KEI APICS Test Taking Tips 110829

Developing People for Businesses to Succeed
Test-Taking Tips and

Strategies
Improve Your Performance on
APICS Certification Exams
29 August 2011 1
Before the Exam
• Make sure you understand what ‘Scaled
Score’ is. Read the document titled
‘Understanding a Scaled Score’ from
APICS.
• Review Exam Content Manual and sample
questions.
• Use APICS Practice Question Booklets
and Datachem CDs to take mock tests.
29 August 2011 2
• Take the day off before the exam to relax
and review study materials.
• Get a good night’s rest before the exam.
• If testing in the morning, allow enough
time to go over your study materials one
last time.
• Eating something before the exam is also
recommended.
29 August 2011 3
• Wear comfortable clothes.
• Plan to arrive at the test center at least 1
hour before the exam.
• If taking public transportation to the exam
centre, use the time to review practice
questions. Drink some coffee to wake up
your brain during the journey!
29 August 2011 4
What to Carry?
• Take 2 forms of specified IDs to the exam
– one with photo.
• At least 4 HB pencils – well sharpened.
• A sharpener.
• An eraser.
• A non-programmable calculator (with
square root function).
• If noise bothers you, take ear plugs.
29 August 2011 5
Before You Open the
Question Booklet
• Place a watch on your desk such that
current time is always seen.
• Do a memory dump as soon as you sit
down: formulas, dates, etc. (You are given
clean note paper. Write down all of the
formulae you have been memorizing
immediately after you sit down. Then you
won’t be trying to recall details when the
stress is highest.)
29 August 2011 6
• Know how much time you have:
• CPIM Basics:
• 105 questions – 180 minutes.
• CPIM DSP, ECO, MPR and SMR:
• 75 questions – 180 minutes.
• CSCP:
• 175 Questions – 240 minutes.
• Plan not to spend more than 30-45
seconds on each question.
29 August 2011 7
• Divide the total time in three (almost equal
– little large, medium, little small) passes:
• Pass 1:
• Answer all questions leaving out difficult questions.
Mark answers on question booklet itself.
• Pass 2:
• Review answers and transfer to answer sheet.
• Pass 3:
• Answer difficult questions (??) and check your
work.
29 August 2011 8
• Keep four sharpened pencils ready.
• Keep an eraser ready.
• Keep a calculator ready.
• Plan to use the entire time allotted in
completing the exam.
29 August 2011 9
After You Open the
Question Booklet
• Do not grab your pencil immediately.
• Turn the answer sheet over and put it on
one side.
• Quickly scan through all the questions to
get a “feel” of the paper.
• Be ready for test taking. Stay calm and
focused during the test.
• Grab your pencil!!
29 August 2011 10
Answering Strategy
• Allocate time to every question.
• Check regularly that you are on time.
• Don’t rush. You will make unnecessary
mistakes.
• Read the question and all the answers.
Pay particular attention to the wording of
the questions on the exams. Read
carefully!!
29 August 2011 11
• Read the question and answers again
underlining the keywords.
• Eliminate answers that are definitely
wrong.
• Make a tentative selection of the right
answer. Don’t pick the first “good” answer;
select the BEST answer.
• Read the question and answer again to
confirm your selection.
29 August 2011 12
• Don’t over think your answers. Be logical;
sometimes the best answer is based on
logic.
• Mark (?) any answers on the exam that
you are unsure of, continue with the exam,
and then revisit them before submitting -
sometimes other exam questions will jog
your memory.
29 August 2011 13
• Don’t dwell on difficult questions, rather
mark (??) it and come back later.
• If you see the first few questions are giving
you trouble, skip over to the next question
until you find one you are confident of the
answer. This will build your confidence
and enable you to get the "feel" of the
exam.
29 August 2011 14
• Remember that there is no penalty for a
wrong answer (no negative marking).
• There is a 25% chance of guessing the
right answer.
• Answer ALL questions even if you have no
time to read.
29 August 2011 15
Answering Technique
• APICS likes answers that suggest
empowerment, information sharing, speed,
flexibility, feedback, partnerships,
Lean/JIT, quality, etc.
• APICS exams do not involve complicated
mathematical calculations.
• You need to think laterally.
• APICS teaches us that nothing is clear-cut
and straight-forward.
29 August 2011 16
• You should forget how you do things in
your business. Think of BEST
PRACTICES according to APICS.
• Don’t let experience get in your way!
(There is the right way, the wrong way,
their company way, my way, and the
APICS way! Don’t let experience mislead
them from the APICS answer.)
29 August 2011 17
• Never say “never”— nor “always”.
• Watch out for “EXCEPT” and “NOT”.
• Beware of the obvious. Some questions
will look too easy, too obvious and you will
spend an inordinate amount of time trying
to figure out the “trick.” However, there will
be some easy questions -- at least from
your point of view.
29 August 2011 18
• Conversely, you should at least spend a
few seconds to make sure that the
apparently easy question isn’t really
somewhat more demanding than it seems
on first reading.
• Every item has four answer choices. Two
are “throwaways”, one is almost right, and
one is the best .
29 August 2011 19
• Sometimes, you must pick the “least
obnoxious answer”.
• On “Roman Numeral” questions,
select/eliminate carefully. Then pick your
answer. If your answer doesn’t match a
selection, attack the problem logically.
Sometimes you get lucky!
29 August 2011 20
Why People Fail?
• Not reading and following “How to Prepare
for an Exam” document from KnoWerX
carefully.
• Procrastinate until the last minute to study.
• Procuring insufficient or using wrong study
materials.
• Studying from Study Notes or Participant
Guides ONLY.
29 August 2011 21
• Selective studying.
• Not studying the Exam Content Manual
and sample questions.
• Following someone else’s path of
preparing for exams.
• Not knowing the underlying concepts.
• Not practicing mock tests through Practice
Question Booklets and/or Datachem CDs.
29 August 2011 22
• Trying to predict test questions.
• Carelessness—not paying attention to the
words in each question.
• Not setting a schedule.
• Using only the work experience and
academic knowledge to answer the exam.
• Not knowing the considerations when
changing your answer.
29 August 2011 23
• Marking answer on a previous/next
question number on the answer sheet.
• Not checking the last step or comparing
your scratch calculation to the answer
selected.
• Not transferring answers from the question
booklet to the answer sheet.
29 August 2011 24
Developing People for Businesses to Succeed
Technique for Answering

Questions
29 August 2011
Make Predictions
Increased supplier quality problems prompt the customer
to …
What do you think the right answer is, before looking at

possibilities?
29 August 2011 26
Make Predictions
to …
A. change specifications of supplied items

B. change specifications of products
C. carry less safety stocks
D. carry more safety stocks
29 August 2011 27
Make Predictions
to …
A. change specifications of supplied items

B. change specifications of products
C. carry less safety stocks
D. carry more safety stocks
29 August 2011 28
Answer the Question
Small-lot production is best achieved by doing which of the
following?
A. making cellular production layouts

B. reducing set-up times
C. increasing number of work centers
D. implementing a Kanban system
29 August 2011 29
Answer the Question
following?

29 August 2011 30
Answer the Question
following?

29 August 2011 31
Benchmark
Production lot splitting may result in which of the following
trade-off?
A. Increased customer service

B. Increased work center efficiency
C. Increased cumulative setup time
D. Increased manpower costs
29 August 2011 32
Benchmark
trade-off?

29 August 2011 33
Benchmark
trade-off?

29 August 2011 34
Valid Information
Which of the following systems would be most appropriate
for managing an inventory of tyres purchased by an
automobile manufacturer for use in the assembly of
several models of a car?
A. periodic ordering system
B. reorder point system
C. MRP system
D. two-bin replenishment system
29 August 2011 35
Valid Information
C. MRP system
29 August 2011 36
Valid Information
C. MRP system
29 August 2011 37
Avoid “Fact Traps”
Under the lean production concept, which of the following is
true?
A. Smaller capacity machines are deployed.

B. Products are produced only to customer orders.
C. Space is reduced on the shop floor.
D. Fewer products are produced.
29 August 2011 38
true?

29 August 2011 39
true?

29 August 2011 40
Milk the Question
Which of the following systems would best perform the
functions of production planning, resource planning,
arriving at an agreed game plan and resolving conflicts
among various functions
A. Demand management
B. Sales & Operations Planning
C. Master Scheduling
D. Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
29 August 2011 41
Milk the Question
29 August 2011 42
Milk the Question
29 August 2011 43
The Trap of Familiarity
Which of the following software capabilities is used during
order entry for make-to-stock products?
A. available-to-promise
B. forecasting
C. selecting features and options
D. sales bill of materials
29 August 2011 44
B. forecasting
29 August 2011 45
B. forecasting
29 August 2011 46
Eliminate Answers
Which of the following techniques / systems are typically
used in lean manufacturing systems?
I. Produce to customer orders

II. Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
III. Kanban
IV. Input Output Control
A. I and III only

B. I and IV only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, III, and IV
29 August 2011 47
Eliminate Answers

III. Kanban
A. I and III only

B. I and IV only
C. II and III only
29 August 2011 48
Eliminate Answers

III. Kanban
A. I and III only

B. I and IV only
C. II and III only
29 August 2011 49
Brainstorm
In a lean production environment, Ishikawa diagram is
included in training so that employees may use it to
identify which of the following?
A. the most frequently occurring defects

B. out-of-control operations
C. potential factors causing defects
D. the flow of work through the plant
29 August 2011 50
Brainstorm

29 August 2011 51
Brainstorm

29 August 2011 52
Read Carefully
XYZ Tyre Co. Ltd. is a leading tyre manufacturing company that has
been manufacturing truck tyres and other tyres for more than 50
years. XYZ’s business is categorized into three segments - exports,
OEM, and domestic replacements. XYZ manufactures tyres for
heavy commercial vehicles, light commercial vehicles, earthmovers,
forklifts, tractors, trailers, cars, motorcycles and scooters. XYZ has
two plants. XYZ has a new green field plant coming up. It has main
distribution centre (DC) at Nagpur. Apart from this, it has 52
regional DCs in 10 zones, 245 carrying and forwarding (C&F)
agents and over 6,000 dealers. In the existing supply chain and
distribution system, products are pushed through the channel, from
the plants to main DC to regional DCs to C&F’s according to the
historical ordering patterns. The Regional Manager (RM) at the
C&F decides the number of sizes required to meet the demand.
Usually, this is on the discretion of manager based on past history
or on random basis. At times, this process lead to excessive
inventory, stock outs, delays etc. XYZ is contemplating
implementation of pull based system in the distribution system.
29 August 2011 53
Read Carefully (cont.)
The introduction of pull based system in distribution system
of XYZ is most likely to lead to which of the following for
car manufacturing domestic companies?
A. having a new DC in closer proximity

B. better order fulfilment
C. increase in tyre delivery lead times
D. decrease in tyre delivery lead times
29 August 2011 54

29 August 2011 55

29 August 2011 56
Face Value
In which industry lean enterprise systems can be
successfully implemented?
I. Manufacturing
II. Distribution
III. Airlines
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
29 August 2011 57
Face Value
I. Manufacturing
II. Distribution
III. Airlines
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
29 August 2011 58
Face Value
I. Manufacturing Yes
II. Distribution Yes
III. Airlines Yes
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
29 August 2011 59
Face Value
I. Manufacturing Yes
II. Distribution Yes
III. Airlines Yes
A. I only
B. I and II only
C. II and III only
D. I, II, and III
29 August 2011 60
Prefixes
The process of disaggregating end items to the level of
purchased items is known as…
A. Single-level implosion
B. Multi-level implosion
C. Single-level explosion
D. Multi-level explosion
29 August 2011 61
Prefixes
29 August 2011 62
Prefixes
29 August 2011 63
Hedge Phrases
Which of the following statements is true about
implementing a Material Requirements Planning (MRP)
system?
A. It would usually lead to a reduction of inventory levels.

B. It may provide the same service level as a reorder
point system with safety stocks.
C. It would result in savings that are likely to be small
and difficult to determine.
D. It is probably easy to use and economical to
implement.
29 August 2011 64
Hedge Phrases
system?

implement.
29 August 2011 65
Hedge Phrases
system?

implement.
29 August 2011 66
Hedge Phrases
system?

implement.
29 August 2011 67
Switchback Words
Which of the following best describes the traditional
approach to how much is produced?
A. Products produced to utilize capacity rather than

service demand to reduce production cost.
B. Products produced to utilize 70% capacity
rather than full capacity to keep safety capacity.
C. Products produced as per chase strategy
rather than level strategy to minimize inventory.
D. Products produced as per level strategy
rather than chase strategy to minimize capacity
changes.
29 August 2011 68
Switchback Words

changes.
29 August 2011 69
Switchback Words

changes.
29 August 2011 70
Switchback Words

changes.
29 August 2011 71
New Information
Measurement of order fill rate performance should be
based on which of the following considerations?
A. Whether the performance is calculated on monthly,

weekly or daily basis.
B. The result of the measurement should be easily
understood by management.
C. The order fill rate performance should focus on
margin of order filled versus total margin of order.
D. The measurement should indicate overall customer
satisfaction with the order.
29 August 2011 72
New Information

29 August 2011 73
New Information

29 August 2011 74
New Information

29 August 2011 75
Contextual Clues
When ExxonMobil organized to include crude extraction
and retail stations as well as refinery, it created which
of the following:
A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu

B. Monopoly
C. Lateral Supply Chain
D. Vertical Supply Chain
29 August 2011 76
Contextual Clues
of the following:
A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu

B. Monopoly
C. Lateral Supply Chain
D. Vertical Supply Chain
29 August 2011 77
Contextual Clues
of the following:
A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu ??

B. Monopoly
C. Lateral Supply Chain ?
D. Vertical Supply Chain ?
29 August 2011 78
Contextual Clues
of the following:
A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu ??

B. Monopoly
C. Lateral Supply Chain ?
D. Vertical Supply Chain ?
29 August 2011 79
Unfamiliar terminology
The primary difference between Finite Loading technique
and Infinite Loading technique is that
A. Infinite Loading technique increases capacity

B. Infinite Loading techniques creates infinite load on a
work center even though capacity is finite
C. Finite Loading technique is mainly used to achieve
schedule-crashing
D. Finite Loading technique is used with Backward
Scheduling technique
29 August 2011 80

schedule-crashing
29 August 2011 81

schedule-crashing
29 August 2011 82

schedule-crashing
29 August 2011 83
Extreme Statements
Among all the forecasting techniques, what is true about
Focus Forecasting?
A. It always produces accurate forecast.

B. It never produces accurate forecast.
C. It selects a technique that gives minimum error if
previous period was forecasted now.
D. It is the best forecasting technique.
29 August 2011 84
Extreme Statements
Focus Forecasting?

29 August 2011 85
Extreme Statements
Focus Forecasting?

29 August 2011 86
Answer Choice Families
Which two statements are true about “Quality Function
Deployment” technique?
I. It is used to translate customer requirements in to

design features
II. It is used to translate customer requirements in to
quality specifications
III. It determines design features based on functions
IV. It puts customer first
A. I and II
B. II and III
C. I and IV
D. II and IV
29 August 2011 87

design features
A. I and II
B. II and III
C. I and IV
D. II and IV
29 August 2011 88

design features
A. I and II
B. II and III
C. I and IV
D. II and IV
29 August 2011 89

design features
A. I and II
B. II and III
C. I and IV
D. II and IV
29 August 2011 90
The Wrong Right
Answer!
A work centre is scheduled to produce for 48 hours per
week. In the previous week, it was operational for 45
hours, and produced 43 standard hours of work.
Calculate the utilization in the previous week.
A. 93.75%
B. 89.58%
C. 95.55%
D. 104.65%
29 August 2011 91
The Wrong Right
Answer!
A. 93.75%
B. 89.58%
C. 95.55%
D. 104.65%
29 August 2011 92
The Wrong Right
Answer!
A. 93.75%
B. 89.58%
C. 95.55%
D. 104.65%
29 August 2011 93
“Except” Questions
Demand is an input to all of the following, except
A. Sales & Operations Planning

B. Master Scheduling
C. Material Requirements Planning
D. Available-to-Promise
29 August 2011 94

29 August 2011 95

29 August 2011 96
“Not” Questions
Which of the following is not true?
A. Forecast is more accurate for near future than distant

future
B. Forecast is more accurate for product families rather
than for products
C. Forecast is more accurate for time buckets of weeks
rather than months
D. Forecast is almost never accurate
29 August 2011 97
“Not” Questions

future
than for products
rather than months
D. Forecast is almost never accurate
29 August 2011 98
“Not” Questions

future Yes
than for products Yes
rather than months
D. Forecast is almost never accurate Yes
29 August 2011 99
“Not” Questions

future Yes
than for products Yes
rather than months
D. Forecast is almost never accurate Yes
29 August 2011 100

29 August 2011 101
Thank You!
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C-1 Avon Plaza-I, Thakur Complex, Kandivali (East) Mumbai – 400101
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29 August 2011 102

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Developing People for Businesses to Succeed

Test-Taking Tips and

Technique for Answering

What do you think the right answer is, before looking at

A. change specifications of supplied items

A. change specifications of supplied items

A. making cellular production layouts

A. making cellular production layouts

A. making cellular production layouts

A. Increased customer service

A. Increased customer service

A. Increased customer service

A. Smaller capacity machines are deployed.

A. Smaller capacity machines are deployed.

A. Smaller capacity machines are deployed.

I. Produce to customer orders

A. I and III only

I. Produce to customer orders

A. I and III only

I. Produce to customer orders

A. I and III only

A. the most frequently occurring defects

A. the most frequently occurring defects

A. the most frequently occurring defects

A. having a new DC in closer proximity

A. having a new DC in closer proximity

A. having a new DC in closer proximity

A. It would usually lead to a reduction of inventory levels.

A. It would usually lead to a reduction of inventory levels.

A. It would usually lead to a reduction of inventory levels.

A. It would usually lead to a reduction of inventory levels.

A. Products produced to utilize capacity rather than

A. Products produced to utilize capacity rather than

A. Products produced to utilize capacity rather than

A. Products produced to utilize capacity rather than

A. Whether the performance is calculated on monthly,

A. Whether the performance is calculated on monthly,

A. Whether the performance is calculated on monthly,

A. Whether the performance is calculated on monthly,

A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu

A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu

A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu ??

A. U.S. equivalent of a keiretsu ??

A. Infinite Loading technique increases capacity

A. Infinite Loading technique increases capacity

A. Infinite Loading technique increases capacity

A. Infinite Loading technique increases capacity

A. It always produces accurate forecast.

A. It always produces accurate forecast.

A. It always produces accurate forecast.

I. It is used to translate customer requirements in to

I. It is used to translate customer requirements in to

I. It is used to translate customer requirements in to

I. It is used to translate customer requirements in to

A. Sales & Operations Planning

A. Sales & Operations Planning

A. Sales & Operations Planning

A. Forecast is more accurate for near future than distant

A. Forecast is more accurate for near future than distant

A. Forecast is more accurate for near future than distant

A. Forecast is more accurate for near future than distant

29 August 2011 100

For further details, please contact: