Can you take the Red Seal exam online?

Paper or computer, but always supervised

The Red Seal guide describes a paper exam: a booklet, a diagram booklet if needed, and a bubble sheet for your answers. Some provinces have moved to on-screen exams.

Skilled Trades Ontario, for example, delivers Red Seal exams on rsexam.ca at locations that offer online exams. Your booking confirmation tells you which kind yours is. After you book, you get an email to set up your account 7 to 14 days before the exam, and you can log in early to try the practice questions and get used to the screen.

What you can do online

• Apply to write or challenge the exam, through your authority's portal (SkilledTradesBC Portal, the Skilled Trades Ontario Portal or MyTradesecrets in Alberta).
• Pay your fees and book a date and place.
• Read your trade's Red Seal Occupational Standard and exam breakdown on red-seal.ca.
• Do the free self-assessment and sample questions on red-seal.ca.
• Take an online prep course, if you want one.

Where the exams happen

B.C. holds scheduled exam sessions in 15 places, from Burnaby and Surrey to Prince George and Fort St. John. If none of those work, it can arrange for you to write at a Service BC office.

Ontario uses its headquarters and college campuses across the province. Alberta books Red Seal exams at its Apprenticeship and Industry Training offices, through MyTradesecrets.

Watch out for "online certification" offers

Only your provincial or territorial authority can let you write the Red Seal exam and issue the endorsement. Red Seal warns that anyone selling the real questions is either dishonest or breaking the law, and it doesn't endorse any prep company.