1.1 Certificate Ratings and the Three-Test Roadmap

Start With the Certificate Frame

The FAA mechanic certificate can be issued with an Airframe (A) rating, a Powerplant (P) rating, or both ratings together. When a mechanic holds both, the certificate is informally called an A&P certificate. That phrase is convenient, but it hides the regulatory structure that the exams actually follow. Under 14 CFR Part 65, Subpart D, the certificate is one document and each rating is a separately earned privilege placed on it. You do not earn an 'A&P'; you earn a mechanic certificate and then add the Airframe rating, the Powerplant rating, or both.

This distinction matters on test day and in your records. The ratings define what work you may approve for return to service: an Airframe-rated mechanic may work on airframe structures and systems, a Powerplant-rated mechanic may work on engines and propellers, and a mechanic with both may do both. Throughout this guide, treat 'certificate' and 'rating' as different nouns — the FAA paperwork, the FAA Form 8610-2 (Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application), and the examiner all do.

The Three-Test Knowledge Path

There is no single combined written exam. The FAA splits the knowledge requirement of 14 CFR 65.75 into three separate computer-based knowledge tests, each with its own test code, question set, and score report:

The General (AMG) test is the shared foundation. Both ratings require it, so every applicant — single-rating or both-rating — must pass AMG. A candidate adding only the Airframe rating takes AMG + AMA; one adding only Powerplant takes AMG + AMP; one seeking both takes all three. Because each test is scored independently, you can pass them on different days, at different testing centers, and in any order — though most candidates take AMG first because its content underpins the other two.

How the Knowledge Tests Feed the O&P

Passing the written tests is necessary but not sufficient. After the applicable knowledge tests are passed, the applicant must still pass an oral test and a practical test (the O&P) administered by a Designated Mechanic Examiner (DME) under 14 CFR 65.79. The DME verifies, hands-on, that you can actually perform maintenance tasks — not just answer multiple-choice questions. The sequence is fixed: knowledge first, then O&P. You cannot schedule the O&P with a DME until you can show passing Airman Knowledge Test Reports (AKTRs) for every test the rating requires.

Modern FAA testing is anchored to the Aviation Mechanic Airman Certification Standards (ACS), which replaced the older Practical Test Standards (PTS). The ACS integrates the knowledge, risk management, and skill elements for each subject area into a single document, and the same ACS codes that drive the written test also drive the oral questions the DME asks. That integration is the reason your knowledge-test score report is a study tool for the O&P, not just a receipt.

A Worked Roadmap

Here is the end-to-end path for a candidate seeking both ratings:

1. Confirm eligibility — age 18, English proficiency, and an experience or schooling basis (covered in 1.2–1.3).
2. Establish an FTN — create an FAA Tracking Number via IACRA (1.4).
3. Secure authorization to test — Form 8610-2 signature, AMTS documentation, or a military Certificate of Eligibility (1.3–1.4).
4. Pass AMG, AMA, and AMP — three separate knowledge tests, 70% each (1.5).
5. Apply for the O&P within 24 months — knowledge results expire (1.6).
6. Pass the oral and practical with a DME — final step to the certificate (1.6).

Misreading this roadmap is a classic planning trap: candidates assume one 'A&P exam,' or assume the written tests alone grant the certificate. Neither is true. Keep the three nouns straight — certificate, rating, test — and the rest of this chapter falls into place.

Why the Split Structure Exists

The three-test structure is not bureaucratic clutter; it mirrors how the work itself divides. The General subjects — electricity, weight and balance, materials and hardware, regulations and recordkeeping, human factors — apply to every mechanic regardless of rating, which is why they are tested once in AMG rather than duplicated in AMA and AMP.

The Airframe and Powerplant bodies of knowledge are genuinely distinct disciplines: an airframe technician reasons about structures, rigging, hydraulics, and pressurization, while a powerplant technician reasons about combustion cycles, ignition timing, lubrication, and propellers. Testing them separately lets the FAA certify a mechanic in exactly the scope they are qualified for.

This also explains why the certificate is permanent but the knowledge-test results expire. The certificate, once issued, does not lapse; it is the gateway tests that carry time limits (the 24-month window covered in 1.5–1.6). Understanding that the certificate, the ratings, and the tests each behave differently — different scopes, different permanence, different timing — is the mental model that prevents nearly every orientation-stage mistake. When a question asks what you 'earn,' the answer is a certificate with one or both ratings; when it asks what you 'pass,' the answer is AMG, AMA, and/or AMP plus the O&P.