CWI 9-Year Recertification — API 1104

HoldPoint study map

Course outline

Unit and lesson titles below are HoldPoint original material. They are not an official exam bulletin.

1. Confirming the recertification route

   You are sitting 1104, not D1.1 with pipeline stories. Confirm the endorsement and the book on the table.

   • What nine-year recertification is testing on 1104
   • Pipeline work versus structural habits you must park
   • Documents you may carry
   • How this exam differs from first-time Parts A, B and C
   • Tabbing a short code you have not opened in years
   • Ethics and QC1 duties that still apply in the ditch
   • A study calendar for working inspectors
   • Practice: map your route and your book
   • Unit review: Confirming the recertification route

2. Practical judgment refresh

   Gauges, replicas and dispositions with pipeline joint geometry, not building-steel folklore.

   • Classification before measurement
   • Pipe-joint geometry as a picture
   • Incomplete fusion versus incomplete penetration on a pipe weld
   • Alignment, high-low and the gauge that belongs to each
   • The supplied specification versus 1104 at work
   • Report language for a spread or a contractor
   • Errors experienced pipeline inspectors still make
   • Practice: twelve dispositions against the clock
   • Unit review: Practical judgment refresh

3. API 1104 retrieval habits

   Open-book speed in a compact code, including the figures people forget exist.

   • Relearning the map of the exam edition
   • Procedure qualification lookups from memory — stop
   • Welder qualification lookups
   • Acceptance standards: how these tables are organised
   • Repair clauses
   • Automatic welding as a side door you now have to open
   • Two-figure items
   • Practice: fifteen 1104 lookups
   • Unit review: API 1104 retrieval habits

4. Pipeline discontinuities, NDT and records

   Visual-to-NDT handoff on production welds, and the record that travels with the line.

   • Crack calls on a production weld
   • NDT method identity in a pipeline specification
   • Extent versus method
   • In-service welding as an inspection problem
   • Tie-ins, cut-outs and re-inspection
   • Traceability on a spread
   • Ethics items written for people who already stamp reports
   • Practice: eight field stories, eight first moves
   • Unit review: Pipeline discontinuities, NDT and records

5. Timed mixed practice

   Mix practical judgment with 1104 lookups until you stop reaching for D1.1 clause numbers.

   • First-pass triage
   • When to stop searching and commit
   • The unused wall-thickness number from last week’s job
   • Mixed set: high-low, acceptance table and report line
   • Full-length timing rehearsal
   • What this exam is not: a D1.1 recertification
   • Final self-assessment
   • After you pass: keeping the 1104 endorsement current
   • Unit review: Timed mixed practice

6. Closeout and endorsement discipline

   You sat 1104. Work that is structural steel is a different endorsement.

   • 1104 endorsement versus the specification in the ditch
   • What a missed lookup on recertification usually was
   • A post-exam tabbing kit
   • Teaching a helper without teaching folklore
   • When to sit Part C again
   • Records of your own qualification
   • Final mixed drill
   • Handoff back to production inspection
   • Unit review: Closeout and endorsement discipline

Fit check

Who this roadmap is for

Welding professionals preparing for the 9-Year · API 1104 portion or route of the AWS CWI program.

Always confirm the current AWS eligibility rules, exam outline, references, fees, and scheduling policies before purchasing materials or setting an exam date.

Study sequence

A controlled preparation roadmap

1. 01

   Verify the current program

   Start with the official source links below. Record the current outline, permitted references, eligibility rules, and any application steps that apply to your route.

2. 02

   Map the reference set

   Turn each published domain into a retrieval map. Practice where to look before trying to memorize isolated answers.

3. 03

   Build the 9-Year · API 1104 core

   Study current recertification-route verification alongside practical inspection judgment refresh, then connect both to field decisions and documentation.

4. 04

   Practice under controlled timing

   Use short lookup drills first, then mixed review. Track missed concepts and slow retrievals separately so each can be corrected.

5. 05

   Recheck before exam day

   Return to the credentialing body for last-minute policy or reference changes. Do not rely on a third-party summary for current exam administration.

Primary sources

Verify current program facts

Exam outlines, editions, eligibility, fees, and administration policies can change. These credentialing-body pages are the authority; HoldPoint is an independent preparation provider.

• AWS Certified Welding Inspector programAmerican Welding Society

Common questions

Before you build a study plan