API 510 Application: How to Document Your Experience

What API says you need

The requirements come from Appendix B of API 510, and API's API 510 page summarizes them as a table. The minimum is a mix of education and experience:

Two more conditions apply. The experience must have been acquired within the last 10 years. It must also have been gained while employed by, or under contract with, an authorized inspection agency as defined in API 510. For military credit, API says a dishonorable discharge disqualifies it.

Why "inspection activities" is the line to watch

Every route has one year that must be inspection work. Design, fabrication, repair and operation count toward the total on three of the routes, but one year has to be supervising or performing the inspection activities that API 510 describes. If most of your time was in operations or maintenance, count the months that were inspection work and see whether you reach a full year.

API 510 describes those activities in its own text, so read that description in your own copy. Match your duties to it instead of your job title.

Build a work-history checklist

Make one row per employer or contract period:

• Employer or contracting company, and whether it was an authorized inspection agency under API 510
• Start and end dates, to the month
• Equipment you worked on: vessels, columns, exchangers, drums
• Your duties in plain verbs: measured thickness, reviewed repairs, wrote inspection plans, supervised an outage
• Which of those duties were inspection activities
• Who can verify the period, with a current way to reach them

Then add the months. Check the total against your education row, and check the inspection-only months against the one-year line. Do this before you apply. If you are short, you know exactly how many months you need and in what kind of work.

Check the 10-year window

Experience older than 10 years does not count toward the minimum. Mark the date ten years back from the first exam date you plan to request, and drop everything before it. People with long careers sometimes find the recent years are thinner than they remembered, especially after a move into planning or management.

Do not rely on a title

Titles do not tell API what you did. "Reliability engineer" may cover a year of thickness reviews, or none. Write the duties, not the label. If a former supervisor will need to confirm your work, ask early, while you still have their contact details.

Line up the application with the window

Two policies shape timing. A new application stays valid for 6 months from the first exam date you request, and each window has an application deadline on API's schedules and fees page. Our exam schedule and fees guide explains both. Certification also waits until any application deficiencies are cleared, even after a passing result, so a complete record helps you at the end as well as the start.

Study while the application is processed

The documentation work and the studying can run at the same time. Pick the window you can realistically prepare for, then use the weeks to find your weak sections. The certification cost and requirements guide has a budget worksheet you can fill in alongside the checklist above.

Next step

Take the free 10-question check at /api-510#q1 to see which Body of Knowledge sections to start with. Then see the plans at /api-510/offer#plans, and ask Patch, the study buddy, at /study-assistant for a study plan built around your exam date.

FAQ

Can I take API 510 without a degree?

Yes. API's table allows a high school diploma or equivalent with 3 years of relevant vessel work, and no formal education with 5 or more years, each including 1 year of inspection activities.

How recent does my experience need to be?

It must have been acquired within the last 10 years, while employed by or under contract with an authorized inspection agency as defined in API 510.

Does API check what I write on the application?

Yes. API says the minimum experience must be documented on the application and will be verified after submission.

Does military service count?

API's table counts technical military service toward education, at 3 or more years for the bachelor's route and 2 years for the associate route. A dishonorable discharge disqualifies the credit.

Sources

• API 510 Pressure Vessel Inspector: Qualification, American Petroleum Institute (checked 26 October 2026)
• ICP Schedules & Fees, American Petroleum Institute
• ICP Policies: Applications & Exams, American Petroleum Institute