Knowledge testing centers charge approximately $175 for the initial aeronautical knowledge test, Unmanned Aircraft General – Small. The FAA's cost answer uses "approximately" because PSI shows the amount you will actually pay. Confirm that figure on the scheduling screen before you pay it.
What the fee buys
The fee is the testing center's charge for the UAG knowledge test under §107.67. It is not an FAA card fee, and it is not aircraft registration. Part 48 registration of a small unmanned aircraft used under Part 107 is $5 and lasts 3 years. Paying one does not pay the other. A second attempt after a failure is another testing-center charge. The waiting period and the report you must bring back are on the retest page. What to carry into the center is on the test day page.
Passing the test is one step toward a Remote Pilot Certificate. The certificate is what §107.12 requires before you act as remote pilot in command. The test fee does not put that certificate in your pocket the same afternoon. After you pass, you still apply, and TSA vetting still runs. Until you hold at least the temporary certificate, you are not yet the remote pilot in command of a Part 107 flight.
Who must hold the certificate
Section 107.12(b) says no person may act as remote pilot in command unless that person has a Remote Pilot Certificate with a small UAS rating and satisfies §107.65. The duty attaches to the role, not to the neighborhood. It does not turn on whether the site is within 5 miles of an airport. It does not extend to every crewmember. A visual observer does not need the certificate. The aircraft owner does not need it merely because the owner owns the aircraft.
The person on the sticks is a different sentence in the same section. That person must either hold the certificate and meet recency, or manipulate the controls under the direct supervision of a remote pilot in command who can immediately take direct control. Supervision is a narrow permission to touch the controls. It does not make the uncertificated person the remote pilot in command, and it does not erase the requirement that someone on the operation hold the certificate.
Registration is not the certificate
A real-estate photographer who registers a drone, marks the number on the outside, and then sells aerial photos has finished the aircraft requirement and skipped the pilot requirement. Section 107.13 points the operation at the registration rules. Section 107.12 still requires a certificated remote pilot in command. One record does not replace the other. He should not "register himself as the pilot" in the aircraft system and skip the certificate. The aircraft gets a registration number. The person who will act as remote pilot in command gets a certificate, after the knowledge test or the Part 61 training path, the application, and vetting.
Walk through a Saturday listing shoot. The quadcopter is registered, the number is legible on the arm, and the client is paying for the photos. If the photographer has no Remote Pilot Certificate, the paid flight still needs a current remote pilot in command. Registration made the aircraft legal to identify. It did not make the photographer the remote pilot. The same split applies if a company owns the aircraft and an employee will fly it. The company registers the aircraft. The employee who acts as remote pilot in command holds the certificate.
The certificate has to be in hand
Once you hold it, §107.7(a) requires you to have the remote pilot certificate and identification in your physical possession and readily accessible while you exercise those privileges. On request, you present the certificate and identification to the Administrator, an authorized representative of the National Transportation Safety Board, any Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer, or an authorized representative of the Transportation Security Administration. The same section lets the Administrator test or inspect the aircraft and the people associated with the operation.
The trap is treating the certificate like a diploma on the office wall. Offering to email a photo later does not meet "readily accessible," and it does not meet a request to present the certificate during the job. Declining because "only law enforcement may ask" is also wrong. The FAA's own inspector is on the list. Aircraft registration papers are not the remote pilot certificate. Showing the registration and withholding the certificate does not comply.
Practice the certificate, registration, and inspection items on the free practice test. The lessons that walk the application path are listed at pricing.