I cleared TOGAF 9.1
part 1(Foundation) with a score of 90% yesterday.
Some Background
Around 2-3 weeks of self study with
offline webinar sessions from the TOGAF trained instructor. Around 2-3 hours on
the daily basis and around 20 hours
during the last 4 days before the exam.
I decided to go with part 1 and part 2
separately even though it is more expensive option.
Part 1 voucher costs $320 in US.
Part 1 is a 40 questions closed book multiple choice test(most
of the questions are having 5 choices) for the duration of 1 hour. Each question has only one right
answer though sometimes you have to chose the best option in the right context.
One need to score 22 correct answers out of 40 to clear it(passing score is
55%). Part 2 is open book scenarios which I will be taking later.
Now let’s talk about the
preparation
The offline webinar sessions were around 7 in number with each almost 2-2.5 hours. The sessions were helpful as in the past I had the TOGAF 9.1 study guides for part 1 and part 2 but every time I will start reading it – I will feel bored. I always used to think that the contents are just too much abstract, theoretical, dry and boring. Till month of March, 2013 – I could never go beyond chapter 4 of the study guide. Somehow I always used to compare it with SCEA5 and other technical books. As one is not doing any real hands on work or applying the knowledge it was feeling quite boredom.
The offline webinar sessions were around 7 in number with each almost 2-2.5 hours. The sessions were helpful as in the past I had the TOGAF 9.1 study guides for part 1 and part 2 but every time I will start reading it – I will feel bored. I always used to think that the contents are just too much abstract, theoretical, dry and boring. Till month of March, 2013 – I could never go beyond chapter 4 of the study guide. Somehow I always used to compare it with SCEA5 and other technical books. As one is not doing any real hands on work or applying the knowledge it was feeling quite boredom.
This offline webinars gave some applications of TOGAF. At the
same time one of my friends also joined me in the preparation for part 1. Both of
us started discussing about TOGAF with real life applications – that way some
interest started forming up.
Since 10th of May, 2013 – I started devoting almost
2-3 hours every day while going thru the study guide thoroughly. Depending on
the availability I will spend around 4-5 hours on the weekend. Overall I think
I spent close to 40-45 hours on the preparation.
TOGAF part 1 requires a good amount of memorizing capabilities
as there are lot of terminologies being mentioned which we might be using in
our day to day work without realizing that it maps to that terminology. But one
need to relate the concepts and terminologies mentioned in study guide with
some real life applications to understand that in the best possible manner.
Essentially TOGAF is all about big picture architecture. It
teaches how someone should deal with Enterprise architecture as a whole. The
more you relate with your day to day work – better it is.
As getting certified
should not be the only motto – what you learnt while preparing for the
certification is most important.
What is expected from candidates appearing in TOGAF 9.1 exam:
Individuals certified at Foundation(part 1) level will have
demonstrated their understanding of:
• The basic concepts of enterprise architecture and TOGAF
• The core concepts of TOGAF 9
• The key terminology of TOGAF 9
• The ADM cycle and the objectives of each phase, and how to
adapt and scope the ADM
• The concept of the Enterprise Continuum; its purpose, and its
constituent parts
• How each of the ADM phases contributes to the success of
enterprise architecture
• The ADM guidelines and techniques
• How Architecture Governance contributes to the Architecture
Development Cycle
• The concepts of views and viewpoints and their role in
communicating with stakeholders
• The concept of building blocks
• The key deliverables of the ADM cycle
• The TOGAF reference models
• The TOGAF certification program
Coverage of the exam
The 11 topic areas covered by the examination together with the
number of questions per area in the
examination is as follows:
1. Basic Concepts (3 questions)
2. Core Concepts (3 questions)
3. Introduction to the ADM (3 questions)
4. The Enterprise Continuum and Tools (4 questions)
5. ADM Phases (9 questions)
6. ADM Guidelines and Techniques (6 questions)
7. Architecture Governance (4 questions)
8. Architecture Views, Viewpoints, and Stakeholders (2
questions)
9. Building Blocks (2 questions)
10. ADM Deliverables (2 questions)
11. TOGAF Reference Models (2 questions)
Overall strategy for the preparation of the exam
·
Study guide is concise and almost
70-80% questions will come from that only.
·
Patterns of the questions in the real
exam is very similar to that of practice tests in the study guide.
·
Don’t just think that there are 13
chapters, essentially TOGAF is all about ADM and ADM phases which covers almost
40% of the syllabus.
·
Make sure that you highlight all the important
terminologies and the concepts while going thru the study guide. It’s hardly
150-160 pages you have to go thru.
·
The best strategy could be is to go
thru the chapters as per your pace, try out to get at least around 75% in the
questions at the end of each chapter. May be going thru 10-15 pages per day or
2-3 chapters per day is a good idea.
·
After completing one iteration of the
study guide – attempt the practice tests and the bonus tests that came with the
study guide. One should definitely try to achieve around 70% in those mock
tests.
·
Practice should give you a very good
idea about what you need to read in the study guide and what kind of questions
are being asked.
·
Now go thru the study guide second
iteration and try some other mock tests on the internet.
·
Last 2-3 days of the exam – only read
the highlighted text or the text which is relevant as per the exam.
·
Once you have worked thru around
150-200 questions and went thru this study guide and achieving around 70-75% in
the mock tests – you are ready to go.
Some General tips for taking the exam:
·
The questions were extremely similar in difficulty to the 40
question practice test
·
Some of the questions in the real exam are as it is coming from
the practice tests.
·
Try to remember objectives of each ADM phase, their inputs and
outputs etc..
·
Some of the questions in the practice tests and the real test
have some real close options – so one need to know the subject in detail.
·
In fact some of the questions in the real exam just requires you
to know the one liner from the study guide or the TOGAF specification. You can
have around 6-8 questions like that.
·
Try to make use of process of elimination. Some of the options
could be just eliminated easily to arrive at the right answer.
·
Read the question well – some 4-6 questions are tricky – if you
just went thru them quickly you might have got it wrong and select a wrong
answer.
·
Real exam is all about – either you know it or you don’t know
it. Most of the people will be done before 25 minutes.
·
It’s better that some of the questions that you doubt about –
better to mark it and provide a comment so that you can review them later. Just
don’t stick to the difficult questions – you can mark it and skip it to revisit
later.
·
Some of the ADM phases – Preliminary Phase and Architect Vision
Phase(also Phase E& F and Phase G & H) has some of the objectives,
steps, inputs and outputs some what similar or closer. Some questions around
7-8 will test you on these also. Make sure that you go thru the reference card
provided at the end of the study guide during the last 2-3 days.
·
Some of the questions only refer the phases with alphabets like
Phase E rather than “Opportunities and Solutions”. In my case I made the mental
picture of the ADM phases and draw it on the pad provided at the prometric
center during the exam to avoid any confusion.
·
View Vs Viewpoints, Architecture compliance, what goes where in
Architecture repository etc…one need to know them really well. Try to relate
them to real life examples for better understanding.
·
It’s better that you take the color print outs of the reference
cards, some of the important diagrams and paste it in your study room while you
are preparing for the exam.
·
Try to remember the basic definitions in TOGAF specification.
Around 3-4 questions are based on that only.
·
It’s better to spend entire one hour in the prometric exam to
review the questions that you have already done it. I spend last 15 minutes
reviewing all my questions and corrected around 2 questions at the last minute.
·
In the real exam I was sure that around 29 questions I have done
they are correct. Around 4 questions I knew most probably the option I have
selected is the best choice. Around 7 questions I was not very sure about and I
need to do some intelligent guess work.
·
Before the last 4 days of the real exam – I was scoring almost
85-100% in the practice tests and thus I was very confident before the real
exam.
·
There are not significant differences between 9.1 and 9.0
·
Last but not the least try to appear in the exam as soon as
possible the moment you think that you are prepared. Good amount of memorizing
is required for part 1 – you might forget if you schedule your exam later.
Resources
Official study Guide
$60 from open group.
This is a must have and the practice
tests questions are very similar to real exam. In fact some 50-60% questions
are already been asked in various practice or bonus tests or at the end of each
chapter.
Mock tests at:
According to me they are very hard but it’s better to
go thru them once.
Some of these blogs:
Best of luck for your TOGAF 9.1 part 1 exam!!!