CWI 9-year recertification: check your PDH records and totals
Before adding more training to a CWI nine-year recertification plan, check what your existing records actually support. A folder can contain enough documents to produce a reassuring total while still hiding a duplicate, missing completion evidence or a gap in recent training. Use the checklist and fictional example below to find those problems before preparing your application.
Sources: AWS CWI program: renewal and recertification options.
Confirm your CWI recertification route
AWS distinguishes the three- and six-year renewal process from nine-year recertification. This guide focuses on organizing continuing-education evidence for the nine-year process; it does not cover every application requirement or recertification option.
Record the dates on your actual credential and check the current AWS instructions for your chosen route. Keep questions about eligibility or an unusual activity visible until AWS resolves them. A course purchase or a training record alone does not establish recertification.
Sources: AWS CWI program: renewal and recertification options.
Connect PDH hours to evidence
Under AWS QC1:2016-AMD1, the training/teaching route requires a minimum of 80 PDHs in nine years, including 20 in the final three. A particular course counts once in a nine-year period. Distance learning needs a course description and completion certificate stating contact hours. Activities must relate to the specified subjects or job functions.
Sources: AWS QC1:2016-AMD1, Sections 16.4 and 16.5: continuing-education evidence.
Build a PDH records checklist
Use one entry for each distinct training activity. The table below is a personal organizer, not an AWS form or an eligibility decision. Keep the original documents alongside it so another reader can trace each entry.
| Record item | What to keep together | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Activity and provider | Course title, provider and contact details | Can the activity and its provider be identified? |
| Completion and timing | Completion date and supporting record | Where does the date fall in your credential cycle? |
| Documented hours | Completion certificate showing contact hours | Does the claimed figure match its evidence? |
| Training content | Course description and relevant subject information | What inspection knowledge or job function does it address? |
| Record identity | Original file and any replacement copy | Are these separate activities or copies of one record? |
| Evidence status | A short note such as documented, duplicate or awaiting a record | Which entries can be reconciled now, and which still need a response? |
Sources: AWS nine-year application: supporting training information.
Keep the full-cycle and recent-training totals visible
Add a second date-based column to your personal organizer: one for the current nine-year cycle and one for its final three years. A recent activity is included in the full-cycle figure as well; it is not extra credit to add a second time. Confirm the actual date boundaries from your credential and AWS instructions before sorting records.
Keep incomplete entries in a separate pending list. Record the evidence question and who can answer it, rather than filling a blank with an estimate. For example, a provider can clarify a missing completion date or replace an unreadable certificate. AWS can resolve an unclear eligibility question. These notes help you decide what to investigate before choosing another course.
- Identify the distinct activity before totaling its documents.
- Use the documented completion date when placing an entry in the date columns.
- Separate hours supported by the records from figures still awaiting evidence.
- Keep a short reconciliation note so you can explain a change to the total later.
Work through a folder that appears to show 84 hours
This fictional arithmetic exercise uses distinct courses with complete descriptions and completion certificates, except where a problem is identified. It does not represent a real learner, an AWS approval or a complete recertification application. Assume the date columns have already been checked against the learner’s credential cycle.
The learner’s spreadsheet shows 68 hours from the first six years, 12 from the final three years, and another four-hour entry from a replacement copy of a recent certificate. A receipt for a different, unfinished eight-hour course is stored in the same folder.
The cleaned worksheet reaches 80 for the whole cycle, but its recent subtotal is still 12. Compared with the requirements described above, the remaining recent-training gap is eight hours. Removing the duplicate fixes an accounting error; it does not fill that gap.
The next action is to verify the unfinished course’s status, documentation and suitability before relying on it or buying more training. Do not relabel the receipt date as a completion date. Even after the arithmetic is resolved, AWS still evaluates the activities and the full application.
| Folder entry | Treatment in the personal worksheet | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Distinct earlier courses: 68 hours | Keep the supported entries in the full-cycle column. | 68 full-cycle hours; none in the final-three-year column. |
| Distinct recent courses: 12 hours | Include these entries in both date columns. | Running totals: 80 full-cycle hours and 12 recent hours. |
| Replacement copy: four hours | Link the copy to the original activity, already included in the 12. | No additional activity; the raw spreadsheet figure of 84 becomes 80. |
| Receipt for an unfinished eight-hour course | Keep it in the pending list until completion and its evidence can be checked. | No completed training is established by this receipt. |
Use your NDT Academy training records
NDT Academy’s CWI nine-year course refreshes fundamentals, practical inspection and code application, then closes with a capstone assessment. Its PDH evidence package brings together issued certificate details, certificate contact hours, the course description and subject relevance. Logged training time is shown separately; extra logged time does not increase the certificate contact-hour figure.
For personally held training records, the PDH PDF is available after an eligible course certificate has been issued and released. Employer-sponsored records follow the company’s document-release process. Check that the records you receive match the training you completed and keep them with your application materials.
Explore the course scope and the academy’s PDH guidance before enrolling. AWS makes the final determination on the complete recertification application.
Sources and further reading
- AWS CWI program: renewal and recertification options
- AWS QC1:2016-AMD1, Sections 16.4 and 16.5: continuing-education evidence
- AWS nine-year application: supporting training information
Sources checked on October 23, 2026. Follow the current requirements from your employer or certification body when planning qualification or an examination.