How to write the Red Seal exam in Ontario.

01Who can write the Red Seal exam in Ontario?

Skilled Trades Ontario's exam scheduling page gives two routes to the certifying exam. The first is the apprenticeship route: "Complete an Ontario apprenticeship program in a trade with a certifying exam and receive a Certificate of Apprenticeship after submitting your Completion Form." The second is for experienced workers: "Be approved through a Trade Equivalency Assessment by Skilled Trades Ontario. This assessment is for experienced workers who have not completed an apprenticeship in Ontario."

The Trade Equivalency Assessment (TEA) is Ontario's version of the trade qualifier or challenger route. STO's TEA page asks for competence in the trade plus "experience in the trade that is at least equal to the prescribed or recommended total training time in an apprenticeship program for the trade (including both on-the-job and in-school hours)." There is no single Ontario hours figure. The requirement is whatever the apprenticeship program for your trade adds up to. The assessment is meant for people whose experience was gained outside Canada, in another province or territory without a Certificate of Qualification, or in the Canadian Forces.

If you already hold a recognized certificate in the same trade from another province or territory, you do not go through the TEA. The TEA application guide says you "may apply directly for an Ontario Certificate of Qualification." For how the challenge route works across Canada, see our guide on challenging the Red Seal exam without an apprenticeship.

One Ontario feature worth knowing before you finish your apprenticeship: when you complete a program in a trade with a certifying exam, STO "will automatically issue you a 1-year Provisional Certificate of Qualification." That lets you keep working in a compulsory trade while you prepare. Within 30 days of completing you receive a package by mail, and an Authorization to Test Letter by email. The provisional certificate page adds that "even if your Provisional Certificate of Qualification expires, you are still eligible to write the certifying exam."

02How to apply and book the exam

Ontario is one of the provinces where you book the sitting yourself. The order of events, as STO describes it:

1. Become eligible. Apprentices submit the Apprenticeship Completion Form through the STO Portal, by email to completions@skilledtradesontario.ca, or by mail. Experienced workers apply for a Trade Equivalency Assessment online (log in at skilledtradesontario.ca and choose the TEA application; Canadian applicants need a Social Insurance Number) or by email, mail or courier, then pay the assessment fee once STO confirms the application is complete. STO may contact your references and interview you, and tells you the result by email. No processing time is published; the guide says only that "some applications take longer because of the time it takes to contact references or temporary fluctuations in the number of applications received."
2. Pay the exam fee. "Pay your exam fee of $150 + HST on the Skilled Trades Ontario Portal account and sign into your account to complete payment." If your first attempt is waived, this step does not apply to it.
3. Get your Authorization to Test Letter. "After payment, you will receive an Authorization to Test Letter by email (or mail if you do not have email access)."
4. Book in the Portal. Select Examination at the top of the page, enter your STO ID number, click your name and select the exam type, answer the accommodation question (answer no online; if you need accommodations, phone STO instead), choose a date, time and location, add it to your cart, review, and select book now. A confirmation email is the last step. The Portal needs a My Ontario Account.
5. Watch for the rsexam.ca activation email. Red Seal exams are written on the rsexam.ca online delivery system. The activation email arrives 7 to 14 days before your exam from ccda.alerts@gmail.com, and "you have 72 hours to login into the account using the temporary password." If you miss the window, contact STO for a credential reset.

Rescheduling is done by phone: "If you require assistance with rescheduling your exam, please contact us by phone at 647-847-3000." STO publishes no cancellation deadline and no forfeiture rule, so ask when you call.

03What the exam costs

All amounts are as published by Skilled Trades Ontario on September 17, 2026, in Canadian dollars, with HST on top.

The waiver has a hard cutoff. STO's provisional certificate page states: "Apprentices who completed their program before January 1, 2025 are not eligible, even if they take the exam after that date." The waiver "is non-transferable between trades or individuals" and "does not cover practical exams." And it covers one attempt only: "If you don't pass on the first attempt, you will need to pay the standard fee of $150 + HST for each additional try."

04Exam day: format, language, what to bring

Format. STO's exam preparation guide says: "You will have up to four hours to write your examination" and "You need a mark of 70% to pass." Ontario certifying exams "may have between 90 and 150 multiple choice questions"; Red Seal exams sit at the top of that range, at 100 to 150 depending on the trade. Ontario has two exam types, the provincial Certificate of Qualification exam and the interprovincial one, "also known as the Red Seal C of Q," and the rule for which you write is simple: "If a trade is designated as Red Seal in Ontario, you will be writing the Red Seal examination." Our guides cover the question count for each trade and what 70% means in marks.

Where and how. "Skilled Trades Ontario delivers certifying exams in-house and will directly manage the exam-day experience, including identity verification." You write at one of the onsite locations listed in section 09, and for a Red Seal trade you write on the rsexam.ca system with an STO invigilator in the room. This is not a remote exam you can write from home.

What to bring. "Photo identification such as your driver's license or passport is mandatory." If STO gave you a receipt when you paid, bring that too.

What is supplied, and what you cannot bring. If your exam needs a code book or a calculator, the centre provides it: "you will not be allowed to bring your own code book or calculator into the examination centre." Ontario publishes no list of prohibited personal items on its current pages; the Red Seal Program's own rules, covered in our exam day guide, bar all electronic devices from the exam room.

Language. "Exams are available in English or French only." English and French dictionaries are available at every location. If you want your own foreign-language dictionary, you must request it; approved dictionaries "must be word-to-word translation only and will be inspected before and after the exam."

Extra time. This one catches people. "If you need more time, you must ask for it when you schedule the examination, not on the day of your examination." See section 07.

A caution on the source: the June 2023 preparation guide was written for paper booklets and scheduling through a local office. STO now delivers exams in-house through the Portal, so treat the guide's logistics as partly out of date and the exam scheduling page as current.

05How you get your results

From the preparation guide: "If you have an email address on file with Skilled Trades Ontario you will receive a notification by email that your exam has been marked and that your results are available to view online through the Skilled Trades Ontario Portal. Your results will also be emailed to you. If you do not have an email address on file, your exam results will be sent to you by mail. We are not able to provide exam results over the phone."

The results letter shows your mark section by section against the trade's exam breakdown, which is the useful part if you have to write again. STO publishes no turnaround time, in days or weeks, for marking.

06If you do not pass

Ontario's rule is a fixed wait and a fresh fee. From the exam scheduling page: "Please note that if you do not pass your exam, there is a mandatory 30-day waiting period before you can retake it. You will also need to pay the exam fee again before rescheduling." The preparation guide puts the timing precisely: "You will be allowed to schedule another examination 30 days after your previous examination date and write on the 31st day or thereafter if a seat is available."

STO publishes no maximum number of attempts and no rule requiring upgrading or training after repeated failures, unlike Saskatchewan or Nova Scotia. That is not the same as saying there is no limit; it means none is stated on an official page. If you are on a third or later attempt, ask STO directly.

Use the 30 days on the sections the results letter flagged. Our guide on how to study for the Red Seal exam builds a plan from the breakdown.

07Accommodations

Request accommodations before you book, not on the day. STO's exam scheduling page: "If you experience barriers during exams or feel you may benefit from additional support, accommodations may be available." Some requests need paperwork: "some accommodation requests require formal supporting documentation. This may include a recent, signed assessment or letter from a qualified health professional," and "Accommodation requests submitted without the required documentation cannot be approved." You submit STO's form to accommodations@skilledtradesontario.ca; urgent cases can phone 647-847-3000. When you book online, answer no to the accommodation question and arrange it by phone instead.

The preparation guide lists extra time, a separate room, a reader or interpreter, and an electronic reader as the kinds of accommodation available, and notes a practical exam option in a small number of trades. That option has a cost beyond the fee: "should you pass, you will be issued a provincial Certificate of Qualification (C of Q), without a Red Seal endorsement."

Language is not an accommodation. An interpreter or translator "must be requested as an accommodation and supported by relevant medical documentation. Interpreters or translators will not be provided for candidates whose primary barrier is low English/French-language proficiency."

08Certificate and Red Seal endorsement

In a Red Seal trade there is no separate endorsement step in Ontario. Passing the certifying exam gives you the "Interprovincial Certificate of Qualification (C of Q), also known as the Red Seal C of Q." No separate endorsement fee is published, and none appears to exist. The Red Seal Program's own description is that the endorsement is added to your provincial certificate once you pass the Red Seal exam, and Ontario's exam is that exam.

Keeping the certificate current depends on the trade. STO's Certificate of Qualification page: "Journeypersons in compulsory trades are required to pay an annual fee of $60 plus HST." On renewal, "a wallet card expiry sticker is issued upon renewal, and the STO Public Register is updated to reflect the new expiry date." You can renew in the Portal, through your bank as a payee, or by phone with Visa or Mastercard. For non-compulsory trades no renewal fee is stated.

If you are working on a Provisional Certificate of Qualification, it lasts one year. A six-month extension exists for extenuating circumstances, but "applications will not be accepted if submitted more than 2 months before the expiry date" and "must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST on the expiry date."

09Contact and exam locations

Skilled Trades Ontario Client Services. 647-847-3000, or toll-free within Ontario 1-855-299-0028, Monday to Friday 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Mail: PO Box 2354 RPO SQ1 Shoppers, Mississauga, ON L5B 3C8. Email by purpose: apprenticeship@skilledtradesontario.ca for general and Portal questions, completions@skilledtradesontario.ca for completion forms, assessments@skilledtradesontario.ca to submit a TEA and assessments-info@skilledtradesontario.ca to ask about one, accommodations@skilledtradesontario.ca for accommodation requests.

Onsite exam locations, as listed on the exam scheduling page. Your booking confirmation states which location you chose and whether it delivers online exams.

• Central: Centennial College Ashtonbee, Durham College Whitby, Georgian College Midland, George Brown College Casa Loma, Humber College Trades and Technology, Skilled Trades Ontario headquarters.
• Eastern: Algonquin College Ottawa, Algonquin College Pembroke, Fleming College Peterborough, Loyalist College Belleville, St. Lawrence College Cornwall, St. Lawrence College Kingston.
• Northern: Canadore College Commerce Court, Collège Boréal Timmins, Collège Boréal Sudbury, Confederation College Thunder Bay, Confederation College Kenora, Sault College Sault Ste. Marie.
• Southwest: Conestoga College Doon, Fanshawe College London, Georgian College Owen Sound, Lambton College Sarnia, Mohawk College Stoney Creek, St. Clair College Windsor.

10What Ontario does not publish

We looked for each of these on Skilled Trades Ontario's pages and the Red Seal Program's pages on September 17, 2026 and could not find them stated. Rather than guess, we list them, so you know what to ask the office directly.

• How long marking takes. Results arrive by email and in the Portal, but no turnaround in days or weeks is stated.
• A maximum number of exam attempts, or any rule requiring training or upgrading after repeated failures.
• The fee to issue a Certificate of Qualification after passing through a Trade Equivalency Assessment. A fee is referenced; no amount is given.
• How long a Trade Equivalency Assessment takes to process.
• Cancellation and rescheduling deadlines, and whether a missed booking forfeits the fee. The only instruction is to phone.
• How long a TEA approval or an Authorization to Test Letter stays valid.
• An explicit list of items prohibited in the exam room, such as phones. The Red Seal Program's rules apply; Ontario's current pages do not restate them.
• Whether provincial (non-Red Seal) certifying exams are written on paper or online.
• STO's separate Exam eligibility page returned a 404 error on September 17, 2026. The eligibility wording quoted above now lives on the exam scheduling page.

11Sources

• Skilled Trades Ontario: Exam scheduling — eligibility routes, the $150 + HST fee, the Authorization to Test Letter, Portal booking steps, in-house delivery, rsexam.ca, the 30-day wait, languages and dictionaries, accommodations, the exam location list.
• Skilled Trades Ontario: Provisional Certificate of Qualification — the automatic one-year provisional certificate, the first-attempt fee waiver and its January 1, 2025 cutoff, the fee for additional attempts, the extension rules.
• Skilled Trades Ontario: Finish an apprenticeship — the Completion Form and the completions email; first attempt not charged for completed training agreements.
• Skilled Trades Ontario: Trade Equivalency Assessment — the experience requirement, the $235 + HST assessment fee and $100 + HST reassessment, the certificate fee after passing.
• Skilled Trades Ontario: TEA Application Guide and Form (January 2022, PDF) — how to submit, payment methods, no fixed processing time, direct application for holders of another province's certificate.
• Skilled Trades Ontario: Trade Examinations in Ontario, Exam Preparation Guide (June 2023, PDF) — four hours, 70%, 90 to 150 questions, photo ID, supplied calculator and code book, results by email and Portal, rewrite on day 31, practical option without Red Seal. Partly predates in-house delivery.
• Skilled Trades Ontario: Certificate of Qualification — the $60 + HST annual renewal for compulsory trades, the expiry sticker and Public Register.
• Skilled Trades Ontario Portal — viewing certifying exam results as a Portal service.
• Skilled Trades Ontario: Contact us — phone numbers, hours and mailing address.
• Red Seal Program: Provincial and Territorial Authorities — Ontario's listing.
• Red Seal Program: Exam Overview and Preparation — who decides eligibility, the national 70% pass mark and four-hour writing time.

Every figure above was read on an official page on September 17, 2026. Fees and rules change; the office's own pages are the final word, and if you find one of ours out of date, tell us.

12Other provinces and territories

Eligibility, fees and rewrite rules are set by each province and territory, not by the Red Seal Program. The same guide for the others:

Related: all guides · challenging the exam without an apprenticeship · exam day: what to expect · the 70% pass mark · if you fail: rewrite rules compared

13Practice for this exam

The exam you write in Ontario is the same Red Seal exam written everywhere else in Canada, built from the trade's published breakdown and marked to the same 70%. TicketPrep practice tests are weighted to that breakdown for each trade, every answer is explained, and the first test is free.

Ten free questions per trade, no account: free practice questions. How our questions are written and checked: how our questions are made.