01. A bank's enterprise analytics dashboard, mining several years of data, surfaces a strong positive correlation: months with more marketing emails sent also have higher customer churn. An analyst proposes cutting all marketing emails to reduce churn.
What is the best response from the Master Black Belt?
a) Regressing emails on churn instead would reveal the true causal direction.
b) Correlation does not establish causation; a lurking variable may drive both, so a controlled experiment is needed before acting.
c) A higher R² on this relationship would prove the causal direction.
d) The strong correlation proves the emails cause churn, so cutting them will lower churn.
02. A bottling line is statistically in control and its capability study shows the output is stable and comfortably within the engineering specification. Yet customers continue to complain that the product does not meet their expectations, and orders are slipping to a competitor.
What does this pattern most likely indicate about the relationship between the Voice of the Process and the Voice of the Customer?
a) The control limits should be tightened until the complaints stop.
b) The process must be out of statistical control, since satisfied customers require a stable process.
c) The measurement system is unreliable and a gage R&R study will resolve the complaints.
d) The process is stable and capable to its own specification, but that specification is not aligned to what customers actually require.
03. A champion at an insurance company charters a Black Belt project titled 'Improve the entire claims experience,' spanning six departments with no single measurable outcome. Three months in, the Black Belt is overwhelmed and the project still has no baseline.
What is the MBB's best coaching move with the champion?
a) Assign two additional Black Belts so the broad project can cover all six departments at once.
b) Escalate to the executive sponsor to demand more time and budget for the project as chartered.
c) Coach the champion to narrow the charter to one bounded problem with a single measurable Y achievable in a few months.
d) Convert the effort to a DMADV design project to justify its large scope.
04. A continuous chemical reactor drifts slowly and its output readings are strongly autocorrelated over time. An engineer proposes continuous automated feedback adjustment of feed rate, while a Master Black Belt maintains SPC charts on the output.
Which statement correctly distinguishes the two approaches?
a) SPC automatically adjusts the feed rate, while APC only detects special causes.
b) They are interchangeable names for the same control-charting technique.
c) Both are detection-only methods and neither changes process inputs.
d) APC actively adjusts process inputs to hold output on target, whereas SPC monitors output to detect special causes and does not itself adjust.
05. A crossed gage R&R on a torque wrench shows that the reproducibility (appraiser) component is large while the repeatability (equipment) component is small; the number of distinct categories is only 3.
Which corrective action best targets the dominant source?
a) Recalibrate or replace the torque wrench itself.
b) Widen the tolerance so the current %GRR looks acceptable.
c) Standardize and train the operators on a single measurement procedure to reduce between-appraiser differences.
d) Increase the number of parts in the study to lower the %GRR.
06. An emergency-department lab tracks specimen turnaround time against a one-sided upper spec of 60 minutes (there is no lower spec). A stable process shows a mean of 45 minutes and a standard deviation of 4 minutes.
What is the process Cpk?
a) 1.875
b) 0.625
c) 1.25
d) 3.75
07. An executive wants a single measure that gives early warning of whether a Six Sigma deployment will keep producing results next year, rather than one that only reports results already banked.
Which of the following is a leading indicator of deployment health?
a) Total validated savings booked year-to-date.
b) The number of qualified projects chartered and active in the pipeline.
c) The reduction in customer-reported defects versus last year.
d) The average sigma level attained by completed projects.
08. At a national bank, an analytics team wants to model whether an applicant will default (yes/no) on a personal loan, using applicant income, credit score, and debt-to-income ratio as predictors.
Which modeling technique is the appropriate first choice for this response?
a) Logistic regression, because the response is binary and the model estimates the probability of default via the log-odds.
b) One-way ANOVA, because the goal is to compare applicant groups.
c) Multiple linear regression, because there are several continuous predictors to combine.
d) Nonlinear regression, because default behavior is inherently a curved response.
09. During an Analyze-phase project review, a Black Belt presents a compelling narrative for a root cause but has not yet statistically confirmed it. Eager to show momentum, he proposes moving straight into piloting a solution.
What is the MBB's appropriate action at this tollgate?
a) Approve the transition to keep momentum and revisit the root cause only if the pilot fails.
b) Hold the gate and require the suspected root cause to be validated with data before authorizing the Improve phase.
c) Send the project back to Define because the root cause is still uncertain.
d) Approve piloting but ask the belt to gather the confirming data in parallel during the pilot.
10. To sustain gains, an MBB must coach frontline call-center staff — none of them belts — to run daily huddles and read a simple control chart on average handle time. Early sessions fall flat when the MBB opens with hypothesis-testing terminology.
What coaching approach will work best with this non-belt audience?
a) Provide the full statistical theory behind the control limits so the operators fully understand the method.
b) Require the operators to complete Green Belt training before they use any control chart.
c) Have the MBB personally run the huddles and interpret the charts on the team's behalf.
d) Meet them at their level, tying the chart to their own daily work and building local ownership without belt jargon.