9 Tips for passing ArchiMate Practitioner exam

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Youtube video The presentation shared in SlideShare




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How to pass ArchiMate® Certification

If you like to view the video version of this blog post, you can click on the video.

Thanks to Allah; I have passed ArchiMate Certification on Nov-2021. In this blog post, I’m sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification.


Target Audience (Personal opinion)

This certification is targeting Enterprise Architects and Domain Architects.


Version releases

The below table lists versions for ArchiMate, listed below as there are several resources on the Internet that are considered old and not matching the current version v3.1.

Version Release Date
ArchiMate v1.0 Feb-2009
ArchiMate v2.0 Jan-2012
ArchiMate v2.1 Dec-2013
ArchiMate v3.0 Jun-2016
ArchiMate v3.01 Aug-2017
ArchiMate v3.1 Nov-2019


Exam information

Foundation Practitioner
Exam code / name OGA-031: ArchiMate® 3 Part 1 Exam (English) OGA-032: ArchiMate® 3 Part 2 Exam (English)
Open Book No Yes
Duration 1 hr (ESL: 1 hr, 30 mins) 1 hr, 30 mins (ESL: 2 hrs)
Questions 40 simple single choice questions. 1 (Correct), 0 (Incorrect) point per question 8 Complex gradient scoring. 5 (Best answer), 3 (Second best), 1 (Third best), 0 (Incorrect) points per question
Time / Question 1.5 mins (ESL: 2.25 mins) 11.25 mins (ESL: 15 mins)
Passing score 24/40 (60%) 28/40 (70%)
Individual Cost 360 USD 360 USD
Combined Cost 550 USD
Validity Indefinite
Exam location Home (OnVUE Online Proctoring from Pearson VUE) or Testing center.
Retake policy After 1 month

Note about ESL

When you are booking the exam from one of the ESL countries, you will get approval for extra 30 mins.


Study material

Reference Cost Mandatory / Optional Note
ArchiMate® 3 Certification Self-Study Pack, 3rd Edition (B175) $49.95 Mandatory (Selected) Updated to 3.1 specs. Summer, Black Friday, and Christmas sales you can get 50%. I found it contains more examples than the public specs site.
ArchiMate Modeling Language – Youtube playlist 0 Optional Provide good introduction before you start learning if you are new to the language. Not all videos are required. Voice quality for some videos is not as expected 😌
Archi Five Minute Guides – Youtube channel 0 Optional Demo for using ArchiMate in Archi.
ArchiMate Cookbook (Patterns & Examples) 0 Optional The book is usually updated, download from the link. Introduces patterns and examples of what you can do with ArchiMate.
Many thanks 🙏 to the author for making such a book free, it is simply a treasure to any Enterprise Architect.
Mastering ArchiMate Edition 3.1 $31.87 Optional I received two recommendations for this book.
Enterprise Architecture at Work: Modelling, Communication and Analysis (The Enterprise Engineering Series) 4th Edition $54.22 Optional Referred as one of the best in presenting ArchiMate. Not exam-focused.


Practice makes perfect


Study tips

  • The foundation exam is easy to intermediate but requires memorization (I found it hard to memorize all the meta-models and decided not to do it).
  • The practitioner exam is tough (I will try to share my tips for this in another post).
  • Build a study plan (MS Project, MS Excel).


Exam Payment


Register for home online exam

  1. Go to website.
  2. From left menu, click “Take an examination”.
  3. Click “Login”, and use the Open Group credential.
  4. Click “View exams”
  5. Select “OGA-031: Archimate 3 Part 1 Exam (English)” / “OGA-032: Archimate 3 Part 2 Exam (English)”
  6. Click “OnVUE”
  7. Click “Next”, “Next”, “Agree”
  8. Select Exam date and time
  9. Make sure of your information, and click “Proceed to Checkout”
  10. Click “Add Voucher or Promo code”, enter Voucher coder, click “Apply”, you will find the estimated total due is 0
  11. Click “Next”
  12. Click “Submit Order”


Taking exam from home

For a detailed checklist for OnVUE exam preparation, please check this blog post Online Proctored Exams (OnVUE) Checklist


Getting exam results

After the exam was completed and within 15 mins, I received an email with the subject "Score Report Available Notification". You will need to log in to Pearson with credentials of The Open Group, and you will find the link "View score report" and you will see your score and detailed report.

If you didn't receive an email from "The Open Group" having an email with a link to agree on the Trademark License Agreement. You will need to send an email stating your issue to certifications@opengroup.org and it will be looked at only if 6 working days (US, UK timing) has passed. When you agree on the trademark license agreement, you will have your certificate ready as a soft copy and be able to download it.

In the same reply email, you will find that the open badge may take up to 10 business days to get issued in Credly platform. I received mine after around 1 day of accepting the agreement.

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How to pass Digital Practitioner Certification: DPBoK™ Foundation in less than 1 month?

Youtube video about certification contents Presentation shared in slideshare
Youtube video how to pass the certification

Thanks to Allah; I have passed Digital Practitioner Certification: DPBoK™ Foundation on 2-Apr-2021. In this blog post, I’m sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification in less than 1 month.

Target Audience (Personal opinion)

The exam is covering 12 competencies recommended for digital business based on company size.

Company Number of employees Capital
Founder 1-3 < $1m
Team 8 - 12 > $1m
Team of teams 40 - 70 > $10m
Enduring Enterprise 350 - 500 > $50m

The exam is covering all company sizes, I think candidates considering the certification should have worked in enterprise to be able to understand the challenges at every company size. A fresh graduate or entry-level computing and digital business professionals might not face such challenges and my recommendation to them will be reading Digital Practitioner Body of Knowledge™ Standard related to their company size and not target the certification.

Exam information

  • Current code: OGD-001 DPBoK™ Part 1
  • Current release date: October 2019
  • Open book: No
  • The number of questions: 40 (Multiple choice, one correct answer).
  • Exam duration: 60 mins
  • Passing score: 26 / 40 (65%) Each correct answer scores a single point, no negative scoring.
  • Time / question: 1.5 mins
  • Cost: 360$ (414$ including VAT)
  • Retake: After 1 month
  • Exam location: Home (OnVUE Online Proctoring from Pearson VUE) or Testing center.
  • Validity duration / Expiry: Indefinite, no recertification or renewal requirements.

Note about ESL

When you are booking the exam from one of the ESL countries, you will get approval for 90 mins. But I found the actual exam time is 1 hour only. I opened a case with OnVue and the answer was that 90 mins is covering all duration including tutorials, agreements, ...etc. And this is actually mentioned in the email when I purchased the exam, as copied below:
Your appointment's time extension applies to all information presented on the computer, including any agreements and tutorials, in addition to your actual testing time. The total appointment length noted in this confirmation includes each of these components and is not equal to the actual testing time available to you.

Study material

  • Reasonable price: Sometimes discounts reach 50% (Summer, Black Friday, and Christmas sales you can get 50%).
  • The number of pages: 231.
  • The number of chapters: 14 chapters.
  • It includes a pocket guide (I didn’t use it as it was 151 pages, so I thought of reading the study guide again better).
  • It includes a reference cards summary (I didn't use it as it is considered briefer than the required information about the exam, and a smaller set of figures you need to memorize).
  • It includes one exam that is good but the actual exam is harder.
  • PROS: Every chapter ends with questions, answers provided.
  • PROS: One document has it all, focused target.

Study tips

  • Exam difficulty: Above intermediate.
  • Build a study plan (MS Project, MS Excel).
  • The study guide must be read at least twice.
  • Understand & memorize all figures in the study guide, you will have lots of questions about them.

Register for home online exam

Follow the below steps:

  1. Login to The Open Group Certification website.
  2. From left menu, click “Take an examination”.
  3. Click “Pearson VUE launch page”.
  4. Review personal information that is from the open group profile page that will be used to create or login to Pearson VUE, before clicking “Proceed to Pearson VUE”.
  5. In the dashboard, click “View Exams”.
  6. Select “OGD-001” “DPBoK part 1 Exam”.
  7. Select “Online from my home or office”, click “Next”.
  8. In agree to online exam policies, please read carefully, and mark checkboxes, click “Next”.
  9. Click “Next”
  10. Select a suitable date. Your local time zone will appear, select the best way to view the timing 12/24hr.
  11. Value with estimated tax is $414
  12. Click “Proceed to Checkout”.
  13. Read and agree to policies, click “Accept”. (These important policies will be sent to you by email after completion).
  14. Add card details, click “Next”, then “Submit order”.
  15. ESL will be added after complete exam registration as long as you register from one of the ESL countries. Exam length 90 minutes!!!
  16. Check-in time will be 30 mins earlier.
  17. You will receive an email with details of the invoice, and policies / useful information.
  18. For customer service online chat, use this link.

Taking exam from home

For a detailed checklist for OnVUE exam preparation, please check this blogpost Online Proctored Exams (OnVUE) Checklist

Getting exam results

After the exam completed and within 15 mins, I received an email with the subject "Score Report Available Notification". You will need to login to Pearson with credentials of The Open Group, and you will find the link "View score report" and you will see your score and detailed report.

If you didn't receive an email from "The Open Group" having an email with a link to agree on the Trademark License Agreement. You will need to send an email stating your issue to certifications@opengroup.org and it will be looked at only if 6 working days (US, UK timing) has passed. When you agree on the trademark license agreement, you will have your certificate ready as a soft copy and be able to download it.

In the same reply email, you will find that the open badge may take up to 10 business days to get issued in Credly platform. I received mine after around 1 day of accepting the agreement.

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Online Proctored Exams (OnVUE) Checklist

If you like to view the video version of this blog post, you can click on the video.

[8-Jan-2021: Blog created after passing the exam "TOGAF Business Architect Level 1" from "The Open Group"].

[3-Apr-2021: Blog updated after passing the exam "DPBoK foundation certification" from "The Open Group"].

[19-Nov-2021: Blog updated after passing the exam "ArchiMate certification" from "The Open Group"].

I passed my first Online Proctored Exams (OnVUE) exam for TOGAF Business Architect Level 1 certificate on 6-Jan-2021. In this post I'm trying to share a checklist for test-takers. I think the experience is the same regardless of the exam.

I will try to maintain this blog post if I found more tips in the future, as content is important.

Before Exam

  1. Make sure to use a personal laptop with administrative rights not a work laptop as be revoked based on your company policy.
  2. Use a Windows laptop, if you have Mac please check in the references section for steps to follow to make it work without issues.
  3. The following software are allowed to run during the exam:
    • Norton Anti-virus.
  4. The following software should be disabled/stopped before the exam:
    • Microsoft PowerToys.
    • Autodesk Desktop App Service: AdAppMgrSvc.exe
  5. Locate your laptop on the same location that you will be testing from.
  6. Perform system test (The URL with amended /onvue):

Exam night

  1. Prepare your room/testing space.
    • No notes.
    • No pencils.
    • No posters.
    • No TVs, or monitors.
    • My room was having mirrors and it was not an issue.
    • Clean desk (Laptop + Mouse only).
    • The room has enough light, and you may use a desk lamp. You need to make sure enough light so your picture is clear during the whole exam as usually, a computer webcam needs sufficient light to provide a good photo.
    • The room has a lock inside.
    • Prepare a "Don't disturb" sign to be hanged on your door from outside as a reminder to your family.
  2. Prepare your ID: Passport, driving license, ... If you will use a passport, prepare a dark surface that will be used as background for it. If you get an email that you need to use your ID with your signature, just use your passport it is widely accepted (I have confirmed that with support prior to the exam).
  3. Charge your mobile (You will need it in the beginning & if they wanted to contact you during the exam).

Exam day

  1. Prepare yourself:
    • Fully clothed.
    • No hat.
    • No hood.
    • No watch.
  2. Final room preparation:
    • Close Window for no sound if possible.
    • Hang the "Don't disturb" sign outside.
    • Lock the door.
  3. Start before 30 mins of the exam. From the dashboard, select your exam, and click "Checkin".
  4. Very important: Take a note with exam access code on your computer, you might need it later to file any technical case.
  5. Enter your mobile number.
  6. Test your system (Microphone, Internet speed, Webcam).
  7. Use your mobile to access the web browser for m.proctorcam.com?l=en-US
  8. Follow the steps to take picture of:
    • You.
    • Identification (Passport with dark background).
    • Workspace (Front, Back, Left, Right).
  9. Place mobiles, headphones and watches out of reach.
  10. The above process consumed around 15 mins, then wait for the proctor facing the webcam.
  11. In one of the exams, I was asked before the exam start to lift & rotate the laptop, and use the webcam to show the desk content I was using in the exam.

During Exam

  1. Food, drinks, smoking and gum are prohibited.
  2. You must stay within your webcam view all the time.
  3. You cannot move your webcam once your testing session has started.
  4. You cannot use scratch paper, take physical notes, or talk.
  5. You cannot get up and walk around.
  6. You cannot leave your testing environment for any reason.
  7. No one can enter your testing environment.
  8. You can use the scratchpad provided within onVUE software (It was slow, but recent versions (After Apr-2021) are near real-time and you can use them).


References


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How to pass TOGAF Business Architecture Level 1 in less than 1 week?

If you like to view the video version of this blog post, you can click on the video.

Thanks to Allah; I have passed "TOGAF Business Architecture Level 1" on 6-Jan-2021. In this blog post, I'm sharing my experience on how you can achieve this certification in 6 days. 

 

If you would like to know more about the certification, I recommend that you watch this good video Applying TOGAF® Business Architecture Enhancements - The Open Group. I think this certificate makes sense in the following situations:

  1. When you are dealing with C-Level business management.
  2. Working with corporate strategy team.
  3. Working with corporate program management.
  4. Working in Enterprise Architecture Office as Business Architect.
  5. If you are a business analyst who wants to go to the next level.

Exam information

  • Current exam code: OGB-001 - English
  • Number of questions: 30
  • Exam duration: 45 mins – ESL (1hrs, 15mins)
  • Open Book: No
  • Passing score: 18/30 (60%)
  • Multiple choice with single most correct answer.
  • Time / question: 1.5 mins – ESL (2.5 mins)
  • Cost: 315 $ - 362 $ (Including Taxes)
  • Validity duration / Expiry: No expiry / No renewal required.
  • Location: Home or testing center.

Pre-requisites

Officially: None.

Personal opinion: I will recommend having TOGAF Certification v9.2 prior to applying to this exam. For the following reasons:

  1. This certification is for architects who wants to specialize in development of a business architecture based on TOGAF standard v9.2, so how you want to seek specialization without understanding the general framework first.
  2. To pass this certification you will need to read specific sections from TOGAF v9.2 specification, I think it will be hard for you to understand these section without understanding how the overall TOGAF framework work; especially I consider TOGAF change the mindset of IT professionals.
  3. TOGAF Certification is more known / wanted than this specialization so if you have limited budget better invest in TOGAF certification.

 If you have earlier certification of TOGAF v9 or v9.1, please consider this post "Passing TOGAF Essentials 2018" for upgrade to v9.2 I think it will be better path & knowledge for you, also includes many aspects in business architecture from this certificate as value streams, business scenarios & others.

Study sources

1- Self Study Guide

Purchase B190-TOGAF® Business Architecture Level 1 Study Guide, 1st Edition. This is what I have done.

  • Reasonable price: 29.95 USD (Summer, Black Friday, and Christmas sales you can get 50%).
  • Authors: AndrewJosey, The Open Group and Steve Else, EA Principals
  • The number of pages: 206.
  • The number of chapters: 12 chapters.
  • PROS: Every chapter ends with questions, answers provided.
  • PROS: Includes similar exam test with same difficulty, answers provided.
  • PROS: One document have it all, focused target.


2- Self Study multiple resources

If you want to save the cost of previous study guide & study from a complete set of free available resources. You will need to:

  1. Download X191-TOGAF® BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE LEVEL 1 CONFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS. It contains all required sections required for the exam, and with links to free resources from TOGAF publications.
  2. It references the following resources:


3- Training courses

All TOGAF® 9 Accredited Training Courses are available in this link, previously I have made a small comparison below, but if you intend to select this way better to go with the full list for more updated options:

Course / Link

Cost

Duration

Notes

The Open Group Accredited Course Training Calendar 1395 USD  6 hrs - 2 days
  • Expensive
Good e-Learning - TOGAF® Business Architecture Level 1 eLearning 529 USD  7 hours for 6 months access
  • Include free exam voucher
  • Include 2 exams
  • Sometimes offer discounts up to 20%
EA Learning - TOGAF® Business Architecture Level 1 - eLearning 450 – 529 USD  7 hours for 6 months access
  • Include free exam voucher
EA principals - Applied Business Architecture 1395 USD
  • Active contributor in EA, and author of official TOGAF Study guide (Steve Else).
  • Classroom or live online.
  • Expensive


Register for home online exam

  1. Start from “Pearson VUE The Open Group” page.
  2. Click “Pearson VUE launch page”.
  3. Review personal information that is from the open group profile page that will be used to create or login to Pearson VUE, before clicking “Proceed to Pearson VUE”.
  4. In dashboard, click “View Exams”.
  5. Select “OGB-001” “TOGAF Business Architecture Part 1”.
  6. Select “Online from my home or office”, click “Next”.
  7. In agree to online exam policies, please read carefully, and mark checkboxes, click “Next”.
  8. Click “Next”
  9. Select suitable date. Your local time zone will appear, select best way to view the timing 12/24hr.
  10. Value with estimated tax is 362.25$
  11. Click “Proceed to Checkout”.
  12. Read and agree to policies, click “Accept”. (These important policies will be sent to you by email after completion).
  13. Add card details, click “Next”, then “Submit order”.
  14. ESL will be added after complete exam registration as long as you register from one of the ESL countries. Exam length 90 minutes!!!
  15. Check-in time will be 30 mins earlier.
  16. You will receive email with details of invoice, and policies / useful information.
  17. For customer service online chat, use this link.

 

For detailed checklist for OnVUE exam preparation, please check this blog post Online Proctored Exams (OnVUE) Checklist

 

Getting exam results

After exam completed with 15 mins, I received email with subject "Score Report Available Notification". You will need to login Pearson with credentials of The Open Group, and you will find the link "View score report" and you will see your score and detailed report.

After the exam with around 8 hours, I received another email with subject "The Open Group issued you a new badge".


References

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