TCAT Category IV.
Category IV is the top of the TCAT ladder. Entry needs verified work experience and a held TCAT Category III.
The top rung, gated on Category III.
Holders of TCAT Category III whose verified experience also meets the Category IV requirement.
TCAT is a mature-entry scheme. Categories I and II are open on verified work experience alone, so an analyst who already has the experience is not made to climb rungs they do not need. Categories III and IV additionally require the category below, because each one builds on the competence the previous one certified.
The role-level description of this category — the kinds of work a Category IV holder is expected to be able to do unsupervised — is written as part of the syllabus, which is still being authored. It will be published here in full before enrolment opens, and not before it is written.
The topic syllabus is still being written.
TCAT's syllabus follows the body of knowledge ISO 18436-2 sets out for vibration analysts at this category. The topic-by-topic list for Category IV is being authored now.
Nothing is listed here yet, on purpose. A topic list on a paid credential page is a promise about what will be taught and examined, and we are not making that promise from a draft. When the Category IV syllabus is finished it will be published in full — every topic, and the depth each is examined to.
What holding this category will not do for you.
- It is not an accredited ISO 18436-2 certification. TCAT is issued by TIERA. If your employer, client or tender requires certification from an accredited certification body, TCAT does not satisfy that requirement.
- TCAT training hours do not count towards the formal training an accredited ISO 18436 certification requires.
- It does not stand in for Category III. This category is gated on holding Category III, not the other way round.
- It is not a licence to operate machinery or a substitute for any statutory competence your jurisdiction or site requires.
The topic-level exclusions — the techniques and analyses that sit deliberately outside Category IV and are examined at a higher category instead — are defined by the syllabus and will be listed here once it is written. Being explicit about what a category does not examine matters as much as the topic list itself.
What you need before you can sit Category IV.
Experience is verified, not declared. That is the part of the entry route that does the work — see how entry works for the full process.
- Entry route
- Verified experience AND a held TCAT Category III.
- Prior TCAT category
- You must already hold Category III.
- Experience evidence
- An employer or supervisor confirmation of your field experience, checked by a person at TIERA before exam entitlement unlocks. A rejection is recorded with its reason.
- How much experience
- The exact requirement for Category IV is not published yet — it is set with the syllabus. We would rather leave this blank than print a number we might have to change.
- Delivery
- Self-paced online, with the graded assessment sat separately.
Two components. Both have to be passed.
Every TCAT category is assessed in two parts — knowledge items and graded diagnostic tasks — and each is passed on its own cut score. A strong knowledge score cannot carry a failed diagnostic component, and a strong diagnostic score cannot carry failed knowledge items.
Category III and IV assessment adds analyser set-up and written diagnosis on top of data interpretation.
Knowledge items
Multiple-choice and graphic questions against the Category IV syllabus. Marked automatically.
Graded diagnostic tasks
A case with a spectrum, a waveform, machine context and a running speed. You state the fault class, where it is, how severe it is and what you would do about it.
Separate cut scores
Each component is passed independently. This is TIERA's own standard — no fixed percentage is published, because no fixed percentage is a standard requirement.
Where this rung sits.
TCAT's four categories mirror the ISO 18436-2 category structure one for one. TCAT is a TIERA-issued credential aligned with the ISO 18436-2 body of knowledge. It is not an accredited ISO certification, TIERA is not an ISO certification body, and TCAT training hours do not count towards the formal training an accredited ISO 18436 certification requires.
Want the Category IV syllabus when it lands?
Send us a line and we will tell you when it is published — no pipeline, no drip campaign, just the announcement.