The Certified Quality Process Analyst is a paraprofessional who, in support of and under the direction of quality engineers or supervisors, analyzes and solves quality problems and is involved in quality improvement projects.
A Certified Quality Process Analyst may be a recent graduate or someone with work experience who wants to demonstrate his or her knowledge of quality tools and processes.
The exam consists of 110 questions, and out of these only 100 questions are evaluated for scoring.
Eligibility
Before applying for the ASQ® CQPA certification you might want to do is to check if you qualify to appear in this exam.
You need to have a minimum of 2 years of work experience. There is no requirement related to the field of working. For some other certifications ASQ requires the experience in the field of auditing or improvement. However for ASQ® CQPA certification it just requires 2 years of work experience.
However the requirement of two years of experience years can be waived off if you have an associate degree.
So in summary this certification is for those people who want to start their career in the field of quality and process improvement.
For more details on the minimum qualification and experience to take this exam, please refer to this link.
If you qualify for the exam, then submit your application for the exam.
Exam Details
The computer-based ASQ® CQPA examination consists of 110 multiple choice question, four-and-a-half-hour exam and is offered in English only. 100 multiple choice questions are scored, and 10 are unscored. You will not know whether a question is scored or not scored.
It is the open book exam. You can take any book or binder in the exam. Loose sheets and multiple choice questions are not allowed in the examination room.
ASQ® CQPA Exam Passing Score
You need 550 marks out of 750 to get certified. However these marks are not calculated simply by dividing the correct answers divided by total number of questions. Instead ASQ® does do the balancing to ensure that difficulty of the particular exam is taken into consideration.
ASQ® CQPA Body of Knowledge
Here is the break down of questions:
Section | Topic/Area/Category | Number of Questions | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|
I | Quality Concepts and Tools | 20 | 20% |
II | Problem Solving and Improvement | 26 | 26% |
III | Data Analysis | 33 | 33% |
IV | Customer-Supplier Relations | 13 | 13% |
V | Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) | 8 | 8% |
As you would have noticed from the section break-down, most of the marks in the exam are concentrated in the first three sections. Also the section 3 (Data Analysis) consists of one-third marks in the exam. These are the area you will need to provide more focus when preparing for the exam.
Suggested Study Material
I would strongly recommend the Certified Quality Process Analyst Handbook for study.
In addition to these two resources, I will also recommend my CQPA Exam Preparation online course available on Udemy. This course is based on the ASQ CQPA Body of Knowledge and covers all topics in plain and simple language.
I also a have a CQPA Mock Exams Course consisting of two full length exams, where you can attempt 100 questions in each of these two exams. If you think the statistics part of the exam is difficult for you then consider taking this practice course, where I provide 100+ probability and statistics questions with individual video solutions.
Calculator:
ASQ does not allow programmable calculator in the exam. It does suggest a list of calculators allowed in the exam. Most commonly used calculator is TI-30Xa. This is a simple calculator and has statistical functions.
However, we suggest Casio fx-991MS for the exam. This is a scientific calculator.
Casio fx-991MS can perform many advanced functions quickly, without needing to actually use complex formulas and tables. Some of these advanced functions include:
- Finding out the mean and standard deviation of a group of numbers
- Solving the Simple Linear Regression questions (You will not believe how easy it is if you have not used a scientific calculator like fx-991MS)
- Normal Distribution questions (You will not need to open the Z-table to solve them)
- Solving equations with one, two or three unknowns
- Using calculator memory for complex calculations
Get used to the calculator that you will use in the exam. We have a course on how to efficiently use Casio fx-991MS calculator. Click here for a special discount.
Summary
Certificate | ||
|---|---|---|
Experience Required | Two years of experience | |
Experience Waived | Up to two years depending upon the qualification | |
Number of questions | 100 questions scored and 10 unscored | |
Exam Format | Multiple Choice Questions | |
Exam Time | Four-and-half Hours | |
Passing Score | 550/750 | |
Fee - Non members | $394 | |
Fee - Members | $294 | |
Fee - Retake | $184 | |
Study Material | ||
Practice Questions (Mock Exams) | ||
Preparation Course | ||
