit it alone.

You may have: the device you are sitting the exam on, something to drink, and anything CAIBOK approved in advance as an accommodation.

You may not have: notes, books, printouts, another screen, a phone, another person, or any tool that answers questions for you.

You may not copy, photograph, record, retype or share any exam question, at any time, during the exam or afterwards.

2. Why the rules are this way

A CAIBOK credential says that a named person demonstrated certain knowledge on a certain day. If someone can pass with a book open, or with a friend beside them, or with a tool answering for them, then the credential says nothing — and it says nothing about everyone who holds it, not just the person who cheated.

The rules exist to protect the value of the credential for the people who earned it honestly.

3. What is not allowed

During the exam

• Reference material of any kind. Notes, textbooks, printed material, handwriting on your hand or your desk, open browser tabs, a second device.
• Anything that answers for you. An AI assistant, a search engine, a calculator app used to look something up, a messaging app, a remote-desktop tool, screen sharing.
• Another person. Nobody may sit with you, look at your screen, be spoken to, or take the exam in your place. Impersonation is the most serious breach in this document.
• Leaving the exam to consult something and returning. Where an exam is timed, the clock keeps running; where it is proctored, an unexplained absence from the camera is recorded.

A basic on-screen or physical calculator is allowed where an exam involves arithmetic. The exam is testing whether you can do the calculation, not whether you can do it in your head.

At any time, before or after

• Reproducing exam content. Copying, photographing, screen-recording, retyping, reconstructing from memory, or sharing any question, answer option, or part of one.
• Seeking exam content. Asking anyone what was on the exam, or buying, downloading or reading material that claims to contain real CAIBOK questions.
• Publishing or selling exam content, including in a study guide, a course, a forum post, a chat group or a video.

Exam content is confidential. That obligation is in the Terms of Service you accepted, it applies to candidates and certificants alike, and it does not end when you pass.

4. Accommodations are not a breach

If CAIBOK has approved an accommodation for you — extra time, a screen reader, a rest break, a different format — then using it is not a breach of these rules, whatever it looks like.

Ask before you sit the exam, not after. Requests go through your candidate declaration, or to [email protected]. A decision is made before the exam and recorded, and refusing an accommodation can be appealed.

5. Proctored exams

The capstone examinations for the Green, Red and Black Belts are proctored. Subject exams are not.

In a proctored exam your camera takes still photographs at intervals while you work. There is no audio, no recording of your screen, and nobody watching live. The photographs are stored on CAIBOK's own servers, reviewed by a person only if something needs checking, and deleted after twelve months.

You will be told all of this on the exam page before you begin, and you will be asked to test your camera before the exam starts rather than discovering a problem mid-attempt.

6. Time and retakes

Every exam has a time limit, published on the blueprints page and shown before you begin. When the time runs out the exam submits itself with whatever you have answered.

Failing is not a breach of these rules. It carries no penalty beyond the ordinary retake terms: a two-week wait before your next exam, and — on a capstone — your first sitting and first retake are included, with further attempts paid for. Cancelling an exam you have started counts the same as failing it, so start when you are ready.

7. What happens if a rule is broken

CAIBOK does not accuse anyone lightly, and being flagged is not a finding of dishonesty.

1. Something is noticed — by a proctoring review, by exam statistics, by a report, or by an irregularity in how an attempt was taken.
2. You are told, and you are asked. No decision is made about your credential before you have been told what was seen and given a chance to explain it. An innocent explanation is common: a household member walking through the room is not impersonation.
3. A decision is recorded. Depending on what is found: no action; the attempt voided and re-sat at no cost; the attempt voided and counted as a failure; or, for deliberate and serious breaches, refusal of the credential or revocation of one already held.
4. You may appeal. Every decision under this section is appealable through the Discipline and Appeals Procedure, which is decided by someone who was not part of the original decision.

Impersonation, and the organised sale or distribution of exam content, are the two breaches that lead to revocation rather than a voided attempt.

8. Reporting a problem

If you think a question is wrong, unclear or unfair, use the Report a problem link under the question itself while you are sitting the exam. It goes to a moderator, it is read, and it does not affect your result. Reporting a bad question is a service to every candidate after you, and one of our testers has already had a wrongly-keyed question corrected this way.

If you believe someone is cheating, or that exam content is being sold or shared, write to [email protected]. Reports may be made anonymously. CAIBOK does not disclose who reported what, and reporting in good faith is never held against the person who reports.

9. Changes to these rules

These rules are reviewed at least annually by the Scheme Committee and ratified by the Board of Trustees. Material changes are published here before they take effect. The version and effective date at the top of this page tell you which rules applied on the day you sat.