Our editorial standards

We are independent

Made Simple is not affiliated with, approved by or endorsed by any state licensing board or commission, testing vendor or professional body. That includes PSI, Pearson VUE, Prometric and NIC. No one outside our team reviews or signs off on what we publish.

We name the boards and vendors because you need to know who runs your exam. Naming them does not mean they work with us.

We go to the source

We build facts from primary sources: candidate bulletins and content outlines from the testing vendor, state laws and rules, and reports from the agencies that publish them. We use secondary sources only to find a primary one.

For every fact, we record where it came from, the date we checked it, and how confident we are. Pages that show numbers list their sources at the bottom, with the date each was checked. If a number has not yet had an independent fact-check, the page says so.

Read more about the full process in how we make our guides.

How we report pass rates

Pass rates are easy to misread. A rate that counts only first tries can look very different from one that counts every sitting, including retakes. So every pass rate we publish comes with three things:

• The source, usually the state agency that published it.
• The period, such as a fiscal year or a single month.
• Who was counted: first-time candidates only, or all sittings.

We also say what a pass rate is not. One state's numbers for one year are not a prediction of how you will do. You can see more on our pass-rate data page.

How we handle corrections

If you think something on a page is wrong, email info@bymadesimple.com. Tell us the page and what you think is wrong. A link to your source helps a lot.

We check every report against the primary source. If we got it wrong, we fix the page and add a short correction note on that page with the date. We don't quietly change facts. Small fixes like typos are made without a note.

You can also use our contact form and pick "A correction".

How often we update

Each page shows the date it was last checked. We recheck pages when a testing vendor publishes a new outline or bulletin, when a state changes its rules, and when new pass-rate data is released.

Each guide page records the outline version it follows. When an outline changes, we compare the old and new versions and update the pages that changed.

What we never say

• That a guide will help you pass, or any promise of a score. No guide can promise that.
• That a guide is "official", "approved", "endorsed", "certified" or "accredited".
• What is on the exam, or how often, beyond what the published outline says.
• Quotes, reviews or success stories from people we can't show you are real.
• Countdown timers, fake deadlines or "only a few left".

How we use AI

Our drawings are built in code as vector graphics. They are not made by an AI image generator, and every label in them is real text.

We may use software tools, including AI tools, to help with research, drafting and checking. Whatever tools are used, every fact is checked against primary sources by a separate review before a page is published. A person on our team is responsible for every page.

How we make money

We sell our own study guides on each study area's own site. That is how we pay for the free pages, practice tests and glossaries.

We don't take payment to recommend other products, schools or courses. We don't run paid placements or affiliate links. If that ever changes, we will label it clearly on the page where it appears.

Made Simple guides are independent study aids. No guide can guarantee a passing score.