1.3 Admission Criteria, Coursework, Examinations & Reciprocity

1.3 Admission Criteria, Coursework, Examinations & Reciprocity

Mandatory Coursework (N.J.A.C. 7:10A-1.15)

New Jersey ties examination admission to a high school credential, an approved course, and documented experience.

• Introductory course. Any applicant holding no degree higher than a high school diploma, or not holding an associates degree, must successfully complete a Department-approved introductory course in the subject matter pertaining to the license being sought before applying to test. In practice this is the 180-hour "Introduction to Water and Wastewater Operations" course. NJDEP waives it for applicants holding, at a minimum, an associates degree in engineering or a related science field, or a bachelors degree in an unrelated field.
• Advanced course. Any applicant for a Class 2, 3, or 4 license must complete a Department-approved advanced course in the subject matter of the license sought — the 90-hour "Advanced Water Operations" course for T and W licenses, or the corresponding advanced wastewater course for S, C, and N licenses.
• VSWS course. VSWS applicants complete the 12-hour VSWS training course.
• Industrial (N) course. Applicants for an industrial wastewater treatment system license must have completed a Department-approved industrial waste course before applying.
• Waiver for equivalent training. Any of these course requirements may be waived if the applicant submits satisfactory proof of equivalent training — transcripts and course descriptions, including textbooks used.

Exam Trap Alert: The advanced course threshold is Class 2, not Class 3. Candidates who memorize "advanced course for Class 3 and 4" will miss the Class 2 case, which is the single most common admission question on this topic.

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Table IIIA — Experience Requirements for VSWS, S, T, C, and W

Associates and bachelors degrees in this table mean degrees from an accredited college resulting in an engineering or related science degree.

The Two Kinds of Experience

• Operating experience is time spent in the satisfactory performance of operational duties at a system acceptable to the Board of Examiners: process control decisions, chemical dosing, sampling and testing, equipment operation, and routine maintenance.
• Direct responsible charge (DRC) experience is active, daily, on-site supervision, including operation and maintenance responsibilities, at a system no more than one classification lower than the license sought — and it must be gained while holding a license no more than one grade lower than the license sought.

Exam Trap Alert: DRC experience is not merely "supervisory time." A T-2 licensee accumulating DRC hours at a T-1 plant is building qualifying time toward T-3. An unlicensed lead operator accumulates operating experience only, no matter how much crew supervision the job involves. This is why Class 3 and Class 4 ladders take a decade for a high-school-credentialed candidate: the DRC clock cannot start until the previous license is in hand.

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Application, Fees, and Examination Administration

1. Apply to NJDEP. File the application with the Examinations & Licensing Unit with documentary evidence of education and experience, the appropriate signatory (usually the licensed operator in charge at the system, sometimes the owner or administrator), and the non-refundable $70.00 application fee. Applications submitted without the required documentation or fee are returned without substantive review. Applicants are advised at least two weeks in advance regarding admission to examinations.
2. Schedule with PSI. After the Board of Examiners approves the application, the candidate receives an Authorization to Test and schedules a computer-based examination at a PSI testing center, paying the $102 per-exam testing fee directly to PSI. PSI — not the Department — handles all exam scheduling.

Fee Schedule

Application and initial license fees are currently waived for VSWS licenses.

Examination Format

New Jersey administers Water Professionals International (WPI, formerly ABC) standardized operator examinations at PSI testing centers. Each standardized exam is:

• 100 scored multiple-choice questions, plus up to 10 unscored pre-test questions scattered through the exam that WPI uses to develop future forms;
• three hours in length;
• passed with a score of 70 or greater;
• supported by an on-screen calculator and a formula/conversion table (hard-copy formula tables are also provided; personal calculators must be basic, with no graphing or alphanumeric functions);
• written in US Standard units with metric equivalents in parentheses, each item solvable in either unit system.

N.J.A.C. 7:10A-1.4 requires the Department to offer examinations at least twice annually, and permits written questions, oral questions, or a combination. Roughly 15 to 16 percent of items on the standardized water and wastewater exams are calculation items.

WPI Content Areas by License Discipline (Class IV)

Use these weights to allocate study time. A wastewater treatment candidate who neglects process evaluation and adjustment is walking away from 42 percent of the exam; a distribution candidate who dismisses "administrative" material is walking away from 26.

Results, Retakes, and Three-Time Failure

Candidates are notified approximately four to six weeks after testing. Every examinee receives an analysis showing the number of correct and incorrect responses in each content area — the single most useful retake-planning document available, because it identifies which WPI content area failed. Actual examinations are never released for review.

An applicant who fails the same examination three times may not sit a fourth time until submitting proof of having retaken and satisfactorily completed the appropriate Department-approved training course for that license. The $70 application fee is due again for the initial exam and each time a three-time-failure refresher completion certificate is submitted for reexamination eligibility.

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Reciprocity with Other States (N.J.A.C. 7:10A-1.11)

The Department may issue licenses to persons meeting the requirements of N.J.S.A. 58:11-69. An out-of-state licensee applying for a New Jersey license must:

• Meet the minimum New Jersey education and experience requirements for the license sought — the same Table IIIA ladder applies;
• Have passed an examination deemed equivalent to a New Jersey examination; and
• Hold a license from a state that grants reciprocity to New Jersey licensees (New Jersey may grant reciprocity only on a mutual basis).

Exam Trap Alert: Reciprocity is not a transfer. It is a discretionary Department action that still requires the New Jersey education and experience minimums to be satisfied independently. A Class 4 license from a state with no reciprocity agreement buys nothing in New Jersey.