- Which CSM This Cheat Sheet Covers
- Exam Facts at a Glance
- Registration, Fees, and Proctoring Mechanics
- The 22 Competency Areas in One Pass
- People Management Domains: What to Know Cold
- Operations, Money, and Risk Domains
- Exam-Day Rules and Retake Policy
- Lifetime Status: The Maintenance Exception
- A Domain-Ordered Review Schedule
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CSM here means ETA International's Certified Service Manager, not Certified ScrumMaster or any other credential sharing the acronym.
- The exam is 100 questions in two hours with a 75% passing score and no hands-on component.
- The fee is USD 155; one failed attempt can be retaken free within one year of the first session.
- ETA publishes 22 unweighted competency sections, so study them all rather than guessing at percentages.
Which CSM This Cheat Sheet Covers
The acronym "CSM" belongs to several credentials, and search results routinely mix them up. This page is about one: the Certified Service Manager credential issued by ETA International (ETA). It is a certification for people who run service businesses, particularly service departments and field-service operations. It has nothing to do with Scrum, customer success, or any other certification that happens to share three letters.
If you need background on the credential itself before diving into the facts, the articles on what CSM certification is and what CSM stands for cover the basics. This cheat sheet assumes you already know you want the ETA credential and need the must-know facts in one place.
Exam Facts at a Glance
These are the numbers worth memorizing before you register. Everything here comes from ETA's published exam information.
| Item | CSM Fact |
|---|---|
| Certifying body | ETA International |
| Number of questions | 100 |
| Time allowed | Two hours |
| Passing score | 75% |
| Hands-on assessment | None; the exam is not hands-on |
| Exam fee | USD 155 |
| Prerequisite | None; stand-alone certification |
| Free retake | One, within one year of the first exam session |
| Maintenance | Lifetime certification, no maintenance requirement |
A 75% passing score on 100 questions means you need to answer roughly three out of every four correctly. There is no practical room to skip an entire domain and hope the rest carries you. For a deeper look at how that threshold plays out, see our guide to the CSM passing score.
No prerequisite, but not no preparation
CSM is a stand-alone certification. You do not need the Associate Certified Electronics Technician (CETa) or any other ETA credential first. That makes it accessible to managers who came up through sales, administration, or operations rather than the technical bench. The full eligibility picture is in our article on CSM requirements.
Registration, Fees, and Proctoring Mechanics
The base exam fee is USD 155. Delivery options are worth knowing before you book, because they change cost and logistics.
In-person delivery
In-person testing is administered either online through ETA's Trapeza platform or on paper, and in both cases it is supervised by an ETA Certification Administrator. You need photo identification on exam day.
Remote proctoring
Because CSM has no hands-on assessment, it qualifies for remote proctoring through ExamRoom.AI. The process works like this:
- Complete ETA's Remote Proctoring Examinee Registration Form.
- Arrange the session through ETA; it is not self-scheduled through a third party.
- Budget an additional USD 16 for a two-hour remote session.
- Remember that the USD 16 also applies to a retake taken remotely.
The 22 Competency Areas in One Pass
ETA publishes the CSM competency requirements as 22 numbered sections. These are official, unweighted competency and preparation objectives. ETA states that exam questions are derived from the corresponding competencies, but the headings do not give you a percentage blueprint, so do not treat any one area as "worth" a fixed share of the exam. The complete walkthrough is in our guide to all 22 CSM content areas; here is the compressed version, grouped by theme.
| Theme | Domains |
|---|---|
| Leadership and people | 1 Managerial Responsibilities and Objectives; 2 Staff Integrity, Morals, and Ethics; 3 Personnel Profiles and Job Descriptions; 4 Team Building and Goal Setting; 5 Employee Motivation; 6 Training and Company Meetings |
| Employment and pay | 7 Hiring and Employment Laws; 8 Employee Compensation Systems |
| Customers and service delivery | 9 Customer Relations, Policies and Skills; 10 Service Policies, Procedures and Contract Negotiation; 11 Service and Production Area Development |
| Equipment, parts, and vehicles | 12 Test Equipment Needs and Procurement; 14 Parts Department Management and Logistics; 16 Vehicle Procurement and Maintenance |
| Money and risk | 13 Financial Management; 15 Warranties and Liability Risk; 19 Legal Responsibilities |
| Growth and professional standing | 17 Certifications, Licensing and Association Membership Involvement; 18 Advertising and Marketing |
| Systems and projects | 20 Quality and Safety Systems; 21 Security Requirements; 22 Project Management |
Key Takeaway
The 22 headings are a preparation map, not a weighting chart. Because ETA does not publish weights, assume any area can appear and give every domain at least one focused pass.
People Management Domains: What to Know Cold
The first eight domains are about running a team. A service manager is judged on how well the department performs through its people, and the exam reflects that.
Domains 1-3: Responsibilities, Ethics, and Job Design
Know what a service manager is accountable for, how integrity and ethics shape staff behavior, and how personnel profiles and job descriptions define roles.
- Distinguish management duties from technician duties
- Understand how clear job descriptions support hiring, evaluation, and accountability
- Recognize ethical conduct expectations for technicians who work in customers' homes and businesses
Domains 4-6: Teams, Motivation, and Training
These cover turning individual technicians into a functioning team, keeping them motivated, and running training and company meetings that actually accomplish something.
- Goal setting that is specific enough to measure
- Motivation approaches beyond pay alone
- Purposeful meetings and structured training programs
Domains 7-8: Hiring Law and Compensation
Hiring and employment laws and compensation systems are where managers get into real trouble, so expect scenario-style questions about doing the right thing.
- Lawful hiring practices and employment obligations
- How different compensation structures reward different behavior
- The link between pay design and the outcomes you want from technicians
If you are weighing whether this management-heavy focus fits your career, our analyses of CSM earnings and whether the certification is worth it cover the career side without inventing numbers.
Operations, Money, and Risk Domains
The back half of the competency list is where service management differs most from generic management training. These areas cover the physical and financial machinery of a service business.
Customers and contracts (Domains 9-11)
Customer relations, service policies, procedures, and contract negotiation sit together because they define how the business treats the people who pay it. Domain 11, service and production area development, extends that to how the shop floor and work areas are organized to deliver service efficiently.
Equipment, parts, and vehicles (Domains 12, 14, 16)
Test equipment needs and procurement, parts department management and logistics, and vehicle procurement and maintenance are inventory-and-assets topics. Think about what a service operation must buy, stock, track, and keep running: instruments, parts, and the vehicles that carry technicians to jobs.
Finance, warranties, and legal exposure (Domains 13, 15, 19)
Financial management, warranties and liability risk, and legal responsibilities are the risk-control cluster. Candidates should be comfortable reading the business through its finances and understanding how warranty promises and legal duties create exposure.
Professional standing and marketing (Domains 17-18)
Domain 17 covers certifications, licensing, and association membership involvement, which is the professional-credibility side of running a service business. Domain 18 covers advertising and marketing, meaning how a service company wins and keeps customers.
Exam-Day Rules and Retake Policy
Know these rules before you arrive so nothing surprises you.
On-site materials
- Photo identification is required.
- Scratch paper and a non-programmable scientific calculator are permitted.
- Cell phones are prohibited.
- Used scratch paper must be surrendered at the end.
Retake rules
One failed-exam retake is free within one year of the first exam session. The free retake excludes any remote-proctoring charge, so a remote retake still costs the USD 16 session fee. If you are anxious about the difficulty, our CSM exam difficulty guide and the discussion of the CSM pass rate put the retake safety net in context.
Lifetime Status: The Maintenance Exception
This is one of the most commonly confused facts. ETA has a general four-year maintenance cycle for many of its certifications, but CSM is a lifetime certification with no maintenance requirement. That is a credential-specific exception. Do not apply the four-year cycle to CSM, and do not assume you owe renewal fees or continuing-education credits to keep it.
For a career-planning angle, the lifetime status improves the long-term value of the fee: you pay once to test, and the credential does not lapse. That is a real point in favor when you run the numbers in our ROI analysis.
A Domain-Ordered Review Schedule
Because the 22 areas are unweighted, a sensible plan is to sequence them by theme and finish with the highest-risk operational topics. Here is one four-week arrangement tied to the actual domains. For a fuller plan, see the CSM study guide.
Leadership and People (Domains 1-6)
- Responsibilities, ethics, job descriptions, team building, motivation, training
- Start here because these concepts underpin later management questions
Employment, Pay, and Customers (Domains 7-11)
- Hiring law, compensation systems, customer relations, service policies, contracts, work-area development
Assets, Finance, and Risk (Domains 12-16, 19)
- Test equipment, financial management, parts logistics, warranties and liability, vehicles, legal responsibilities
Standing, Systems, and Full Practice (Domains 17-18, 20-22)
- Certifications and licensing, marketing, quality and safety, security, project management
- Finish with timed practice at 100 questions in two hours
That last step matters: two hours for 100 questions leaves a little over a minute per question, so practice at pace. You can run timed sessions on the CSM practice test site to build that rhythm before test day.
Key Takeaway
Use the final week for mixed, timed practice rather than new reading. Review every missed question against its competency section, then return to the practice tests until your scores sit comfortably above 75%.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Certified Service Manager exam has 100 questions with a two-hour time limit. The passing score is 75%, and there is no hands-on assessment.
The exam fee is USD 155. If you choose remote proctoring through ExamRoom.AI, a two-hour session adds USD 16, and that charge also applies to a remote retake.
No. CSM is a stand-alone certification, so the Associate Certified Electronics Technician (CETa) is not a prerequisite. See the eligibility details for the full picture.
One failed-exam retake is free if you take it within one year of your first exam session. The free retake does not cover any remote-proctoring charge.
No. CSM is a lifetime certification with no maintenance requirement. ETA's general four-year maintenance cycle does not apply to this credential.