- Why There Is No Public Testing Calendar
- Who Controls Scheduling for AA-II
- Eligibility Checks Before You Request a Seat
- Registration Mechanics and Test-Day Requirements
- The 90-Day Retake Clock
- Format and Timing You Are Scheduling Around
- Planning Backward from a Seat Date
- Renewal Timing Tied to GPC-F
- Frequently Asked Questions
- AA-II is administered through NGA's GPC Program Management Office at authorized sites and government facilities, not through an open public calendar.
- Advance registration and valid government-issued photo ID are required; proctors supply all materials and personal electronics are prohibited.
- A failed attempt, even an incomplete one, triggers a 90-calendar-day wait before retaking the same assessment.
- AA-II has 110 questions in 150 minutes, paper-based, in English, so plan a full session block.
Why There Is No Public Testing Calendar
Candidates searching for "GPC exam dates 2026" often expect a published calendar of fixed testing windows, the way many commercial certifications operate. For GEOINT Professional Certification Aeronautical Analysis, Proficiency Level II (AA-II), that expectation does not match how the program works. The assessment is issued by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and is administered through the NGA GPC Program Management Office, authorized assessment sites and approved GPC proctors at government facilities.
That structure has a practical consequence: the "date" that matters is the one you arrange through your sponsoring component and the program office, not a public deadline posted on a registration portal. The assessment is free for eligible candidates and is not an unrestricted public certification purchase, so there is no open checkout page with a calendar of seats. If you are still weighing whether the credential fits your career, the broader ROI analysis of the GPC certification and the GPC certification cost breakdown cover the money and value side.
Who Controls Scheduling for AA-II
Three parties shape when you can actually sit the assessment:
- The NGA GPC Program Management Office administers the program and is the authoritative source for how registration works.
- Authorized assessment sites host the paper-based sessions at government facilities.
- Approved GPC proctors run the session, verify identification, distribute assessment materials and enforce the no-electronics rule.
Because the assessment is delivered on paper at controlled locations, session availability depends on site and proctor capacity rather than on a software scheduling engine. That is why advance registration is a hard requirement rather than a courtesy. Your supervisor or training coordinator is usually the fastest route to learning which sessions are realistically available to you.
Eligibility Checks Before You Request a Seat
The most common scheduling delays are eligibility gaps discovered late. Before asking for a seat, confirm every item below. The full explanation lives in our GPC requirements guide, but here is the scheduling-relevant summary.
| Requirement | What It Means for Your Timeline |
|---|---|
| Active GEOINT-related role within the National System for Geospatial Intelligence | If you are between assignments, your eligibility can pause until the role is active again. |
| At least one year of GEOINT experience in a DoD work role | Cannot be shortened by studying; the date you cross this threshold is the earliest you qualify. |
| Active U.S. Government or Commonwealth Partner-equivalent clearance appropriate to the assessment classification | Clearance lapses or pending investigations can block a seat regardless of readiness. |
| Good standing with your employing agency or component | Administrative or disciplinary issues can affect eligibility. |
| Valid GPC-F certification (AA-II specific) | GPC-F is the prerequisite; it is not a substitute for AA-II and must be current. |
| At least three total years of GEOINT aeronautical analytic experience (AA-II specific) | The clock is cumulative experience, so your start-of-eligibility date is fixed by your work history. |
| Full-performance Aeronautical Analysis tradecraft entry qualifications (AA-II specific) | Met through a relevant diploma, degree or certificate and/or prior professional experience. |
Notice what is absent: no specific commercial training, association membership or product purchase is mandatory. You are not racing a vendor's deadline; you are lining up your own experience, clearance and prerequisite status.
Key Takeaway
Work out your earliest eligible date first, then request registration. Candidates who study for months and only then discover a lapsed GPC-F or an experience shortfall lose far more time than any scheduling window would cost them.
Registration Mechanics and Test-Day Requirements
What you must do in advance
Advance registration is required. Because the program office, authorized sites and proctors coordinate paper sessions, you cannot count on showing up without a prior arrangement. Ask your component's GPC point of contact how registration requests are submitted and what lead time they expect.
What to bring and what to leave out
- Bring: valid government-issued photo identification. This is required.
- Do not bring materials: proctors supply the assessment materials.
- Leave behind: personal electronics, which are prohibited in the testing area.
Plan the logistics of your day accordingly. If your phone or smartwatch normally lives on your person, arrange somewhere secure to leave it before you enter the testing area.
The 90-Day Retake Clock
The retake rule is the single most schedule-shaping policy in the program. Retaking the same assessment after failure requires a 90-calendar-day wait after each exposure, even if the assessment was not completed. Two details deserve emphasis:
- It counts every exposure. Each time you are exposed to the assessment, a new 90-calendar-day wait applies.
- An incomplete attempt still counts. Walking out partway, or being unable to finish, does not reset the clock in your favor.
The practical lesson is to avoid "trial run" attempts. Because there is no walk-in retest and every exposure costs you roughly three months, you should sit AA-II only when your readiness is solid. For a realistic view of how demanding the assessment is, read how hard the GPC exam is. Note that no current numeric AA-II passing score or pass rate was verified in the retrieved public sources, so see the GPC passing score and GPC pass rate articles for what is and is not publicly known rather than relying on rumor.
| Scenario | Scheduling Consequence |
|---|---|
| You do not pass | 90-calendar-day wait before retaking the same assessment. |
| You start but do not complete | The wait still applies, as it is triggered by exposure. |
| You pass | No retake needed; your credential then follows the GPC-F renewal cycle. |
Format and Timing You Are Scheduling Around
AA-II has 110 questions and a 150-minute limit. It is paper-based and delivered in English. That works out to a little over a minute per question on average, so pacing matters, but the exact item-type mix for AA-II is not established publicly. The program permits objectively scored multiple-choice, true/false, matching and fill-in-the-blank items at the program level, which tells you the scoring is objective but does not confirm how many of each appear on your form.
Passing is determined against a Governance Council-approved score. Because the numeric threshold was not verified in public sources, avoid planning around any figure you see quoted online.
What the 150 minutes must cover
The six formal examination core competencies carry these weights, which total 100%:
- Safety of Navigation: Aeronautical Governance and Industry: 25%
- Production: Aeronautical GEOINT Production: 25%
- Customer Requirements: Aeronautical Source: 15%
- Quality Assurance: Aeronautical Quality: 13%
- Customer Operations: Aeronautical Customer Service and Data/Product Access: 12%
- Data Processing: Aeronautical Data: 10%
Safety of Navigation and Production jointly account for half the blueprint, so they deserve the largest share of your preparation calendar. The full competency breakdown is in our GPC exam domains guide.
Planning Backward from a Seat Date
Once you have a confirmed or likely session, work backward. Because a failed attempt costs 90 calendar days, build in a buffer and weight your weeks by blueprint percentage rather than by what feels comfortable. The schedule below is an example for a candidate with roughly six weeks before a confirmed session; compress or stretch it to fit your own date.
Safety of Navigation: Aeronautical Governance and Industry (25%)
- Work from the public AA-II Essential Body of Knowledge objectives for this competency.
- Cover governance structures and industry context as the EBK frames them.
- Write original practice items rather than hunting for recalled ones.
Production: Aeronautical GEOINT Production (25%)
- Review production workflows and product requirements in the EBK.
- Tie production decisions back to customer requirements (15%) so the two domains reinforce each other.
Quality Assurance, Data Processing and Customer Operations (13%, 10%, 12%)
- These three smaller competencies together make up 35% of the blueprint, so do not skip them.
- Use matching and fill-in-the-blank style drills, since those formats are permitted at the program level.
Timed Review
- Run a full 110-question, 150-minute paper-style session on original practice material.
- Confirm ID, logistics and the no-electronics plan for test day.
For more on structuring this kind of plan, see the GPC study guide, the one-page GPC cheat sheet for last-week review, and the GPC practice test site for original questions aligned to the public blueprint. One caution: do not treat GPC-F question banks as AA-II coverage. GPC-F is the prerequisite, not a substitute scope.
Key Takeaway
Because retaking costs 90 calendar days, schedule your readiness check, not just your seat. A timed run on original material a week or two before the session tells you whether to proceed or ask about a later session.
Renewal Timing Tied to GPC-F
Your scheduling responsibilities do not end when you pass. AA-II expires and renews with GPC-F rather than starting an independent three-year cycle. That means the renewal date that governs your AA-II is the one attached to your GPC-F, which may be sooner than three years from your AA-II pass date.
- Professional development units: a total of 100 PDUs during the three-year GPC-F cycle maintains all held GPC credentials.
- Good standing: you must remain in good standing.
- Renewal submission: the required Certification Management System renewal submission must be completed.
If you pass AA-II late in your GPC-F cycle, start logging professional development immediately rather than assuming you have a fresh three years. For how this credential connects to career outcomes, see the GPC jobs overview and the GPC salary guide, and for background on what the credential is, see what GPC certification is.
Frequently Asked Questions
No fixed public calendar or national registration deadline was found in the public NGA sources checked. Sessions are arranged through the NGA GPC Program Management Office, authorized assessment sites and approved proctors, so confirm availability through your component's GPC contact.
No. AA-II is paper-based and administered at authorized assessment sites and government facilities by approved GPC proctors. Proctors supply the materials, and personal electronics are prohibited in the testing area.
Retaking the same assessment requires a 90-calendar-day wait after each exposure, even if you did not complete it. Plan your first attempt so you are genuinely ready, since there is no quick retest option.
Valid government-issued photo identification is required, and you must have registered in advance. Proctors provide the assessment materials, so you should not bring your own, and personal electronics must stay out of the testing area.
AA-II expires and renews with your GPC-F rather than running its own three-year cycle. Maintaining all held GPC credentials takes 100 professional development units across the three-year GPC-F cycle, good standing and the required Certification Management System renewal submission.