APICS Exams (meet upper lev reqs for Business Operations Management)

[soltran]

G'day,

I was just wondering if anyone has had experience with APICS exams. My advisor tells me that the majority of the exams are upper level and will meet the concentration requirements for Business Operations Management. I am looking at the exams that make up the CPIM certification and according to my advisor each exam would be granted 3 credits with only the one exam being lower level. So at $145 per exam for non-members or $25 student membership fee and $110 per exam this seems to be a reasonable option. They also have online courses for $450 for student members. I still have some questions for my advisor about these exams but wanted to know if anyone else may have looked into them.

If anyone is interested, the website is APICS - The Association for Operations Management

Regards

[sgloer]

Sounds interesting. If you end up taking any, keep us posted.

[soltran]

I joined APICS on the weekend and will be doing at least some of the exams in the future. They suggested that you wait until the member pack arrives before ordering any material or registering for any exams so it will be a few more weeks before I start getting into this but I will keep you informed.

I have had it confirmed by my advisor that the 5 exams I am looking at are all Pass/Fail and would result in 12 Upper credits and 3 lower credits assuming I pass of course.

I will keep you posted.

Regards

[soltran]

I sat and passed my first 2 CPIM exams on the weekend scoring a 309 for Basics of Supply Chain Management and 305 for Detailed Scheduling and Planning. If anyone is interested in details of the exams please let me know and I will share what I can. Below is some more detail on the program for those that may be interested.

Exams:
[INDENT]BSCM – Basics of Supply Chain Management
[INDENT]Questions: 105
Credits 3 Lower Level[/INDENT]
MPR – Master Planning of Resources
[INDENT]Questions: 75
Credits 3 Upper Level[/INDENT]
DSP – Detailed Scheduling and Planning
[INDENT]Questions: 75
Credits 3 Upper Level[/INDENT]
ECO – Execution and Control of Operations
[INDENT]Questions: 75
Credits 3 Upper Level[/INDENT]
SMR – Strategic Management of Resources
[INDENT]Questions: 75
Credits 3 Upper Level[/INDENT][/INDENT]

Resources:
[INDENT]APICS Dictionary – free on joining - $25 members - $50 non-members
CPIM Exam Content Manual - $24 members - $36 non-members
Introduction to Materials Management fifth edition - $92 members - $115
Datachem PIM-PREP CD-ROM - $425 members - $500 non-members
CPIM Practice Questions CD ROM - $88 members - $135 non-members[/INDENT]

Retake Policy:
[INDENT]Exams can be taken again after 30 days if you fail (or if you pass but want a higher score)[/INDENT]

Test Scoring:
[INDENT]APICS uses multiple tests similar to the CLEP approach with each test “scaled” based on statistical results. Test scores range from a possible low of 265 and a high of 330 with 300 being the passing grade. From the information I have received it is necessary to correctly answer between 65% and 75% of questions to receive a score of 300, depending on the version of the exam.[/INDENT]

Test Grading:
[INDENT]All exams are Pass/Fail
Results do not appear on screen but are printed immediately by the proctor
Results show PASS/FAIL and percentage for each exam section [/INDENT]

Test Delivery:
[INDENT]Computerized multiple-choice[/INDENT]

Regards

[Matymus]

This is fascinating! Yet another way to meet the Ops Mgmt requirement w/ EC. I wonder how other schools look at our degree, considering that alot of these are Pass/Fail, instead of a letter grade.

[soltran]

G’day,

I just sat the fifth and final CPIM exam which makes it 3 lower level credits and 12 upper level credits in the last 4 weeks. If anyone is in need of upper level business credits or concentration credits for the BS (BOM) these exams aren’t too bad, especially if you have studied for Operations Management.

This is fascinating! Yet another way to meet the Ops Mgmt requirement w/ EC. I wonder how other schools look at our degree, considering that alot of these are Pass/Fail, instead of a letter grade.

Matymus, these exams aren’t a way to meet the Production/Operations Management core requirement but they are a way to meet the concentration requirement for those enrolled in Excelsior’s BS BOM (Operations Management degree).

As for what others may think about the Pass/Fail aspect of these exams, the credits are ACE recommendations so I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of schools accept these exams for credit. Personally I prefer industry qualifications, they are a great way to enhance the resume, help one stand out from the pack when applying for jobs and if you can get college credit for them at the same time it is even better.

Regards

[ridin8ude]

Ron,
I find this very interesting.

I've looked at the website, just wondering, to sit for the CIPM do you need to prove you have working industry experience to take the exams and complete the certification? It appears for the CSCP definitely, but I can't make it out for the CIPM.

Did you have industry experience already which helped with your knowledge of Ops Management, or did you tackle this without in depth knowledge already?

Finally, I think you sat at least 2 exams on one day. Would that be something you would estimate most people could handle? I'm living abroad and I see only 1 international test date left this year, wondering how many I could bang out on that day

Congrats on the progress and thanks again for the info!

Also, I see the CIRM is going to be discontinued, but this looks more applicable to my current work responsibility. Did you discuss if this would be eligible for the same type of credit (from Excelsior) as well?

[soltran]

G'day ridin8ude,

I am currently employed as an inventory manager for a global organization so I do have industry experience which does help, but for the CPIM exams it wasn't required. I am also currently enrolled in the Operations Management course and the Project Management course at Excelsior (it is easier for me to do courses than get away from work to do exams), both of which cover material that is relevant to the CPIM exams.

As for sitting 2 tests in one day, I spent about 2 weeks preparing for the first two tests and was willing to gamble the $110 test fee because of the 30 day retake policy and the fact that it was a 100 mile drive to get to the test center. Both tests were 3 hours long, I started at 8am and was finished both exams before 10:30. I asked the testing center if I could book 3 exams the next time and was informed that it wasn't allowed because regardless of how quickly an exam was completed they were paid for 3 hours and as they were only open for 8 hours on a Saturday they couldn't charge for 9 hours for the 3 exams on the one day.

As far as being able to handle more than 1 exam at a time, I didn't think it was that difficult. This may be due to my background but I think most people would be able to handle multiple exams with enough preparation. I gave myself 2 weeks to prepare for the first 2 exams, two weeks to prepare for the second 2 exams and 2 weeks to prepare for the last exam. At the same time I was working 40 hours a week, enrolled in 2 courses that required weekly assignments and sat two mid-term exams. As you can see, it wasn't exactly dedicated preparation but it was enough to pass all the exams.

If you take the exams in the order they are presented on the APICS website, each exam seems to overlap the previous exam. This progression helps when taking more than 1 exam at a time. Also, if you are reasonably ok with basic math a number of the questions on the first 4 exams will be pretty easy. For example, you produce 1000 units of a product but you have a 10% scrap rate, customer orders total 850 units; have you produced enough to meet customer orders?

As far as the CIRM exams are concerned, I didn't discuss these specifically with Excelsior but they did state that they follow the ACE guidelines which you can view here ACENET CPIM

I found the guidelines a little confusing, especially for the middle 3 CPIM exams where the guidelines state 3 credits per exam but all 3 exams have to be successfully completed to earn credits. As I intended to sit all 5 exams I got Excelsior to provide in writing what credits I would be awarded on completion of all 5 exams (and I asked them to verify this twice). The CIRM exams state the same thing so I would definitely verify with Excelsior before you make any decisions.

I hope this has been of some assistance.

Regards

[AVG]

Ron,

Of the materials that are listed below, which ones would you say would be most beneficial to study in order to take the CPIM exams?

APICS Dictionary – free on joining - $25 members - $50 non-members
CPIM Exam Content Manual - $24 members - $36 non-members
Introduction to Materials Management fifth edition - $92 members - $115
Datachem PIM-PREP CD-ROM - $425 members - $500 non-members
CPIM Practice Questions CD ROM - $88 members - $135 non-members

[soltran]

G'day,

Most I didn't touch.

Definitely don't try to go without "Introduction to Materials Management fifth edition". I read it more than once, between each exam day and it was almost enough to cover all exams. It does not really cover the SMR exam though.

I used the "Datachem PIM-PREP CD-ROM " and found it handy but am not sure it was worth the expense. I didn't go through all the practice questions and am sure I would have been better prepared if I had. So it isn't the product that is bad, just the way I used it.

I wasn't impressed with the "CPIM Practice Questions CD ROM", I didn't touch the Dictionary and felt that the "CPIM Exam Content Manual " at least gave me an idea of the types of questions that would be asked and how they would be asked.

From a minimalist perspective, I'd suggest the text book and the exam content manual. If you can afford it and have the time to use it, the Datchem CD is probably worth getting.

I hope this is of some assistance

Regards