- The exam is Aeronautical Analysis, Proficiency Level II (AA-II): 110 questions, 150 minutes, paper-based, in English.
- Safety of Navigation and Production each carry 25% of the blueprint, so together they are half your score.
- You need valid GPC-F certification and three years of GEOINT aeronautical analytic experience before you can sit.
- A failed attempt triggers a 90-calendar-day wait, even if you did not finish the assessment.
What This Exam Actually Is
"GPC" is an acronym several credentials share, so start by pinning down which one this guide covers. Here it means the GEOINT Professional Certification Aeronautical (GPC) credential issued by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The specific assessment is Aeronautical Analysis, Proficiency Level II (AA-II), a full-performance-level exam for working aeronautical GEOINT analysts. If you want a broader orientation first, see What Is GPC Certification? or What Does GPC Stand For?.
This is not an open-enrollment certification you buy online. It is administered through the NGA GPC Program Management Office, at authorized assessment sites, with approved GPC proctors at government facilities. The assessment is free for eligible candidates, which changes how you think about cost: your investment is preparation time and, where applicable, command or supervisor coordination rather than an exam fee. The GPC Certification Cost breakdown explains this in more detail.
Confirm Eligibility Before You Study
The fastest way to waste a prep cycle is to study for an exam you are not yet cleared to take. Eligibility has two layers. The general program requirements, per the NGA GEOINT Professional Certification Program Handbook, are:
- An active GEOINT-related role within the National System for Geospatial Intelligence
- At least one year of GEOINT experience in a Department of Defense work role
- An active U.S. Government or Commonwealth Partner-equivalent clearance appropriate to the assessment classification
- Good standing with your employing agency or component
AA-II layers additional requirements on top:
- Valid GPC-F certification (the foundational credential is a prerequisite)
- At least three total years of GEOINT aeronautical analytic experience
- Full-performance Aeronautical Analysis tradecraft entry qualifications, met through a relevant diploma, degree or certificate and/or prior professional experience
No specific commercial training course, association membership or product purchase is mandatory. Candidates sometimes assume an expensive prep program is a gate; it is not. For the complete checklist, read GPC Requirements: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Format, Logistics and Test-Day Rules
| Element | AA-II Detail |
|---|---|
| Question count | 110 |
| Time limit | 150 minutes |
| Delivery | Paper-based, English |
| Item types permitted by the program | Multiple-choice, true/false, matching, fill-in-the-blank (the exact AA-II mix is not published) |
| Scoring | Objective; measured against a Governance Council-approved passing score |
| Materials | Supplied by the proctor |
| Personal electronics | Prohibited in the testing area |
| Registration | Advance registration and valid government-issued photo ID required |
Do the pacing math early. 150 minutes across 110 questions leaves roughly 1.36 minutes per item before you build in any review time. That is workable for recall questions but tight if you hit clusters of matching or fill-in-the-blank items that need careful reading. On a paper exam you cannot flag and jump around with software help, so practice marking uncertain items in a test booklet and returning to them with a hard time cutoff for your first pass.
Be careful about what you assume regarding scoring. The program states that passing is determined against a Governance Council-approved score, and no current numeric AA-II passing score or pass rate has been verified in public sources. Treat any site claiming a precise cut score or pass percentage with suspicion. Our GPC Passing Score and GPC Pass Rate articles explain what is and is not known.
The Six Competencies and Where the Points Are
The AA-II blueprint, published in NGA's Essential Body of Knowledge (EBK) and confirmed in Appendix J of the Program Handbook, defines six formal examination core competencies. Weights total 100%. Note that these are exam competencies, not a recommended curriculum order, so use the weights to allocate effort rather than as a chapter list. For a deeper walkthrough, the GPC Exam Domains Guide covers all six areas.
| Domain | Weight |
|---|---|
| 1. Safety of Navigation: Aeronautical Governance and Industry | 25% |
| 2. Customer Requirements: Aeronautical Source | 15% |
| 3. Production: Aeronautical GEOINT Production | 25% |
| 4. Quality Assurance: Aeronautical Quality | 13% |
| 5. Data Processing: Aeronautical Data | 10% |
| 6. Customer Operations: Aeronautical Customer Service and Data/Product Access | 12% |
Domain 1: Safety of Navigation: Aeronautical Governance and Industry (25%)
One of the two heaviest competencies. It centers on the governance and industry environment surrounding aeronautical information and why accuracy affects flight safety.
- How standards, governance bodies and industry practice shape aeronautical data and products
- Why data integrity and currency matter operationally, not just administratively
- How your agency's aeronautical work fits within the wider aviation information ecosystem
Domain 3: Production: Aeronautical GEOINT Production (25%)
The other 25% block, and the one closest to daily analyst work. Expect questions about how aeronautical GEOINT products are built, maintained and delivered.
- Production workflows and the decisions an analyst makes at each stage
- Product types, their purposes and the data that feeds them
- Connecting source information to finished, usable output
Domain 2: Customer Requirements: Aeronautical Source (15%)
The third-largest slice. It ties customer needs to the source material that can satisfy them.
- Interpreting a customer requirement and mapping it to appropriate aeronautical sources
- Judging source suitability and recognizing gaps
Domains 4, 5 and 6 (13%, 10%, 12%)
Together these account for 35% of the exam, which is far too much to treat as filler.
- Quality Assurance (13%): checking aeronautical data and products against quality expectations, and handling discrepancies
- Data Processing (10%): how aeronautical data is ingested, handled and prepared
- Customer Operations (12%): customer service and access to data and products
The arithmetic is the strategy: Domains 1 and 3 give you half the exam, and adding Domain 2 brings you to 65%. A candidate who is strong across those three and merely competent elsewhere is in a far better position than one who spends equal time on all six.
Key Takeaway
Do not let the small domains lull you into skipping them. Domains 4, 5 and 6 total 35% of the exam. Neglecting them to over-polish your strong areas is a common way to land short of the passing score.
Build Your Study Library From Public NGA Sources
The Program Handbook marks the AA-II assessment U//FOUO, and actual assessment content is controlled and not authorized for public release or personal use. That has two practical consequences. First, you should never seek out or share reproduced exam questions; doing so risks your standing and your certification. Second, your study material needs to come from legitimate, public objectives.
Your core documents are:
- The AA-II Essential Body of Knowledge (NGA, January 19, 2023, release NGA-U-2023-00519). This is the scope source and your primary syllabus.
- The GEOINT Professional Certification Program Handbook (March 11, 2025, release NGA-U-2025-01871). Use it for eligibility, logistics, the question count and timing, and the confirming blueprint in Appendix J.
- The Aeronautical Analysis Job Task Analysis Executive Summary (release NGA-U-2025-01690). Read it for context on workforce tasks, but know it does not publish a replacement weighted exam blueprint, so do not re-weight your plan based on it.
All three are reachable from NGA's GEOINT Professional Certification page. Some reference collections that candidates may use at work are access-controlled and were not part of the public material reviewed here, so if your agency gives you access, that is a bonus rather than something this guide can describe.
Sequencing the Domains Over Your Prep Window
Rather than a generic weekly template, order your preparation by weight and by dependency. The sequence below assumes about six weeks and a working analyst who already does some of this daily; stretch it if your day-to-day work is narrower than the full blueprint. Adjust for your own gaps, which you can find by taking a diagnostic on the practice test before committing to the plan.
Production and Safety of Navigation (50% of the exam)
- Read the EBK's Production and Safety of Navigation competency statements line by line
- Turn each statement into a question you must be able to answer from memory
- Prioritize governance, standards and production workflows you rarely touch on the job
Customer Requirements: Aeronautical Source
- Practice mapping hypothetical requirements to suitable sources
- Review source types and their limitations
Quality, Data Processing and Customer Operations
- Group these three because they are individually smaller but collectively 35%
- Drill quality-check logic, data handling steps and access procedures
Mixed Review and Pacing
- Take timed sets sized to 110 questions in 150 minutes
- Return to your weakest competency each time you miss a cluster
- Rehearse a paper-style first pass with a fixed time cutoff
That timeline is the only generic-method element in this guide, and it exists to tie domain order to weight. If you want a compact reference to review in the final days, the GPC Cheat Sheet condenses the must-know facts. For the difficulty question many candidates ask, see How Hard Is the GPC Exam?.
Retake Rules and the Renewal Cycle
Plan to pass the first time, because the retake policy is unforgiving. If you do not pass, you must wait 90 calendar days before taking the same assessment again. That wait applies after each exposure, even if you did not complete the assessment, so walking out partway does not reset the clock in your favor. For a working analyst, a 90-day delay can mean missing a promotion window or a role requirement.
Once you hold the credential, maintenance follows the GPC-F cycle rather than an independent clock. AA-II expires and renews with GPC-F; it does not start its own three-year cycle. Maintaining all held GPC credentials requires:
- A total of 100 professional development units during the three-year GPC-F cycle
- Good standing with your agency or component
- The required renewal submission through the Certification Management System
Think about renewal at the start, not the end. Log training, conference attendance and relevant professional activity as you earn them so you are not scrambling in year three.
Finally, consider why you are doing this. Value depends on your role, clearance path and agency. If you are weighing the career case, the GPC ROI analysis, salary guide and GPC jobs pages discuss it, and GPC training covers preparation options. Keep in mind that employers in this space are largely government and defense-aligned organizations working within the National System for Geospatial Intelligence.
Frequently Asked Questions
The AA-II assessment has 110 questions with a 150-minute time limit. It is paper-based and delivered in English.
Safety of Navigation: Aeronautical Governance and Industry and Production: Aeronautical GEOINT Production each carry 25%. Customer Requirements adds 15%, so those three domains make up 65% of the blueprint.
No. Passing is determined against a Governance Council-approved score, and no current numeric AA-II passing score or pass rate was verified in public sources. Be wary of sites that claim exact figures.
No. Valid GPC-F certification is a prerequisite, along with at least three total years of GEOINT aeronautical analytic experience and full-performance Aeronautical Analysis tradecraft entry qualifications.
You must wait 90 calendar days before retaking the same assessment. The wait applies after each exposure, even if you did not complete the assessment.
No. The assessment is marked U//FOUO and its content is controlled and not authorized for public release or personal use. Study from NGA's public Essential Body of Knowledge and use original practice questions aligned to the published objectives.
For a structured starting point, revisit the main GPC study guide hub and the GPC certification overview, then put your plan to the test with a diagnostic on the GPC Exam Prep practice site.