The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PARLIAMENTARIANS^® (NAP) has several levels of membership, including Regular Member, Registered Parliamentarian, and Professional Registered Parliamentarian. To attain each membership level, a person must demonstrate a corresponding proficiency in parliamentary procedure. To become a Regular Member (the initial membership level), a person must successfully complete a 100-question examination in basic parliamentary procedure, based on Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 10^th Edition. A score of 70 or more correct answers on the 100-question examination is required for successful completion of the examination.

Beginning in 2010, persons applying to become Reglar Members have the option of taking the required membership examination in an online version, instead of taking the paper version which has been used in the past. Further details on the entire examination process are given in the following paragraphs, but to simplify things an NAP Membership Application Form is available on this page. This form allows the applicant to choose the type of exam taken, whether paper or online. It is otherwise essentially identical to the form on the NAP Website. To download the form (PDF file), click here. The form and the examinations (both paper and online) contain the necessary instructions, but please feel free to read the remainder of this page for further information if you wish.

Prior to 2010, the membership examination has consisted of several pages of questions on standard-size paper, sent to the applicant's test monitor. The monitor, who is chosen by the applicant, should be an NAP member, but may be any responsible adult who does not live at the same address as the applicant. The monitor agrees to receive the examination materials and to be present throughout the examination session. Both the applicant and the monitor certify that the examination was conducted in accordance with the rules that accompany it. Often the monitor was the applicant's instructor.

In actuality, several versions of the paper examination have been used, all based on the NAP document "STUDY QUESTIONS FOR THE NAP MEMBERSHIP EXAMINATION," but with some different questions in each. The examinations are administered by the NAP Membership Examiners Committee (MEC), a group of NAP member-volunteers. On the NAP Website Download Forms Page, a membership application form is available, by following the link "NAP Application Form." The form includes complete instructions for applying for membership, but is currently available only for paper examinations. The "STUDY QUESTIONS FOR THE NAP MEMBERSHIP EXAMINATION" document is available on the same page, by following the link "NAP Membership Exam Study Questions (300 Questions)." (These documents are both PDF files.) The "300 Questions Study Guide," available on the Home Page of this website, is a computer simulation of all questions in "STUDY QUESTIONS FOR THE NAP MEMBERSHIP EXAMINATION." It has been found to be a very helpful, interactive study aid for persons planning to take the membership examination.

In 2010, the membership examination was made available by the MEC in an online version, at the option of the applicant. The online examination process is very similar to that used for the paper examinations, including the need for a monitor. The differences are that a personal computer and high-speed internet access are required to take the examination, many of the questions are selected randomly and differ from examination to examination, and the answers are immediately scored, making the results available to the applicant a very few minutes after completion of the examination.