Our standards
What our certification actually attests.
Online certification has a trust problem, and vague promises made it. This page is the opposite: the published standard of the Averon Certification Standards Board (ACSB) — exactly how our exams work, exactly how verification works, and exactly where we stand on accreditation — so you can judge us on facts.
The board
Why we publish our own standard.
Six Sigma has no official governing body — so what passes for “accreditation” is usually a paid directory badge, a private council with close ties to the school it accredits, or a logo with no published criteria behind it. We took the opposite path: the Averon Certification Standards Board is openly ours, and everything it requires is written on this page.
That openness is the point. A borrowed logo asks for your trust; a published standard lets you audit it. Every claim the ACSB seal makes is checkable right now — the exam rules below, the live credential register, the guarantee in writing. No accreditation badge in this industry offers you that.
What the seal requires of every program
- Timed, closed-book exams — uniquely shuffled papers, server-side grading, limited attempts
- Every credential publicly verifiable, free, forever — revocations show immediately
- Published curriculum: hours, lesson counts and exam blueprints stated on every course page
- One all-inclusive price — course, exam, unlimited retakes and certificate; no add-ons after checkout
- A 30-day money-back guarantee, in writing
- Honest labeling: the ACSB is Averon's own standard — never presented as third-party accreditation
The exam
A certificate is only worth what its exam demands.
Passing one of our exams means one specific thing: the holder of this account answered at least 80% of a timed, closed-book examination correctly. Here is what stands behind that sentence.
Account-bound
Certification exams are taken signed in to your student account. The name on the certificate is the account that sat the exam, and every credential traces back to that record.
Timed and closed-book
Exams run against the clock, closed-book. A Green Belt has 70 minutes for 82 questions — enough time to think, not enough to look everything up.
Unique papers, server-side grading
Every sitting draws a freshly shuffled paper. Grading happens on our servers and answer keys never leave them — abandoning a paper costs an attempt, and attempts are limited per sitting window.
Real consequences
Confirmed misconduct voids the exam and revokes any issued credential — and revocation shows immediately on our public verification register.
Verification
Don't take our word for it. That's the point.
Every certificate we issue carries a unique credential ID and a QR code. Anyone — an employer, a recruiter, a stranger — can check it on our public register in seconds, free, forever. Revoked credentials stop verifying immediately.
Try it right now with our sample credential — this is exactly what an employer checking your certificate would see:
What the register shows
- Holder name and program, exactly as certified
- Credential ID and issue date
- Live status — active or revoked
- Issued only after a passed, timed exam
Side by side
Our terms, next to the industry's.
“Common industry practice” below describes patterns documented across well-known online Six Sigma certification providers — not any single company.
| Averon Institute | Common industry practice | |
|---|---|---|
| Refund window | 30 days, full refund, if less than 25% of the course is complete | 72-hour windows are common, sometimes minus a 10–15% service fee |
| Exam integrity | Timed, closed-book, account-bound, uniquely shuffled papers | Open-book, untimed, unlimited-retake exams are widespread |
| Verifying a credential | Free, public, instant — QR code on every certificate | Often unavailable to employers, or sold back to the graduate as a paid digital badge |
| Credential expiry | Never expires; no renewal fees, ever | Varies — some charge renewal or account-reactivation fees |
| Pricing | One price on the page; course, exam, unlimited retakes and certificate included | Textbook add-ons, badge fees and reactivation charges after checkout are common |
On accreditation
A straight answer to a question most providers dodge.
Six Sigma has no government-mandated licensing body. Anyone can certify anyone — which is why the industry is full of “accreditations” that sound official but are issued by private organizations, sometimes ones with close ties to the very providers they accredit, and sometimes given away free. An accreditation logo, on its own, tells you almost nothing.
So here is our position, plainly: Averon Institute is an independent institute, and we do not currently hold third-party accreditation. Rather than borrow credibility from a logo, we publish our own standard — the Averon Certification Standards Board (ACSB), openly ours and labeled as ours — on this page: what the exam demands, what the credential attests, and how anyone can verify it. Check every claim yourself before spending a dollar.
When we do pursue external recognition, it will be from an independent body with no financial relationship to us, and we’ll publish exactly what it covers. Until then: judge the exam, judge the material, and verify the credential. Facts over logos.
Test us
Start with the White Belt and judge for yourself.
Full course, timed exam, verifiable credential — completely free, no card required. If our standards hold up, the other belts will be here.