Why CoatMentor exists
A CIP or FROSIO course costs money and days of your time — and the exam at the end of it decides whether that investment pays off. Good practice material for that exam is hard to find. CoatMentor is our answer to that. This page explains what we built, how the questions are written, and the rules we hold ourselves to.
The short answer: CoatMentor is an independent practice tool for the AMPP CIP Level 1 and Level 2 exams and the FROSIO written exam. Every question is written from scratch against the public exam blueprints, the mocks follow the published domain weights, and every item comes with a worked explanation. A free readiness check lets you judge the quality before you pay.
What makes practice useful
Search for coating-inspector exam questions and you will soon find braindumps: real exam questions that someone copied and sells. Using them breaks the exam rules you sign and puts your certification at risk. They also teach you to recognise old answers instead of understanding the material, and exam bodies change their papers for that reason.
Practice helps when it follows the published exam structure, explains every answer and is checked against the standards. That is the bar we set for CoatMentor.
What we do instead
- Every question is written from scratch. Nothing is copied from any real exam paper — not the questions, not the answer keys. We write to the publicly published exam structures: the AMPP CIP Exam Preparation Guides and the FROSIO syllabus. That's the same boundary an honest classroom instructor works to.
- The banks follow the published blueprint weights. The CIP exams publish how many questions come from each scoring domain. Our mocks draw to those exact quotas, so a mock has the same domains in the same proportions as the exam. Its score is a readiness reading, not a prediction of your result — and the per-domain breakdown tells you where you're losing marks, not just how many.
- FROSIO practice is written, because the FROSIO exam is written. No multiple-choice shortcuts for an open-answer exam: you write your answer first, then compare it against a model answer and a key-point checklist. (Here's how the FROSIO exam actually works.)
- Every item carries a worked explanation. Not "the answer is B" — why it's B, which standard says so, and where the trap in the question was. The explanation is the product; the question is just the delivery mechanism.
- Standard numbers and facts are checked. When an item quotes an ISO or SSPC number — a preparation grade, a dust class, a DFT rule — we check the number against a live source and the facts in it against a pack of sources that we have verified. Users can flag any question they believe is wrong from inside the app. Reported items get reviewed and fixed.
Who builds it
CoatMentor is built by a certified inspector working in marine coatings and shipbuilding quality control — someone who has sat one of these exams and works daily with the standards they test. It is deliberately independent: not affiliated with AMPP or FROSIO, not reselling anyone's course material, and not pretending to be a training body. It's a practice tool, built the way the builder wished one existed before his own exam.
The honesty rules
Three rules are hard-coded into how this product is run:
- No braindumps, ever. We do not use or sell real exam questions. Leaked papers break the exam rules and put your certification at risk.
- No fake social proof. You won't see invented testimonials, star widgets, or "12,000 happy inspectors" counters here. When real users say real things, we'll ask permission and quote them. Until then, the proof is the product itself.
- Try before you buy — really. Purchases are final, so instead of a refund window we open the actual product first: a free readiness check: 12 questions for CIP Level 1 or Level 2, or 6 FROSIO written prompts, in the exact style, depth and format of the paid banks, with a report by domain at the end. Judge the quality before you spend anything.
What it costs, and why
A course and its exam are a real cost for you or your employer. Failing the exam adds a resit fee, more study weeks, and sometimes a job offer. Against that, a full practice track is $49 (CIP Level 1), $59 (CIP Level 2) or $69 (FROSIO) — one payment, 6 months of access, no subscription. We keep the price low on purpose, so that a practice track is an easy addition to your course.
The fastest way to judge us is to test yourself: the readiness check is free, needs no email to start, and opens the worked explanation after every answer.
Take the free readiness check See pricing →Sources
- AMPP — Exam Preparation Guides: Basic Coatings Inspector (CIP Level 1) — item count, exam time, the 11 domain weights
- AMPP — Exam Preparation Guides: Certified Coatings Inspector (CIP Level 2) — both theory-exam versions: the July 2026 guide (120 items, 10 domains) and the earlier one
- FROSIO — Training and certification — course, exam, certificate levels and validity
Checked on 23 September 2026.
Guides: CIP Level 1 vs Level 2 · What is the FROSIO exam? · How the CIP blueprint weights the exam.
CoatMentor is an independent study aid and is not affiliated with, authorised by, or endorsed by AMPP, NACE International, or FROSIO. All trademarks belong to their owners.