TOGAF - Cracking It !

Hi Friends,

I passed the TOGAF certification last week and wanted to write about it. I had some challenges procuring the right study materials for it and hence wanted to capture whatever I did so that it helps others aspiring to take the certification. TOGAF is an architecture certificate offered by the Open Group and catering to interest architects who would like to learn about Architecture management and processes. Sometimes the certification and training is sponsored by one's company and after a week of 9 to 5 trainings, you take the exam the following week. These trainings are pretty expensive and take a complete week to invest. Since I did not have the luxury of both, I underwent a casual training. However, with not much time available during my training period, I could not attend much and had to rely on self study totally. The exam costs $495 for both the parts and was sponsored by my organization.

What is TOGAF?

1. This certification is primarily addressed towards enterprise/application/data/business/technology architects.
2. It is focussed towards individuals who would like to establish an Architecture process within their organizations
3. It is purely an open certificate, independent of product or vendor

What TOGAF is NOT?

• It is not a solution certificate like a J2EE or .NET solutioning certificate
• It is not for Developers and will only help individuals who are aspiring to be architects

TOGAF consists of 2 papers, you can take them together (TOGAF combined) or you can split up the tests and take them individually (Part I & II):

• Part I consists of multiple choice questions, 40 in total and the pass percentage is 55%
• Part II is scenario based and still multiple choice. However, here you are presented with a scenario and expected to chose the best possible approach or strategy. This is an open-book exam so you will get a link to the I091 PDF from within the test software.

TOGAF consists of several sections and concepts such as in random - Architecture Development Method, Enterprise Architecture, Continuum, Landscape, Architecture Partitioning, Governance, Migration Planning, Compliance, Content & Capability Frameworks among several other things. The board ensures that you get questions from every section of the TOGAF study guide in order to test you thoroughly.

The official study guide by TOGAF is called I091 and it is suggested that you read and understand the concepts from this PDF at least once. You may also buy the Study Guide & the Pocket Guide for further reading. These are compressed materials of the exam and helps to brush up things quickly.

Instead of writing about each & every material and exam strategy, I rather mention my exam planning. Here's what I did:

I gave myself a 2 months study timeline since I am busy with work at office and do not get much time at length to devote to reading.

First Week:

• Watch the youtube overview video by Craig Martin @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M4NKwoaLk4 . This helped me a lot in understanding the overall picture and helped me answer the whys, whats & whens of TOGAF. After watching the video, if you feel like the certification might not be for you or it might not be the right time yet, then this is the time to decide.

2nd through 4th Week:

• I scanned through and read the I091 official TOGAF PDF. It had a lot of concepts I had to get my head around it. I referred to some youtube videos when I couldn't understand much from the definitions in the book

5th through 6th week:

• I read the study guide(B112) and bought the pocket guide(G117). While the study guide is a compressed version of the TOGAF I091, the pocket guide is even a further compression of the entire syllabus and is primarily for individuals who would like to revisit TOGAF. The study guide has a section for the exact syllabus to focus on & also contains a sample test at the end for both Part I & II.

7th through 8th week:

• I started taking online tests. There are not much available so I googled through the ones which were and arranged all tests which I would take during these last 2 week
• There is a test on the study guide which you should definitely take. I registered my exam at a Prometric center once I took this test and felt comfortable.
• There are free tests available on these sites too:
• http://theopenarch.com/ - 5 tests in total at the time of my writing this blog and provides answers too
• http://setandbma.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/togaf-foundation-level-certification-aid-for-preparation/ - Single test but if you go through the comments, then this gentleman provides another set too.
• http://setandbma.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/togaf-preparation-aid-for-part-2/ - Provided by the same person

D-Day:

Keep your cool and go to the exam center early. You don't need to munch up on anything any further. Enough done. Its time to just relax and take the test. Don't get nervous about the multiple cameras focusing on you during the test. Part I for me was quite varied and I found questions from every section of the study syllabus. Some were really simple and I didn't expect those. On the other hand, some were complex so in essence you will find all kinds & strengths of questions asked. Part II for me was really tricky. I had taken some Part II free online tests and was quite comfortable, however, even then so, I found it tricky and time consuming. The open exam with references to I091 didn't help much as some questions were well projected and you wouldn't get direct answers from the PDF. Nonetheless, I finished both the papers within the time limits and scored well. A pass was a relief towards the 2 months of effort.

After the Exam:

Once you pass the exam, The Open Group takes up to 6 days to send you a confirmation on your certification. This is the time required by Prometric to send off the requisite test materials, scores, etc to The Open Group. The Open Group would then scrutinize the exam and email you with the certification status within these 6 days. Mine took 2 days so I would say that those 6 days limit is the max. The email which you get will talk about registering in their site and will also offer a free registration to the Association of Enterprise Architects (AEA)

Well, this is my plan and there could be several ways you may prepare for this exam. I would suggest anyone to build their own plan depending on availability of time and interest. Do let me know if you have any particular question and wish all who are planning to take the exam, the very best!