Anchor your preparation to the five duty areas in the official content outline: mobilize, construct, rehabilitate, develop, and demobilize. Exam M runs 75 questions in one hour, closed book, with a 70 percent minimum, so it is longer than most other NGWA exams. Study from the texts NGWA recommends for augering and monitoring, practice decisions and documentation on paper, and remember that certification also requires the general drilling exam, experience, and references.
What this exam assesses and where it fits
Exam M: Augering and Monitoring is a specialized drilling exam in NGWA's voluntary contractor certification program, and it is one of the exams you can pair with the general drilling exam to earn the Certified Well Driller (CWD) designation.
The National Ground Water Association has run its voluntary certification program since 1970. It is governed by groundwater contractors and is recognized as a leading industry program, with some state agencies adopting the same tests inside their own licensing systems.
Within the drilling category, Exam M sits alongside the cable tool, air rotary, mud rotary, reverse circulation, and jetting and driving specialty exams. NGWA lists it at 75 questions, which makes it an outlier among the 50-question exams in the program.
To earn the CWD designation, you must pass the general drilling exam and at least one other specialized drilling exam, both within one 12-month period, with scores of 70 percent or better on each.
Sources: Groundwater | NGWA Certification exams; Groundwater | NGWA Certification for contractors
Format and official content outline
Exam M is closed book, with 75 questions, one hour of testing time, and a minimum passing score of 70 percent.
These figures come from the PSI candidate bulletin, whose content pages are marked May 2022, and they match NGWA's own exam page. Because most other NGWA exams run 50 questions in the same hour, budget your pacing for a heavier question load before test day.
The bulletin also breaks the 75 questions across five duty areas. Use this table to weight your study time, and treat it as the official structure rather than any third-party topic list.
| Content area (PSI bulletin, content pages marked May 2022) | Questions |
|---|---|
| Mobilize for the Site | 18 |
| Construct Water Well | 43 |
| Rehabilitate Wells | 3 |
| Develop Wells | 8 |
| Demobilize the Site | 3 |
| Total | 75 |
Sources: PSI NGWA candidate information bulletin — Content pages 5-7, marked May 2022; cover September 20, 2022; Groundwater | NGWA Certification exams
Sitting the exam versus earning certification
No approval is needed to sit an Exam M session, but certification adds age, experience, exam-pair, and reference requirements that you must complete within a set window.
The PSI bulletin states plainly that no NGWA approval is needed to sit an exam and that certification application and eligibility remain separate steps. You can schedule and take the test first, then assemble the certification package.
To apply for certification, NGWA requires the items below, with application materials received within 12 months of the qualifying exam session.
- Be at least 20 years old
- Have at least 24 consecutive months of full-time drilling or pump installation experience
- Pass the required two exams within one 12-month period, each at 70 percent or better
- Provide written experience references from two professional contacts not affiliated with your current company
- Submit an agreement form and an affidavit for the current year
Sources: Groundwater | NGWA Certification for contractors; PSI NGWA candidate information bulletin — Content pages 5-7, marked May 2022; cover September 20, 2022; Groundwater | NGWA Certification exams
Study materials NGWA recommends for this exam
NGWA names four resources specifically for the augering and monitoring exam, plus a set of drilling texts that apply to every drilling specialty exam.
The exam-specific list is where your reading time pays off fastest. NGWA's exam page ties each title below to the augering and monitoring exam by name, and the Professional Designations Information and Study Guide covers study materials for all exams and can be purchased through the NGWA online store.
NGWA University also offers self-paced online training for the general exams, built with NGWA-approved subject matter experts, which can support the general drilling exam you must pair with Exam M.
- Handbook of Suggested Practices for the Design and Installation of Ground-Water Monitoring Wells — listed for the augering and monitoring exam
- Environmental Remediation Drilling Safety Guideline — listed for drilling exams, including augering and monitoring
- Employee Safety Manual, second edition — listed for the general drilling and augering and monitoring exams
- Transfer of Technology — listed for the mud rotary and augering and monitoring exams
- Manual of Water Well Construction Practices, third edition, and Water Well Driller's Beginning Training Manual — listed for all drilling exams
- Groundwater & Wells, third edition, and Professional Designations Information and Study Guide — listed for all exams
Worked example: specific capacity from same-time readings
Specific capacity is the yield per unit of drawdown, found by dividing the pumping rate by the drawdown measured at the same time in the test.
USGS describes bored wells as constructed with earth augers turned by hand or powered equipment. It distinguishes well development as removing fine material beside the screen or open hole. The calculation below is supplementary groundwater background, rather than a monitoring-well sampling procedure.
Use a pumping rate and drawdown from the same elapsed time. The resulting ratio describes those observations and does not guarantee future performance.
Practice exercise
Assume a well has been developed until drilling fluids and fines are cleared from the zone around the screen. During a pumping test, the discharge rate is measured at 24 gpm and the drawdown at that same moment is 6 feet. What is the specific capacity of the well at that point in the test?
Show answer
24 gpm ÷ 6 ft = 4 gpm per foot of drawdown.
Specific capacity is yield per unit of drawdown, calculated by dividing the pumping rate by the drawdown at the same time in the test. Both readings here come from the same moment, so the division is valid. Because the definition ties the figure to a moment in the test, the result describes that measurement rather than guaranteeing performance under other pumping conditions.
Practice check: spotting an incomplete well record
The drilling DACUM chart includes documenting well construction. You can practise reading records with a fictional field list, while keeping that exercise separate from legal record requirements or a promised exam question.
The charts analyze major duties and related tasks for drilling contractors and operators, and NGWA recommends them to professionals studying for contractor certification. A practical way to rehearse this duty is to audit a fictional record against an explicit field list and name exactly what is missing and why it matters.
Practice exercise
For this exercise, assume a complete record for an augered monitoring well must show five things: a unique well identifier tied to a fixed location, the drilling method, the total depth drilled, the screen interval, and a unique identifier for each formation sample. A crew's log reads: 'Site B, third boring this week; hollow-stem auger; drilled to 30 feet; screen set from 24 to 29 feet.' Which required items are missing, and why does each matter?
Show answer
Two items are missing. The log has no unique well identifier tied to a fixed location, and it has no identifiers for the formation samples. 'Third boring this week' is a relative reference that becomes ambiguous once the crew leaves the site.
The exercise explicitly requires a unique well identifier tied to a fixed location and identifiers for the samples. Neither appears in the log. The method, total depth and screen interval do appear. This answer follows the fictional checklist; it does not establish the required contents of every official well record.
Sources: DACUM Research Chart for Drilling Contractors and Operators; Groundwater | NGWA Certification exams
Scheduling, scores, and next steps
PSI administers the exams year-round at more than 400 test centers, scores are issued immediately, and you should collect your score report before leaving the test center.
You schedule through PSI's website or by phone, and the program requires no special computer skills. If you need special accommodations, contact NGWA, which records your information and sends approval to PSI so someone there can complete your registration.
Scores appear immediately after you finish. NGWA can reissue a lost score report for a fee, but scores are never given over the phone, so the copy you collect at the center is the one to keep safe.
- Confirm the current PSI candidate bulletin and NGWA exam page before relying on any figure in this guide
- Get the Professional Designations Information and Study Guide and the exam-specific texts NGWA lists
- Plan both required exams so they fall within one 12-month period
- Schedule your Exam M session through PSI, and build your certification application timeline from the 12-month submission window
Sources: Groundwater | NGWA Certification exams; Groundwater | NGWA Certification for contractors
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