Learn what you don't know. Prove what you do. A rigorous, scenario-based exam that shows employers you can reason about qubits, circuits, algorithms, hardware and post-quantum risk, without being tied to one vendor's toolkit.
Most quantum credentials test whether you can call one SDK. The CQSP tests whether you can think. Every item is a workplace scenario: a colleague's claim to check, a circuit to trace, a vendor pitch to evaluate, a migration to plan.
Superposition, entanglement, measurement and the Born rule, applied to real state vectors and real numbers, not slogans.
Read and trace circuits in standard notation, predict outputs, spot identities a transpiler would use, and know why a result is wrong.
Coherence budgets, gate fidelity arithmetic, error mitigation versus correction, and what a qubit count does and does not tell you.
Harvest-now-decrypt-later, the NIST standards, hybrid TLS, QKD's limits, and how to tell a real advantage claim from marketing.
An intermediate credential: no formal prerequisite, but it assumes first-year linear algebra, comfort reading code, and roughly 60 to 90 hours of study.
Moving into a quantum project or evaluating one. You will be asked to trace circuits and reason about hybrid workflows.
Planning post-quantum migration and fielding vendor claims. Thirteen percent of the exam is yours.
Evaluating quantum machine learning and simulation. The exam covers where the data-loading problem kills a speedup.
Who need to judge pilots, budgets and roadmaps with a credential that says you understood the physics well enough to decide.
Every form is drawn from a bank of more than 160 items to these exact weights, so the mix you see on the exam is the mix printed here. Multiple-response items are scored all or nothing.
| Level | Intermediate. Sits between a foundations course and specialist or engineer-level credentials. |
|---|---|
| Format | 80 items: single-answer and multiple-response scenario questions, including circuit tracing and numeric reasoning. No SDK-specific syntax. |
| Time | 120 minutes, server timed. Autosaves every answer. |
| Scoring | Scaled 100 to 900. Cut score 700, about 72 percent of items. Multiple-response items are all or nothing. Domain-level results are shown; item-level answers are not disclosed. |
| Delivery | Online from your own desktop or laptop, any time, proctored by webcam, microphone and screen with human review of flagged attempts. |
| Retakes | Bundles include one retake, available 14 days after the first attempt. A standalone retake voucher is $99. Vouchers are valid 12 months. |
| Validity and renewal | 3 years. CQSP is a continuing-education certification: renew with 45 CEUs per cycle and the $35 annual CE fee, or by passing the current exam. Renewal details. |
| Language | English. |
| Credential | PDF certificate with QR code, public verification page, LinkedIn-ready credential ID. Title: Certified Quantum Systems Professional. Issuer: CertLabz Certification Board. |
| Free resources | The exam objectives PDF and the sample questions below. The CQSP Official Study Guide is a $50 ebook, included in the study guide bundles. |
Three items in the style of the exam. None of these appear in the live bank.
Trace this circuit from |00⟩. What is the output state?
q0: |0> --[H]--*--[Z]--
|
q1: |0> -------X-------
A device quotes 99.9 percent two-qubit gate fidelity. A candidate circuit needs 700 two-qubit gates. Roughly what fraction of shots complete without a two-qubit gate error?
A hospital keeps patient records for 25 years. Its architects estimate a full post-quantum migration will take 6 years. Using Mosca's inequality, what is the latest arrival of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer that the hospital can tolerate without exposure?
The quantum credentials candidates most often weigh against each other, side by side, from each provider's own published information.
| CertLabz CQSP | IBM Certified Quantum Computation using Qiskit v2.X Developer, Associate | Arcitura Certified Quantum Computing Specialist | Tonex Certified Quantum Computing Professional | MIT xPRO Quantum Computing Realities | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Standalone certification exam | Vendor certification exam | Standalone certification exam | Instructor-led course with an exam | University professional certificate, course completion |
| Vendor neutral | Yes | No, Qiskit and IBM Quantum only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Level | Intermediate | Associate | Specialist | Intermediate (level 2 on NICCS) | Professional, non-technical to technical |
| Exam | 80 scenario items, 120 minutes | 68 items, 90 minutes | 90-minute exam | Course exam | Course assessments, no standalone exam |
| Passing score | 700 of 900, about 72% | 47 of 68, about 69% | Not published | 70% | Not applicable |
| Proctored | Yes, online, human review of flags | Yes, Pearson VUE | Yes, online proctored | Not published | No |
| Circuit tracing in standard notation | Yes | In Qiskit code | Not published | Not published | Not applicable |
| Post-quantum security | Yes, 13% of the exam | Not covered | Not published | Not published | Varies by course |
| Retake | Included in bundles, or a $99 voucher | New voucher at full price | New voucher at full price | Not published | Not applicable |
| Renewal | 3-year CE cycle: 45 CEUs and $35 per year | No expiry | Not published | Not published | No expiry, 4.5 CEUs awarded |
| Price | $199 exam voucher, bundles to $329 | $200 | $249 | Not published, quote on request | $2,500 |
Compiled in September 2026 from IBM Training, the Arcitura online store, the Tonex catalog and the US NICCS listing, and MIT xPRO. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners; CertLabz is not affiliated with any of them. Details change, so confirm with each provider before buying.
Rigour is what makes a credential worth something. The CQSP is proctored end to end, without a test centre.
Camera, microphone and full-screen share are enabled, and you take an identity photo and confirm your legal name.
The exam console watches for an absent or second face and for looking away. Tab switches, focus loss, leaving fullscreen and paste attempts are blocked and logged.
A violation shows a warning and records a snapshot. A fourth violation submits the exam automatically.
Every attempt gets a score from 0 to 100. A clean pass issues the credential instantly. A flagged pass goes to review.
A CertLabz reviewer checks the flagged frames and makes the decision, usually within two business days.
Video and audio never leave your browser. Only flag events and small snapshots are stored, for up to 90 days, solely for integrity review. Requires a laptop or desktop with a webcam and Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
Every option includes the 120-minute proctored exam. Vouchers are valid 12 months. Sign in or create a free CertLabz account at checkout.
Secure checkout by Stripe. Prices in USD. Retakes unlock 14 days after the previous attempt and use a fresh form drawn from the bank.
CQSP is a continuing-education certification, like the CE credentials from CompTIA and ISC2. It is valid for three years from the date you pass. To keep it, log 45 continuing-education units (CEUs) during the cycle and pay the $35 annual CE fee, $105 per cycle, any time before your expiry date. Or pass the current version of the exam again.
| Qualifying activity | CEUs |
|---|---|
| CertLabz labs, courses and SkillTracker™ assessments | 1 CEU per hour, up to 25 per cycle |
| Other industry certifications earned or renewed | 10 to 25 each, depending on level |
| Conferences, webinars and training | 1 CEU per hour, up to 20 per cycle |
| Quantum-related work experience | 3 per year, up to 9 per cycle |
| Teaching, mentoring, publishing or open-source contributions | Up to 15 per cycle |
| College courses in quantum, physics, mathematics or computing | 10 per completed course |
CEUs are logged from your CertLabz dashboard with supporting evidence. A certification that lapses can be reinstated only by passing the current exam.
The certificate title is Certified Quantum Systems Professional. CertLabz appears as the issuing body on the seal, the PDF footer and the verification page, the same way every certification body works.
Yes. Questions use standard circuit notation and plain pseudocode. You never need to know one SDK's function names. Where a question involves code, it is annotated so any programmer can follow it.
Your webcam, microphone and screen are monitored by the exam console in your browser for the whole exam. It flags an absent or second face, tab switching, leaving fullscreen and paste attempts. Flagged attempts are reviewed by a person before any decision. Video never leaves your browser; only flag events and small snapshots are kept for review.
Scores are scaled from 100 to 900 and the cut score is 700. On a typical form that is about 72 percent of questions answered correctly.
If your bundle included a retake, it unlocks 14 days after your attempt. Otherwise buy a $99 retake voucher from your exam console. Each sitting uses a fresh form drawn from the bank.
Yes, after three years. Keep it current by logging 45 CEUs during the cycle and paying the $35 annual CE fee before expiry, or by passing the current exam again. See the renewal section above for qualifying activities.
The exam objectives PDF and the sample questions on this page. The CQSP Official Study Guide is a $50 ebook, included in the study guide bundles. Hands-on practice is available through CertLabz Labs at $15 per month or the All-in-One plan at $20 per month.
The certificate title is Certified Quantum Systems Professional. CertLabz appears as the issuing body on the seal, the PDF footer and the verification page. On LinkedIn, enter the certification name and CertLabz as the issuing organization.
A laptop or desktop with a webcam and microphone, Chrome, Edge or Firefox, a stable connection, and a quiet private room for two hours. Phones and tablets are not supported.
The CQSP is issued by CertLabz, a private certification body. It is not accredited by a government or standards body, and we do not claim otherwise. Its value rests on a public blueprint, a proctored exam with a real cut score, continuing-education renewal, and public verification of every credential.
Buy a voucher, study the objectives, sit the exam when you are ready. Your credential is issued the moment you pass.