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About this lesson
Quick reference
IASSC Testing Approach
The International Association of Six Sigma Certification is a recognized international body that certifies Lean Six Sigma Yellow, Green, and Black Belts. The online application process is straightforward.
When to use
When you are ready to sit for an IASSC Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Green Belt, or Black Belt exam, go to the IASSC website and register.
Instructions
There are many organizations and agencies who provide Lean Six Sigma belt certification. They can be divided into three categories.
One category is companies who have their own internal Lean Six Sigma program. This program often includes internal training and coaching. The company has its own testing and provides certification for internal “belts.” The second category is training and consulting companies who specialized in Lean Six Sigma. Typically these companies have a curriculum and coaching program that they sell to an individual or company. As part of this program, an individual goes through training and/or project coaching. At some point they are eligible to take a test and are awarded the belt that the training company has designated for them. The third category is independent testing or certifying bodies or agencies. In some cases these are national certifying bodies, in other cases they are professional associations. Either way, they establish a body of knowledge based upon input from industry experts and then provide testing and certification to that body of knowledge.
The program is aligned to the body of knowledge from an organization in the third category, the International Association of Six Sigma Certification (IASSC). IASSC does not sell training or coaching. It is strictly a certifying institution. As such they have established a body of knowledge for Yellow Belt, Green Belt, and Black Belt and provide certification testing to proficiency in those fields.
Registration for taking an exam is done through IASSC’s website:
http://www.iassc.org/six-sigma-certification/get-lean-six-sigma-certified/
There are no prerequisites to take the exam. When you have mastered the material, you can register and take it. The exams are online computer based exams. They are multiple choice and true/false questions. When registering for the exam you can select a testing center. At this time, IASSC is using PearsonVue testing centers. There are over 8,000 of these located in 165 countries around the world. If you need to take the exam from your home or office, they can make provisions. However, that requires a specific computer capability which changes from time to time as technology advances. So check the website for the current requirements.
The exam is a closed book proctored exam. No calculators or notes can be taken to the exam location. You are able to use the computer’s calculator and IASSC does provide a summary of some of the statistical tables and equations, so you don’t need to memorize those. The passing level for the exam is approximately 77%. However, some of the questions have multiple correct answers and depending upon the number of answers you select, you can get partial credit. Also, some of the questions are weighted heavier than others. So your passing score level could be slightly different depending upon which questions you answered correctly.
The Yellow Belt exam is a two hour exam and contains 60 questions.
The Green Belt exam is three hour exam and contain 100 questions.
The Black Belt exam is a four hour exam and contains 150 questions.
Check the website for the current cost of each exam. At the time this session was prepared the costs were $195, $295, and $395 respectively. But that can change and based upon exchange rates, your amount may be different.
Hints & tips
- The registration process is very quick and easy and you can often get a testing appointment within just a few days. So study until you are ready and then register.
- 00:05 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
- 00:07 I wanna talk with you briefly about becoming certified with
- 00:10 a Lean Six Sigma belt.
- 00:13 There are many different certifying agencies that offer Lean Six Sigma yellow
- 00:17 belt, green belt, and black belt certification.
- 00:20 Some are independent testing agencies that test to recognize bodies of knowledge.
- 00:25 Some are local consulting firms that have created their own curriculum and tests.
- 00:29 Some large companies have created their own internal Lean Six Sigma program and
- 00:33 have their own tests and certifying standards.
- 00:36 The agency that we have selected to tailor this program for
- 00:40 is the International Association of Six Sigma Certification, or IASSC.
- 00:45 Their website is IASSC.org, and if you're considering certification,
- 00:50 I suggest you check them out.
- 00:52 One of the reasons that we have chosen this certifying program is because it
- 00:56 truly is an independent program.
- 00:58 They have compiled a recognized, representative body of knowledge for
- 01:02 yellow belt, green belt, and black belt.
- 01:04 They're not selling their own canned program or require that you have their
- 01:08 training or become a member of their organization in order to take the exam.
- 01:13 By not selling training or coaching, they have remained independent from some of
- 01:17 the fads and gimmicks that have shown up on other programs.
- 01:21 In other words, their tests are designed to test your knowledge of Lean Six Sigma
- 01:25 and your ability to apply that knowledge.
- 01:28 In particular, it is the knowledge associated with
- 01:31 the Universally Accepted Lean Six Sigma Body of Knowledge.
- 01:34 It's not subjective assessment of whether or
- 01:37 not someone feels that you have done a good job on a project.
- 01:41 Now let me talk a bit more about the administrative side of preparing for
- 01:44 an IASSC exam.
- 01:46 In another session, I will discuss the body of knowledge for
- 01:48 yellow belt, green belt, or black belt.
- 01:51 Once you believe you are ready for an exam, or at least close to being ready,
- 01:55 you can go to the IASSC website and start the registration process.
- 01:59 The website is shown on this slide, or you can just go their homepage and
- 02:03 you can navigate to the registration site.
- 02:06 The exam is an online proctored exam.
- 02:09 You can take it in a proctored examination center or
- 02:12 you can take it from your home or office, in a proctored mode.
- 02:15 Either way, it is a closed book exam, so you need to know your stuff.
- 02:20 When you arrive at the exam center,
- 02:21 you will need to show two forms of ID to prove who you are.
- 02:25 At this time, the exam centers are affiliated with PearsonVue,
- 02:29 which provides testing services for many programs.
- 02:32 And also at this time, they have over 8,000 exam centers in 165 countries.
- 02:37 You can check their site to find a location near you.
- 02:40 If you need to take the exam from your home or office,
- 02:42 there are several restrictions about your computer and
- 02:46 the technology that you're using in order to operate in a proctored mode.
- 02:50 These restrictions are being updated regularly as new technology
- 02:53 becomes available.
- 02:55 So go to their website to find out the current requirements.
- 02:58 IASSC offers yellow belt, green belt and black belt.
- 03:02 It should be no surprise that the number of questions, test time, and
- 03:06 the costs vary depending on the level of the belt.
- 03:09 This is the current levels for each of these.
- 03:11 IASSC can change these, although they haven't for a number of years.
- 03:16 But just to be safe, check the website for the current information.
- 03:21 Let me give you some pointers in preparing for your exam.
- 03:24 Study the appropriate body of knowledge for your belt,
- 03:27 I will discuss these in other sessions.
- 03:30 Fortunately, there are no other prerequisites.
- 03:32 You don't have to have been a practitioner in the field for some number of years or
- 03:37 lead multiple projects, you just need to know your stuff.
- 03:41 The exam questions are multiple choice or true, false.
- 03:44 Of course, the number of questions is based upon the belt level, and
- 03:48 I showed you those on the previous slide.
- 03:50 But don't think that you might not need to do some math.
- 03:53 Many of the questions on the green belt and black belt will be set up
- 03:57 with an analysis and some math may be required to calculate an answer.
- 04:00 Also, one of the more difficult aspects of the questions is that often the question
- 04:05 will have more than one correct answer, and you'll need to select all of them.
- 04:09 That means you'll really need to pay close attention to terms and definitions and
- 04:13 you'll really need to understand the concepts of Lean Six Sigma.
- 04:18 The exam is closed book, you can't bring anything in with you as an aid in exam.
- 04:24 I even had to leave my phone, my watch and
- 04:26 my wallet in a locker outside the test room so that they could be certain that I
- 04:30 didn't bring any notes in with me or any kind of communication device.
- 04:35 If you have trouble doing math in your head,
- 04:37 you can use the calculator that's on the computer.
- 04:41 One nice thing that's provided is a file accessible on the testing computer that
- 04:45 has a list of many of the formulas and lookup tables.
- 04:48 You don't need to memorize those, but you do need to know when and
- 04:52 how to apply them.
- 04:53 The testing center will also provide a notepad and pen for you to take notes or
- 04:57 to work out problems.
- 04:58 You must turn those in at the end.
- 05:01 A passing score is approximately 77%.
- 05:04 I say approximately because some of those questions with
- 05:07 multiple correct answers are weighted based upon which answers are selected, so
- 05:11 the exact number of correct answers can vary.
- 05:16 Professional certification is usually a good thing to have on your resume.
- 05:20 You should consider sitting for
- 05:21 the IASSC Lean Six Sigma yellow belt, green belt or black belt.
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