ASQ open-book exam rules: what references you can bring
Every ASQ certification exam is open book, including the CQI, CQE and CSSGB. That helps only if your books pass the check at the door and you can find a page fast. This guide sums up ASQ's rules from its candidate handbook and certification pages, read in November 2026. ASQ can change them, so check the current handbook before exam day.
Bound and staying bound
- Your references, notes included, must be bound and stay bound. Stitched or glued bindings count, and so do fasteners through every page: ring binders, spiral binding, plastic snap binders, brads and screw posts.
- Hand-stapled pages are not allowed.
- No electronic copies of any reference.
- Post-it notes are allowed only as tabs, attached before you enter.
- No blank or unbound tablets, unbound notes, or slide and wheel charts.
- Collections of questions and answers, or refresher quizzes, must be removed or obscured.
The test center administrator inspects your references before you start.
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Calculator and scratch work
A basic scientific calculator is on screen in every computer-based exam, and ASQ says a simple calculator is enough. If you bring your own, it must be silent, hand-held and battery-operated, with no alphabetic keyboard and no programmable memory. TI-89-class calculators are not allowed. At a Prometric center you get scratch paper and pencils. With live remote proctoring you use the on-screen scratchpad instead.
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Set up your books before exam day
- Bring fewer books that you know well rather than a stack you have never opened. Time is short: 4 hours 18 minutes for CQI and CSSGB, 5 hours 18 minutes for CQE.
- Tab each book by BoK section, so the section a question comes from tells you where to look.
- Bind your own formula sheet and notes so they meet the rule.
- Practice with the same books on a timed run, so you learn when to look something up and when to move on.
Practice the way you will test
The free 10-question checks are weighted to each BoK and explain every answer: CQI, CQE or CSSGB. The exam outlines list each section and its question count: CQI, CQE and CSSGB.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by ASQ. ASQ is named only to identify the exams and their owner.
Sources
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- ASQ certification candidate handbook, ASQ, read 9 November 2026.
- Certified Quality Inspector, ASQ, read 7 November 2026.
- Certified Six Sigma Green Belt, ASQ, read 9 November 2026.
Facts come from the sources listed above. If something has changed, tell us and we will correct it within 2 business days.
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