Are you looking for the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) certification?

Types of Six Sigma Certifications:

Currently many organizations offer Six Sigma certifications. Broadly I will classify the Six Sigma certification into three categories:

1. In-class Training: This includes in-class training and mentoring. This approach makes sense, if it is organized at the company level. The training organization takes theory class and guides participants in completing a project to demonstrate the knowledge they gained.

2. Online Training: A huge number of organizations offer online training. The advantage of online training is the 

3. Self Study and Certification Exam: To demonstrate your competency in applying Six Sigma tools, ASQ certificates are well recognized globally. A large number of organizations and universities provide Six Sigma training courses. They issue their own certificates, but when it comes to one certificate which is very well recognized, that is the ASQ (American Society for Quality) CSSGB (Certified Six Sigma Green Belt) certificate.

Earlier the exams conducted by ASQ used to be paper-pencil type exams. However recently they have changed it to computer-based exams conducted by Prometric at Prometric exam centers.

ASQ CSSGB Exam Preparation Course:

Applying for the exam:

One of the qualification for ASQ CSSGB exam is that you should have three years of work experience (full time paid work ) in one or more areas of the Six Sigma Green Belt Body of Knowledge.

2: Books

Most of the students have used one or both of these for the CSSGB exam (as a minimum)

a) Quality Council of Indiana Primer (You might want to buy the questions CD as well)

b) ASQ CSSGB Handbook

You will need the hard copy, as the CSSGB exam is an open book exam. You can take this is the exam. ASQ does allow books in the exam but does not allow the questions. So, you will have to remove practice question pages from the primer.

3. 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 or fx-991EX for the exam. This is a scientific calculator.

Casio fx-991MS or fx-991EX 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-991MSor fx-991EX )

- 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 or fx-991EX calculator. Click here for a special discount.

4. Practice Quizzes

There are various online options for practice questions. A short list has been compiled below:

Quality Gurus Quiz (Free - 10 random questions each time)

100+ Probability and Statistics Questions with Video Solutions

ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt Sample Questions

200+ Six Sigma Green Belt Question Bank - Two Full Length Mock Tests

Typical Cost of Certification:

If you decide to go for the Green Belt certification, then your next question would be "How much does it cost for the whole process?"

Here is a typical breakdown of expenses:

1. ASQ Annual Membership Fee: $159

You don't need to be an ASQ Member for taking the exam. However if you spend $159 for the membership fee, you can save $100 in your exam fee and $46 in the purchase of CSSGB Handbook). In a way you get the annual membership for just $13.

2. ASQ Certified Six Sigma Green Belt application fee: $438 (non members), $338 (members)

3. Six Sigma Green Belt exam preparation online course: $200 on sale (link)

4. Six Sigma Green Belt Practice Tests: $45 (link)

4. Quality Council of Indiana Primer + Question CD ($70 +$70 + shipping fee)

5. ASQ CSSGB Handbook ($89 for members and $135 for non-members)

Total approximate cost: $967 plus (Let's round this off to $1000)