- The Exam at a Glance
- Which GVT This Sheet Covers
- Domain 1: Money Handling
- Domain 2: Electrical Fundamentals
- Domain 3: Basic Electronics Concepts
- Domain 4: Computer Hardware, Networking, and Display Technologies
- Domain 5: Safety Precautions and Protection
- Test-Day Rules and Logistics
- Fees, Retakes, and Renewal Numbers
- A Domain-Ordered Review Plan
- Quick Answers (FAQ)
- The GVT exam has 75 questions, a two-hour limit, and a 75% passing score, with no hands-on component.
- Five competency categories drive the exam: money handling, electrical fundamentals, electronics concepts, computer/network/display technology, and safety.
- The exam fee is $105; remote proctoring adds $16, and that surcharge is payable again on a retake.
- One free retake is available after a 30-day wait, within one year of your first sitting.
The Exam at a Glance
This page condenses what a Gaming and Vending Technician candidate needs to keep in their head on exam morning. It is a review sheet, not a replacement for study. If you are still deciding how to prepare, start with the GVT study guide, then come back here for a final pass. If you want to test recall under realistic conditions, the GVT practice tests are the quickest way to find weak spots.
| Item | What to Remember |
|---|---|
| Issuer | ETA International |
| Official title | Gaming and Vending Technician (GVT) |
| Format | Written knowledge exam; no hands-on exam required |
| Length | 75 questions in 2 hours |
| Passing score | 75% |
| Delivery | Computer or paper/pencil via ETA Certification Administrators (Trapeza), or remote proctoring through ExamRoom.AI arranged via ETA |
| Exam fee | $105 (remote proctoring adds $16) |
| Level | Stand-alone, entry-level credential for technicians with an electronics background |
| Certification term | 4 years |
Two details are not published in the sources reviewed: how many of the 75 questions are scored versus unscored, and the exact mix of question types. Do not rely on a raw "number of questions you can miss" figure you find elsewhere. The safe approach is to aim well above 75% in every domain so no single weak area drags you under. For more on how the threshold works, see the GVT passing score breakdown.
Which GVT This Sheet Covers
The acronym "GVT" is shared by several unrelated credentials in different fields. This sheet covers only the Gaming and Vending Technician (GVT) certification from ETA International. If you are looking for background on the credential itself, the pages on what GVT certification is and what GVT stands for explain the title and where it fits among ETA's specialty certifications.
Domain 1: Money Handling
This domain is what separates the GVT from a generic electronics credential. Gaming and vending equipment exists to accept, validate, store, and dispense money, so a technician must understand the devices that touch it. Expect questions framed around how currency and payment hardware behave and what a technician checks when something fails.
MONEY HANDLING: What to Review
Think in terms of equipment that accepts and pays out value, and the failure modes each device is prone to.
- Bill and coin acceptance and validation devices, and the sensors they depend on
- Payout and dispensing mechanisms, including hoppers and change-making components
- Cashbox and storage handling, including the security and accountability implications of opening them
- Routine cleaning and inspection as a first response to intermittent acceptance problems
- Cashless payment concepts as they relate to the machine hardware
Study tip specific to this domain: pair every device with its likeliest fault. Jams, dirty optical paths, worn rollers, and misread denominations are the kind of cause-and-effect pairings a knowledge exam favors. The GVT exam domains guide walks through how each content area is organized.
Domain 2: Electrical Fundamentals
The second domain is ELECTRICAL FUNDAMENTALS, and it is the foundation for everything that follows. A scientific calculator is permitted, so expect at least some questions that reward clean, correct arithmetic.
ELECTRICAL FUNDAMENTALS: What to Review
Know the relationships among the basic quantities and be able to apply them without hesitation.
- Voltage, current, resistance, and power, and how Ohm's law ties them together
- Series and parallel circuit behavior, including how voltage and current divide
- AC versus DC, and where each appears inside a gaming or vending machine
- Power supplies and how they convert and regulate voltage for the machine's subsystems
- Basic meter use: what you are measuring, in what mode, and what the reading tells you
Domain 3: Basic Electronics Concepts
BASIC ELECTRONICS CONCEPTS moves from circuits in general to the components that populate them. This is where the credential's "electronics background" expectation shows up most. Candidates who work on boards, switches, and sensors daily tend to find this domain familiar; candidates who only handle mechanical service often need extra time here.
BASIC ELECTRONICS CONCEPTS: What to Review
Focus on identifying components, understanding their function, and recognizing what a failure looks like.
- Resistors, capacitors, inductors, diodes, and transistors: purpose and typical symptoms when they fail
- Relays, solenoids, and switches, which are everywhere in coin and payout mechanisms
- Motors and the drive circuitry that controls them
- Sensors, including optical and magnetic types used for detection
- Reading schematics and basic block diagrams to trace a signal or power path
- Digital logic basics: on/off states, simple gates, and how a controller interprets inputs
If you are weighing how much prior experience you need before attempting the exam, read GVT requirements. The short version from the issuer's materials: the credential targets practicing technicians, and the sources reviewed do not state a minimum number of years, so check the current ETA page before you register.
Domain 4: Computer Hardware, Networking, and Display Technologies
COMPUTER HARDWARE, NETWORKING, AND DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES reflects how modern machines actually work. Today's gaming and vending equipment is, in large part, specialized computing hardware with a network connection and a screen. This domain is the one most likely to feel unfamiliar to technicians who learned on older electromechanical machines.
COMPUTER HARDWARE, NETWORKING, AND DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES: What to Review
Cover the three sub-areas in the title as distinct blocks.
- Computer hardware: processors, memory, storage media, motherboards, and how a machine boots and stores its configuration
- Networking: wired and wireless connectivity, addressing basics, and how machines report to a central system
- Display technologies: common screen types, backlighting, cabling and interface connections, and typical display faults such as dim output, lines, or no image
- Troubleshooting order: power first, then connections, then components, then software or configuration
Key Takeaway
When a question describes a symptom, work from the simplest cause outward: power and cabling before components, components before configuration. Exam writers reward the logical troubleshooting order a working technician would actually follow.
Domain 5: Safety Precautions and Protection
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND PROTECTION closes out the five categories. Electrical safety is a subsection inside this category rather than a separate sixth domain, so do not go looking for a standalone electrical-safety heading in the competency list. It sits here alongside protection of both the technician and the equipment.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND PROTECTION: What to Review
Safety questions tend to have one clearly correct answer. Know the standard procedures cold.
- Electrical safety: de-energizing equipment, verifying absence of voltage, and avoiding contact with live circuits
- Lockout and tagging concepts where applicable to service work
- Electrostatic discharge: why it damages components and how grounding straps and mats prevent it
- Safe handling of heavy cabinets, glass, and sharp or pinch-point mechanisms
- Protecting equipment from surges, improper grounding, and environmental hazards
- Accountability around cash and secured areas when servicing
Since safety is typically the most scoreable domain, treat it as a place to bank points. For a sense of how hard the exam is overall and where candidates tend to struggle, see how hard the GVT exam is.
Test-Day Rules and Logistics
Logistics cause avoidable stress. Here is what the issuer's testing rules say candidates should expect.
- Photo ID is required. Bring a valid, unexpired government-issued photo ID.
- Phones are prohibited in the testing area.
- Scratch paper and a non-programmable or scientific calculator are permitted. Used scratch paper is surrendered.
- You may not leave the room after testing starts, so handle everything beforehand.
- Remote proctoring is available through ExamRoom.AI, arranged through ETA, and remote equipment requirements apply. Test your setup in advance.
Fees, Retakes, and Renewal Numbers
What You Pay
The exam fee is $105, with no published member versus non-member split. Training and study materials are separate purchases. Remote proctoring adds $16 for the two-hour exam, and that charge applies again if you retake remotely. One third-party listing shows a $100 price; the current issuer price is $105, so use that figure. A fuller cost picture, including study materials, is in the GVT certification cost breakdown.
Retake Rules
- One eligible free retake is available.
- You must wait 30 days after the first attempt.
- The retake must be completed within one year of the first sitting.
- The free retake cannot be used merely to improve a passing score.
Keeping the Credential Current
| Maintenance Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Certification term | 4 years |
| Paperwork | Certification Maintenance Form |
| Continuing education | 10 hours per year (40 over four years) |
| Alternative to CE | Supervisor-completed Employer Verification for relevant employment |
| Fee | $25 per year ($100 per cycle) per the live maintenance page |
| Submission | ETA recommends annual submission |
One caution: an older, undated maintenance overview document lists a different annual fee for international candidates. Whether that applies to you today is unresolved, so confirm with ETA directly if you are outside the United States. To decide whether the renewal commitment makes sense for your career, read whether the GVT certification is worth it.
A Domain-Ordered Review Plan
If you have a few weeks, sequence your review so each domain builds on the last. This is the one place where method matters, and it is driven entirely by how the five domains depend on one another.
Electrical Fundamentals
- Drill Ohm's law and power calculations until they are automatic
- Practice series/parallel problems with your exam calculator
Basic Electronics Concepts and Money Handling
- Match components to functions and failure symptoms
- Pair each acceptance and payout device with its common faults
Computer Hardware, Networking, and Display Technologies
- Build the power-first troubleshooting habit across all three sub-areas
- Review connection types and typical display faults
Safety Precautions and Protection, then full practice
- Lock down electrical safety and ESD procedures
- Take timed practice sets and revisit your lowest domain
Electrical fundamentals comes first because the electronics and safety domains both assume it. Safety comes late because it is the highest-confidence area and works well as a final confidence builder. For deeper preparation, see the GVT training overview.
Quick Answers (FAQ)
The written knowledge exam has 75 questions and a two-hour time limit. The passing score is 75%. There is no hands-on component.
No official weights were verified. ETA publishes five numbered competency categories, and exam questions derive from them, but the sources reviewed do not state how heavily each category is weighted. Prepare for all five.
Yes. A non-programmable or scientific calculator and scratch paper are permitted under ETA testing rules. Photo ID is required, phones are prohibited, and used scratch paper is surrendered.
You may be eligible for one free retake after a 30-day wait, provided you complete it within one year of your first sitting. If you retake with remote proctoring, the $16 proctoring fee is payable again.
The credential is aimed at technicians servicing gaming and vending equipment. For a look at the types of roles and employers, see GVT jobs, and for earnings context see the GVT salary guide.
Use this sheet as a final checklist the night before, then confirm the latest fees and rules on ETA's own pages, since policies can change. When you are ready to measure your recall against exam-style questions, head to the main practice test site.