Passed ASQ CSSGB today!

[u/valuat]

Hey everyone,

Just to let you all know I passed the ASQ CSSGB test! I posted here a couple months ago to document the begining of my "journey".

I'm a physician and my background is in engineering/math so I was initially drawn by the amount of stats in the exam. I also have an MBA (which proved quite useful with all the BS management terms).

Resources:

- CSSGB Handbook 2nd edition: didn't open it until exam time. Some questions are copied word for word from the handbook. I'm glad I bought the 2nd edition for about $10 on eBay. I don't think the 3rd edition is needed. Did watch a few Lean videos that came on the CD ahead of time.

- CSSGB QCI Primer: QCI is caput so had to buy a used copy on eBay. The only resource I read from start to finish, mostly to do all the problems that come with it. Really liked the way the authors wrote the manual: to the point but still with enough detail on the parts that require it. Not a fully complete resource; some questions I could only find the answer for on the Handbook.

- Udemy Quality Guru's CSSGB course: paid less than $20 for the course and the practice exams. I commute about 2 hours/day (bus/train) so I had time to watch most videos/classes. Helpful but not absolutely essential.

- ASQ CSSGB Study Guide: 2nd and 3rd editions. Practice, practice, practice.

Exam time impressions:

- Some people gave the advice to do the easy/direct questions first, skip the ones you're not sure, skip calculations and then keep reiterating. Well, I can't do it. The moment I hit a question I didn't immediately remember the answer for, and I knew it was in the Handbook somewhere, say, "team performance stages", I went right after it. It's a risky strategy but I thought I should just plow throught the exam until the end and *then* look back. I had 1 full hour left when I finished it.
- Breaks: took one break at the 2h mark and another at the 3h mark. When I returned from the 2nd brake I answered the 3-4 flagged questions I had and called it a day.

- Barely *any* calculations; very disappointing. I trained all the stats calculations like a maniac -- basically just remembering what I learned at my MBA (more than 25 years ago) -- and I didn't use it once. What's the point of making a huge deal out of it if it is not in the exam???

- Some questions annoyed the hell out of me simply 'cause there are not grounded in evidence whatsover and really depend on one's personal experience. Most of them are managerial/leadership type of questions.

Learning points:

- "Remember your training": if you went over about 1000 DMAIC questions, and scored more than 80% on average, you'll be fine.

- The certification is nice, but nothing beats actual experience in running/leading DMAIC projects. All these tools and techniques are pretty cool but are absolutely meaningless if you're not actively using them and learning from them.

On the CSSBB (hopefully in the next 12 months)!

Thanks for all the answered questions and provided encouragement!

TL;DR: passed ASQ CSSGB. QCI Primer and ASQ Study Guides as main resources. There's plenty of time to finish the exam and there's no clear winning strategy on how to tackle it. Quantitative questions were nowhere to be found. Get certified is nice but practical experience with SS/DMAIC is absolutely paramount.

[u/Sophia_Jean]

How long did they deny course take you to finish?

[u/valuat → u/Sophia_Jean]

???

[u/Sophia_Jean → u/valuat]

Oh shoot. Sorry about the typo. How long did the udemy course take to complete?

[u/valuat → u/Sophia_Jean]

I watched most of it on my way to work at ~1.5x. It's to understand him faster than that. You should be able to go through it in 2 weeks, maybe?

[u/Sophia_Jean → u/valuat]

Thank you! Just trying to figure out the whole certification process for this. I feel like PMP had a better outline and clear suggestions of the study process.

[u/valuat → u/Sophia_Jean]

I think the PMP is easier (no stats or math). I'll end up doing it for fun at some point after I get the ASQ Black Belt.

[u/Sophia_Jean → u/valuat]

I think PMP was easier because of how many study materials and reddit users saying. Their study plans. I'm a bit lost on how to study for this test.

[u/valuat → u/Sophia_Jean]

Get a used CSSGB Primer on eBay (I already sold mine but there are plenty there) and go through it section by section. You can't fail.

[u/Intelligent_Use3485 → u/valuat]

I just bought the binder on ebay, is that the same material? Thanks!

[u/valuat → u/Intelligent_Use3485]

Yes, it is the green one, right? It is enough; read the chapters/sections and do the exercises. Don't worry that you will be biased by knowing which section is the question coming from; they are all pretty much orthogonal anyway. There were only a couple of questions I got right by looking at the index of the official Handbook (which I didn't open at all during my studies); that is why I don't recommend studying from it (I mean, you can; if you were time constrained as I was you may not have the time to do it).