A probe apparatus includes a mounting table having a mounting table main body and a chuck top, cylinder mechanisms surrounding a mount of the chuck top, and a connecting mechanism to releasably connect the cylinder mechanisms to a head plate horizontally supporting a probe card. When a semiconductor wafer, mounted on the mount, comes into contact with probes of the probe card, a control unit operates the cylinder mechanisms and the connecting mechanism to connect the cylinder mechanisms to the head plate. Thereafter, the control unit further operates the cylinder mechanisms, to move the chuck top upward from the mounting table main body by a predetermined overdrive amount. Accordingly, the probe apparatus achieves an originally required contact load between the semiconductor wafer and the probes of the probe card while preventing the probe card from being displaced upward during overdriving of the semiconductor wafer, thereby enabling a highly reliable test.