TOGAF is the most reliable enterprise architecture standard, utilized by the world’s leading organizations. By using TOGAF in your organization, you’ll be able to develop an EA that’s flexible, consistent and employs best practices. TOGAF is a wide area and you must keep yourself abreast of the architecture domain from time to time, even after you pass the exam. But no matter how much knowledge you gain, passing an exam requires you to follow some methodology in preparation, otherwise, you are bound to fail. Before appearing for the exam, it is advisable that you have undergone online practice exam.
Learning Approach
If your learning style leans towards interactive exchange with an instructor and other students or you have no experience with TOGAF, I would highly recommend taking a Level 1 class as a starting point. Level 1 focuses mostly on the terminology of TOGAF. In TOGAF terms, Level 1 is the Preliminary phase of the ADM. The Level 1 exam covers all phases of the ADM and touches on all of the other sections to assure that an individual certified at this level can have a conversation about TOGAF and not be totally lost. The exam is multiple choice, and the questions are at least twice as hard as any of the practice exams I have seen. So if you opt for the classroom instruction, review the course materials thoroughly afterward. Many courses will give you the exercises performed during the class broken out by sections. I found it helpful to repeat the exercises to note which areas I did not score perfectly in and review those topics again.
Five tips to prepare you for your TOGAF 9 certification exam success.
1. You'll have to pace yourself in the exam
You have a fixed amount of time to complete the questions in your TOGAF exams. Once the clock starts, there’s no stopping it. To make the most of your time, you need to know what you’re up against and how much time you’ve got.
Level 1: 60 minutes and 40 multiple choice questions
Level 2: 90 minutes and 8 scenario questions
You’ll need to keep an eye on the clock to make sure you stay on track. In the Level 1 exam, you only have an average of 90 seconds per question to make your decision. If one tough question is slowing your progress, you could end up rushing (or even missing) the others as a result.
If you do get through Level 1 with time to spare, there’s no point in rushing to Level 2. You won’t get more time for the Level 2 section and you won’t be able to return to Level 1 to make any last minute eureka changes.
2. Don’t waste time on questions you can’t answer
There’s no point spending extra time on the trickier questions if there are easier ones you could be answering (they’re all worth the same mark!).
Avoid this by first answering the questions that you know as this will leave you more time for the trickier ones. Mark those you can’t answer quickly (if you absolutely cannot answer it, make your best guess) and after the last question, you’ll be able to revisit them from the summary page.
Again, only return to the questions you know you’ll be able to answer. You shouldn’t be spending time on hard questions when there are still easier ones waiting.
The passing percentage for Level 1 is 55%. That means you’ll only need to answer 22 of the 40 multiple choice questions correctly.
3. How to conquer Level 2 scenarios
Unlike Level 1, the Level 2 exam is open book – you’ll have access to an electronic copy of the specification, built into the Prometric test software.
The Level 2 exam consists of just 8 scenarios, each with 4 possible multiple choice answers. These answers are graded: 5 points for the correct answer, 3 for the next closest, 1 for the next and 0 for the furthest.
Answer every scenario question with a correct answer and you’ll get 40 points. That’s a full 100%, but with a pass rate of 60%, you’ll only need to get 24 points.
4. Personal experience isn’t always correct
This one for experienced architects. TOGAF is the most widely adopted enterprise architecture, curated by thousands of experts, but it can be tempting to refer to your personal experience when taking the exam. However, to pass, you’re going to need to take the word of TOGAF as law.
There’s no room for interpretation here, what matters is the correct implementation of the TOGAF Framework – not what worked for you.
5. You don’t have to pay for great exam resources
Great exam resources don’t have to lighten your wallet. From exam simulators to enterprising eBooks, there’s a massive range of material available online.