How to Pass the WAS Exam: A Web Accessibility Specialist Study Guide

What is the WAS certification?

The WAS (Web Accessibility Specialist) is the technical certification from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). It proves current, hands-on proficiency in creating, evaluating, and remediating accessible websites and web applications against the WCAG standards.

Where the CPACC is broad and conceptual, the WAS is deep and practical. IAAP is direct about this: the WAS is not for beginners, and knowing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript alone is not enough — the exam tests whether you can actually find and fix accessibility issues in real code. Earn both CPACC and WAS while valid and you receive the CPWA, IAAP's highest credential. (See our CPACC vs WAS vs CPWA guide.)

What the WAS exam covers

The WAS Content Outline focuses on the real job tasks of a technical accessibility specialist, grouped into three broad areas:

• Creating accessible web solutions — using semantic HTML, ARIA, CSS, and JavaScript correctly so that components (forms, menus, modals, custom widgets) work for everyone and meet WCAG.
• Testing and identifying issues — evaluating pages with automated tools, manual inspection, and assistive technologies (screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver; keyboard-only navigation) across operating systems and browsers.
• Remediation, QA, and usability — diagnosing the root cause of barriers, writing clear remediation recommendations, and verifying fixes so the experience genuinely works for people with disabilities.

Who should take the WAS?

IAAP expects 3-5 years of first-person, hands-on technical accessibility experience in a live, customer-facing environment — not coursework or teaching. It suits front-end developers, accessibility engineers, QA specialists, and auditors who already work with code and assistive technology daily. If you are newer to the field or work in a non-technical role, start with the CPACC instead.

How to prepare for the WAS

IAAP recommends 5-10 hours a week for 6-8 weeks. Because it's a technical exam, study and practice must go together:

• Work from the official WAS Content Outline and Body of Knowledge (v2.3) — every question maps to it.
• Know WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 deeply — not just the names of success criteria, but how to test for and fix each one.
• Practise with assistive technology — actually navigate real sites with a screen reader and keyboard until it's second nature.
• Build and break things — create an accessible custom widget, then audit and fix a broken one. Hands-on repetition is what the exam rewards.
• Drill practice questions to build recall and speed, reviewing every miss until the reasoning is clear.