Now that I’ve completed both TOGAF 9 tests, I am putting up a couple of quick posts on how I prepared for these Enterprise Architecture exams. Be advised that while TOGAF 9 is still very much alive, there is a new version, TOGAF 10, that’s available. Since I haven’t taken a TOGAF 10 exam, I can’t speak to it. Here is the information page link covering both TOGAF versions with respect to certification so you can make an informed choice. Here is my advice for the TOGAF 9 Foundation exam, the first of the two exams.
Before I took the TOGAF 9 Certified exam, I went ahead and ordered the study pack. It has both study guides, the TOGAF 9 pocket guide (I didn’t use this… I’ll explain shortly), practice exams, and some of the other referenced whitepapers and slides. This is what I ended up getting to prepare for the TOGAF 9 certified. Actually, I would recommend this for both exams. In my case, I already had the paperback versions of the study guides, but I found having the .PDF, especially for Certified was extremely helpful. I’m normally a physical book type of person, but I’ll get into why I felt the .PDFs in the study guide were more useful to me.
Again, download the TOGAF 9 standard itself. You’ll need it. I didn’t use it so much for the TOGAF 9 Foundation prep but having an electronic copy of the TOGAF 9 standard was critical in my exam preparation for Certified. The study guide has the relevant sections in the standard as additional reading and in some cases, the additional text in the standard itself helped clarify things from the study guide. Also, unlike Foundation, Certified is “open book.” That open book is the TOGAF 9 Standard in… PDF format. When I went to take the exam, a couple of questions required the use of the standard. Therefore, having conscientiously done the additional reading using the .PDF of the standard was extremely helpful. I had a good idea of where things were without using the search and it meant my time during the test trying to find what I was looking for in the standard was minimized.
That brings me back to the PDF version of the study guide. I had both the study guide and the standard opened in my PDF reader and as I completed a chapter and saw the additional reading, I flipped over to the TOGAF standard and read those recommended sections during the same study session as when I completed the chapter in the study guide. Also, if I felt like something wasn’t clear in the study guide I would immediately flip to the standard and see if that made things more clear. It often done. And being used to flipping around the electronic versions of the study guide and the standard made things a lot easier when it came time to take the test.
One thing I skipped with respect to the study guide were the end of chapter exercises. Most were open ended and not directly tied to the objectives of the exam. For instance, one exercise was to find related documents for my own organization and do something with respect to them. Another was to compare and contrast TOGAF with other architecture frameworks. Those are useful from an enterprise perspective in general, so I see value in those exercises. But the majority I didn’t see how they directly helped preparing for the Certified exam itself. YMMV.
Finally, take the practice exam. The exam questions in the study guide and included in the study kit are the same. There’s only one set. The exam itself is 8 questions, scenario based, with 4 choices to choose from. Scoring wise, the best answer earns 5 points, next best earns 3, and third best earns 1. You have to have a certain amount of points to pass the exam. At time of print, the study guides indicated that was 28 points out of 40, or 70%, but the study guide also indicated to look carefully when you go to take the test, as the passing score may be different. That 5/3/1/0 scoring mechanism is important to understand. It means 1 answer is a complete distractor. To get used to spotting that in the questions themselves, the practice questions included were great. Also, the slight nuances in the answers presented helps to understand how there is a first, second, and third best answer and how to start thinking about that when you are taking the exam for real. I am sure folks can pass without those practice questions, but if you have them, use them. The study guide and kit include 12 questions. The 8 to represent the test and an additional 4 to give you a better feel for what you’ll be facing. Definitely put the time in on the practice questions.
That’s it. That’s all I used: the study kit and the TOGAF 9 specification itself. There are great courses out there and the Open Group has a certification program for training partners, but I’d give self-study a go first if you can. The exams are expensive enough. If you can learn on your own, you’ll save a good bit of money.