As AI technology advances and the ability to apply it effectively grows more important, APEX — a certification exam measuring practical generative AI competency — is drawing increasing attention.
According to the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training's Private Qualification Information Service, a total of 1,078 AI-related private certifications were registered over the past four years. Of those, 545 were newly registered between January and May of this year alone — roughly 1.7 times the 318 certifications recorded throughout all of last year.
Among the growing field of credentials, APEX has emerged as a standout for measuring not just basic coding knowledge but comprehensive, hands-on AI competency.
Developed by Day1 Company in collaboration with researchers from Seoul National University, POSTECH and Korea University, and built on an OpenAI technology partnership, APEX is a job-skills certification exam that assesses how well test-takers can actually use AI. It evaluates performance across six competency areas — problem definition, prompt design, security and ethics, result verification, business judgment and workflow integration — each scored separately. Rather than testing rote memorization, the exam evaluates the process of using AI itself, assessing situational judgment and the ability to review outputs.
The exam also presents different real-world scenarios tailored to specific job functions and academic backgrounds, incorporating tasks drawn from actual workplace situations — planning a marketing campaign, organizing data and writing reports, or handling customer inquiries. The format reveals how test-takers define an unfamiliar task and use AI to solve it. For job seekers and university or graduate students with limited work experience, it offers an early opportunity to work through job-style problem-solving scenarios.
Test-takers receive a digital certificate along with a research note to help guide their learning after the exam. The note includes scores for each of the six competency areas as well as scenario-based scoring feedback, allowing test-takers to identify their strengths and areas for improvement across prompt design, result verification, business judgment and other domains.
A Day1 Company official said the surge in AI-related private certifications reflects growing social demand for AI competency, but cautioned that evaluation methods and verification standards vary widely across credentials. "Before obtaining a certification, consumers should look into the exam's structure, assessment criteria and how the results can actually be used," the official said.
pooh@heraldcorp.com
