Last updated: September 16, 2026
Effective Date: September 15, 2026
These Rules are incorporated into the Quantum Academy Terms of Service for candidates, under Terms §6.
These Rules apply to every Quantum Academy certification exam. The Certified Chief Quantum Officer (CCQO) capstone is assessed differently and its terms are in the Candidate Guide. PQCX is awarded automatically and has no exam.
You accept these Rules when you start an exam.
“We” and “us” mean Post-Quantum Institute, trading as Quantum Academy. “You” means the candidate. “Proctor” means whoever supervises your sitting, whether that is Quantum Academy staff or an approved proctoring provider we appoint.
These Rules apply to every sitting, however it is run. Sittings are not all run the same way. Who supervises, where you take the exam and whether the session is recorded all depend on the program, the date, your location and demand. We set out the arrangements for your sitting in your booking confirmation, and Candidate Guide section 2 describes the range. Where these Rules and your confirmation differ on a point, your confirmation is the one that applies to that sitting.
1. Before you start
You must prove who you are before the exam begins, with a current government-recognized photo identification document. A passport, national identity card, or driving licence is accepted. The name on it must match the name on your Quantum Academy account.
Correct your account before you book if the two differ. We cannot correct a name during an exam, and a mismatch ends the attempt.
The proctor will also check your environment: your room, desk and equipment for an online sitting, or the centre’s check-in procedure at a test centre. The exam opens when those checks pass.
How the identity check is carried out, and whether any image of your document is captured, depend on the arrangement. We tell you which one applies before you book.
2. What you may have with you
Leave all notes, books, printed material, phones, tablets, smart watches, headphones, second monitors, and other devices outside the testing area. Only you may be in the room, for the whole sitting.
One blank sheet of paper and a pen are permitted. Show the sheet to the camera, both sides, before the exam starts. Hold it up again at the end, and destroy it on camera when the proctor asks.
Water in a clear container is permitted.
3. During the exam
You must remain under supervision for the whole sitting. For an online sitting that means staying on camera and, where screen share is required, sending your entire desktop. The proctor will not accept a window-only or tab-only share. At a test centre it means remaining in the testing room under the centre’s invigilation. If supervision is interrupted and not restored promptly, the proctor may end the attempt.
Stay in view of the camera. You may take one comfort break of up to five minutes; tell the proctor before you go. The exam clock keeps running.
You must not:
- communicate with anyone other than the proctor
- use any unauthorized device, application, or material
- copy, photograph, record, transcribe, or reproduce any exam content by any means
- allow anyone else to see the exam content
- take the exam on behalf of someone else, or have a substitute take it for you
- stop the camera or the screen share, interfere with the exam platform, or defeat any supervision tool in use
The proctor may pause the exam, ask you to repeat the room check, or end the attempt if these Rules are not being followed. Follow the proctor’s instructions at the time. If you disagree with an instruction, comply and appeal afterwards under the Candidate Guide.
If your connection or equipment fails, reconnect and rejoin. The exam remains open for up to fifteen minutes. Raise anything you want considered at the time; where a sitting is not recorded, the proctor’s note written during the session is the only contemporaneous account.
4. Recording
Under some arrangements we record the session. Under others we do not. We tell you which applies to your sitting before you book. The Privacy Notice sets out what is retained, and for how long, where we make a recording.
Where a sitting is not recorded, a proctor watches in real time and writes a short note if something needs putting in writing. What we keep is your answers, your score, the start and end times, and that note where one exists.
That difference affects you, and you should know which applies before you take your exam. Without a recording, a disputed observation cannot be replayed. Section 7 describes how we handle that.
You may not record the session yourself under any arrangement, for the reason in section 5.
5. Exam content is confidential
Every question, answer option, scenario, and score report is confidential and remains our property. You must not disclose, publish, discuss, summarize, or reconstruct any part of it, before or after your exam, in any forum, including study groups, social media, employer training material, and AI tools.
You agree to this before the exam begins. Refusing the agreement means the attempt does not start and counts as a no-show under Refund Policy §5.
Discussing the published exam blueprint, the topics it lists, or your own preparation is fine. Discussing the questions you saw is not.
6. What invalidates an attempt
We may invalidate an attempt, withhold a result, or revoke a credential already issued where we determine, on the evidence available:
- mismatched identification, or a substituted candidate
- prohibited materials, devices, or another person present
- communication with anyone other than the proctor during the exam
- disclosure or reproduction of exam content, by you or traceable to you
- stopping the camera or screen share without the proctor’s agreement, or interfering with the exam platform
- a statistical pattern in your responses that indicates prior access to current exam content
An attempt invalidated under this section is not refunded. Refund Policy §5 states this.
7. Consequences
Sanctions follow a graduated scale.
| Finding | Sanction |
|---|---|
| A procedural breach with no advantage gained | Warning, attempt stands |
| A breach that may have affected the result | Attempt invalidated, no refund, retake permitted after the standard interval |
| Deliberate breach: substitution, prohibited materials, communication | Attempt invalidated, no refund, barred from all Quantum Academy exams for 12 months |
| Disclosure or reproduction of exam content, or a repeat deliberate breach | Attempt invalidated, existing credentials revoked, permanent bar |
Where a sitting was not recorded, the evidence matters. If the only evidence is a disputed proctor observation and nothing else supports the finding, the sanction is capped at an invalidated attempt with a free retake. The two heaviest sanctions in the table apply only where something corroborates the finding: a recording, an admission, exam content found published, a statistical analysis of your responses, or a second person visible in the session.
We notify you of the finding, the evidence relied on, and the sanction before it takes effect, except where a credential must be suspended immediately to protect the verification record. You have 21 days to respond. Appeals are handled under the Candidate Guide.
We do not publish the names of candidates sanctioned under these Rules. We do remove a revoked credential from the public verification record.
8. Changes
We may change these Rules, and delivery arrangements will develop over time. Material changes to these Rules are published at least 30 days before they take effect, and the version in force on the date you take your exam applies to that attempt.
Delivery arrangements are confirmed per sitting. The arrangements in your booking confirmation are the ones that apply to your sitting, and nothing published afterwards changes them. If we need to alter an arrangement for a sitting you already hold, we will tell you and you may reschedule at no charge or take a full refund.
Arrangements can also move between the day you buy an exam and the day you book a sitting for it. If the arrangements we can offer when you come to book differ materially from those described in Candidate Guide section 2 on the day you bought, you may take a full refund of the unused fee instead of booking.
The current version of these Rules is always at quantumacademy.com/exam-rules/.
9. Contact
Questions about these Rules: support@quantumacademy.com. Credential verification: validation@quantumacademy.com. Post-Quantum Institute, 155 N Wacker Dr, Suite 4250, Chicago, IL 60606, United States.