- What This Cheat Sheet Covers
- Exam Snapshot: The Numbers That Matter
- Registration and Fee Facts
- Review-Course Content Areas at a Glance
- The One Reference Document You Must Know
- Exam-Day Logistics: TopClass and Remote Proctoring
- The Last-Mile Study Schedule
- Who This Credential Is Built For
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The ACE-ALM exam is 100 multiple-choice questions in 120 minutes; you need 70 correct answers to pass.
- Standard enrollment is $555; students pay $395 with a current course schedule submitted at registration.
- A failed attempt costs $75 to retake - know your material before you sit down.
- AAAE recommends at least 90 days of prep, and you must test within 26 months of enrolling.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This page is a compressed, one-stop reference for candidates who already understand the basics of Airport Certified Employee - Airfield Lighting Maintenance (ACE-ALM) and just need the hard facts in one place before exam day. It is not a substitute for full preparation - for that, work through the ACE-ALM Study Guide 2026 and the ACE-ALM Exam Domains Guide - but it is exactly what you print out or pin to a second monitor the week before your test.
Everything below reflects the program administered by the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), which awards the ACE designation, with ACE-ALM identifying the Airfield Lighting Maintenance track specifically. If a fact isn't listed here or sourced from AAAE's own program pages, treat it with suspicion - there are other credentials floating around the internet that share the "ACE-ALM" acronym but have nothing to do with airfield lighting.
Exam Snapshot: The Numbers That Matter
Memorize these five numbers cold. They govern how you pace the exam and how you plan your prep window.
- Question count: 100 multiple-choice questions
- Time limit: 120 minutes
- Passing score: 70% - that's 70 correct answers out of 100
- Format: Closed-book, remote-proctored via TopClass
- Retake fee if you fail: $75
Do the pacing math before you sit down: 120 minutes across 100 questions gives you roughly 72 seconds per question, though in practice you'll blow through easy recall items in 20-30 seconds and need the saved time for multi-step circuit calculations. If you want a deeper breakdown of how the scoring threshold interacts with question difficulty, see ACE-ALM Passing Score 2026 and How Hard Is the ACE-ALM Exam?.
Key Takeaway
70 correct out of 100 is the only number that matters at the end. Don't chase perfection on any single question type - bank the easy points first, then spend remaining time on calculation-heavy items.
Registration and Fee Facts
Enrollment mechanics trip up more candidates than the content does. Here's the full picture in one table.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Standard enrollment fee | $555 (members and non-members pay the same rate) |
| Student rate | $395, requires a current course schedule submitted at registration |
| What's included | Electronic study modules and one exam attempt |
| What costs extra | Review courses and printed materials |
| Membership | Optional - not required to enroll or sit the exam |
| Retake fee | $75 after a failed attempt |
| Enrollment validity | Exam must be taken within 26 months of enrollment |
There is no fee "trick" here - the pricing is straightforward, but it's worth understanding exactly what your $555 (or $395) buys before you also spend money on optional review courses or printed materials. For the full cost breakdown, including how the student rate compares to standard enrollment, read ACE-ALM Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown. If you're unsure whether you even qualify for enrollment or the student discount, check ACE-ALM Requirements 2026 first.
Review-Course Content Areas at a Glance
The official review-course coverage maps directly to what shows up on the exam. Treat each of these as a mini-domain you need to be conversationally fluent in - not just able to define terms, but able to work through a scenario question about it.
Electrical Fundamentals & Series Circuits
This is the mathematical backbone of the exam. Airfield lighting circuits are wired in series, which changes how you calculate voltage drop, current, and load compared to the parallel circuits used in most building wiring.
- Expect questions requiring Ohm's Law calculations across a series loop
Constant-Current Regulators
CCRs are the heart of series airfield lighting circuits - they maintain steady current despite changes in load. Know how brightness steps correspond to regulator output and how to troubleshoot a regulator fault.
- Understand step settings and their relationship to runway/taxiway brightness levels
Transformers and Connectors
Isolation transformers connect the series loop to individual light fixtures. Questions here test your understanding of transformer ratios, connector types, and common failure points in the field.
- Know why a bad connector can cause circuit-wide symptoms, not just a single-light outage
Light Sources, Fixtures, and Bolted Joints
Covers incandescent, LED, and other lamp technologies used in airfield fixtures, plus the mechanical integrity of bolted joints in in-pavement and elevated fixtures.
- Bolted joint torque and corrosion issues are a recurring maintenance theme
Signs, Visual Aids, and Approach Lighting
Mandatory instruction signs, guidance signs, PAPI/VASI systems, and approach lighting configurations. This area blends electrical knowledge with FAA visual-aid standards.
- Be able to identify the purpose of different approach lighting configurations, not just name them
Electrical Safety, Test Equipment, and Standby Power
Covers lockout/tagout practices, proper use of test equipment on live series circuits, and standby/emergency power systems that keep critical lighting operating during outages.
- Safety procedures around megohmmeter testing on series circuits are commonly tested
Maintenance
Ties everything together - preventive maintenance schedules, fault isolation logic, and documentation practices for airfield lighting systems.
- Expect scenario questions asking you to sequence troubleshooting steps
For a full narrative walkthrough of how these areas interconnect and where to spend the most study time, see the ACE-ALM Exam Domains 2026 guide.
The One Reference Document You Must Know
The ACE-ALM program names FAA Advisory Circular 150/5340-26C as its core technical reference. If you only skim one external document before your exam, it should be this one - it underpins the fixture, sign, and maintenance content that shows up throughout the test.
Key Takeaway
Read AC 150/5340-26C with a highlighter, not passively. Terminology and specification language from this document shows up in how exam questions are phrased, even when the question is really testing basic circuit logic.
Exam-Day Logistics: TopClass and Remote Proctoring
AAAE administers the ACE-ALM exam through TopClass with recorded remote proctoring. This means you take the exam from your own location, but under the same rules you'd expect at a testing center:
- Closed-book - no notes, no reference materials, no second monitor with open tabs
- A working computer, webcam, and microphone are required
- A government-issued photo ID must be presented before the session starts
- The session is recorded for proctoring integrity
Set up your testing space the night before, not the morning of. Test your webcam and microphone, clear your desk, and confirm your internet connection is stable. A technical hiccup during a recorded remote-proctored session is a much bigger headache than a dead pencil at an in-person test center.
The Last-Mile Study Schedule
If you're reading this cheat sheet, you're probably in the final stretch rather than starting from zero. Here's how to allocate your last few weeks against the content areas above, assuming you've already built foundational knowledge earlier in your 90-day window.
Circuits and Regulators
- Redo every series-circuit and CCR calculation you can find until the math is automatic
- Review transformer and connector failure scenarios
Fixtures, Signs, and Approach Lighting
- Cross-reference fixture and sign content against AC 150/5340-26C terminology
- Drill approach lighting configuration identification
Safety, Test Equipment, and Maintenance
- Walk through lockout/tagout and live-circuit testing procedures step by step
- Run full-length timed practice sessions to lock in your 72-second-per-question pace
Logistics Check
- Test webcam, microphone, and ID readiness an hour before your session
- Arrive mentally rested - this is a recall-and-calculation exam, not an endurance test
Sequencing matters here because the circuit math in the electrical fundamentals and CCR content areas takes longer to become automatic than the sign and fixture recall content, so front-loading it gives your brain more repetitions before test day. For a broader take on why the exam feels harder or easier depending on your background, see How Hard Is the ACE-ALM Exam?, and if you want to benchmark your readiness against real exam conditions, run through timed sets on our ACE-ALM practice test platform.
Who This Credential Is Built For
ACE-ALM is designed for people already working in or entering airfield electrical and lighting maintenance roles - the technicians who keep runway edge lights, taxiway centerline lights, approach lighting systems, and constant-current regulators operational at commercial and general aviation airports. It signals to airport operations departments and airfield maintenance contractors that you've mastered a defined body of knowledge tied directly to FAA lighting standards, not just general electrical theory.
If you're weighing whether the certification is worth the enrollment cost and study time against your career goals, that's a longer conversation covered in Is the ACE-ALM Certification Worth It? and ACE-ALM Salary Guide 2026. And if you're still mapping out job opportunities that value this specific designation, ACE-ALM Jobs is a useful starting point.
Frequently Asked Questions
The exam has 100 multiple-choice questions and a 120-minute time limit. You need 70 correct answers to pass.
Standard enrollment is $555 for both members and non-members. Students can pay $395 by submitting a current course schedule at registration. Enrollment includes electronic study modules and one exam attempt; review courses and printed materials are extra.
You can retake it for a $75 fee. Your enrollment remains valid for the exam as long as you test within 26 months of your original enrollment date.
It's administered through TopClass with recorded remote proctoring. It's closed-book, and you'll need a computer with a working webcam, microphone, and a government-issued photo ID.
Self-study is supported and AAAE recommends at least 90 days of preparation. Review courses exist but cost extra and are not required to enroll or sit the exam.