This study compares the cognitive knowledge structures of translation ethics between student and professional translators and interpreters. Through examining the differences in knowledge structures, the paper identifies deficiencies in teaching translators translation ethics, and further seeks appropriate remedial teaching to enhance student understanding of translation ethics. The study applied cognitive diagnosis evaluations on the participants in this study (30 under-graduate students, 19 graduate students, and 8 professional translators and interpreters) with a localized tool designed to evaluate cognitive structures of translation ethics. The process in this study started with developing the key concepts for cognitive diagnostic assessment followed by a test on the translator knowledge structures of translation ethics. The statistical method adopted in the study was Pathfinder. This study finds that the cognitive structures of translation ethics presented by all three groups of participants are incomplete. A comparison of links of main translation ethics concepts among the three groups shows that the number of the links follows a descending order of the graduate student group, the professional translator group, and the under-graduate student group. However, none of the three groups has more than two accurate links between main concepts in the cognitive structures of translation ethics. This shows that there is no obvious difference among the participants in the numbers of accurate links in the cognitive structures of translation ethics. This study proposes a practical tool to evaluate translation ethics and provides suggestions for future research on translation ethics.