How it all started-
It was about a year ago that I embarked on the journey of completing the CQE Exam. I have worked in the medical device industry for three years. I have been eyeing the ASQ CQE achievement for a while now. But suddenly, due to some events at work, I find myself needing the certification. More on that later. For now, let’s focus on the CQE.
This article will sum up my experience and give you the resources to prepare for the Exam. You will see that finding useful information online regarding the CQE can be a bit jarring. There is much information scattered worldwide, but it will not be easy to obtain unless you know exactly where to find it. I still find new sites to this day. There is even information out there that I know I have not seen yet.
Of course, the apparent first advice is finding your way to the ASQ website (recently refreshed). You will find a treasure chest of information. The ASQ site will have a vast amount of information, but it will not be the only place where you can find valuable resources. You can find all the books you need to purchase at eBay for a very reasonable price, and yes, I noticed that you would need more than one source for this test. If you have a great deal of "on the Job" experience, then you may get away with needing less, but for the average professional, you will need plenty of resources to help you get a passing score.
My motivation to create this article is to give back to the quality engineering community. Quite frankly, I could not find many items that delivered a complete story around the CQE certification. I do not seek this article to be a comprehensive reference guide on achieving the certification, but to glimpse my experience as I went through the journey.
I believe my journey could be like many modern professionals who look for an edge in advancing their careers.I think for these people, this article could be of interest.
Before we get into the weeds, I do have a confession to make. I have been lucky to work for a fantastic company in the medical device industry and have the privilege of working with great leaders who have encouraged me and supported me during the last few years.
Let’s start with a no brainer; the first tip is the most important and the most obvious, and that is: taking your time and study. It may sound basic, but I believe for some folks that have been in the industry for a while, they may have a bit of self-reliance that may trick them into believing that they may not need to study as much. But this is a challenging exam, and you should take studying very seriously.As said, ideally, you want to give yourself plenty of time between the time you decide you want to complete ASQ CQE certification and your actual exam day. I would say roughly about six months. This Exam is not for the faint of heart, so I recommend taking the time to analyze the Body of Knowledge (BOK). Below is a list of books that I think is the perfect way to start. Do not get me wrong. It would be best if you did not take all books in for the Exam, but they will aid in your studies before taking the Exam.
Preparation
Ok, so I’m going to list some of the resources that you can use to get ready for the CQE exam. You may find a more exhaustive list here.
- The Certified Quality Engineer Handbook: by Rachel Silvestrini and Sarah Burke
- Quality Engineering Statistics: By Robert A. Dovich
- Juran's Quality Handbook: by J.M. Juran
- Practical Engineering, Process, and Reliability Statistics: By Mark Allen Durivage
- The Quality Toolbox; by Nancy R. Tague
One other book that I think is essential and is not listed above is the Quality Council of Indiana CQE Primer and its 1000 questions USB thumb drive companion; These were so instrumental and the first book I would recommend you take with you to the Exam.
The way to study is two folds: Read the material and take practice exams. ASQ site offers a practice exam, The Quality Council of Indiana does as well, and there are other sites. Pick what works for you. Practice exams are important because they will make you better at time management for the Exam. The CQE Exam is 175 multiple choice questions, and you have to finish them in 5.5 hours. Which seems like a long time, but it isn’t. That is roughly 1.88 minutes per question, hardly a long time.
In my opinion, the BOK consists of three central pillars. The quality & philosophy, the math & statistics, and the interpretation & theory application.
Structure
The philosophy pillar will encompass all things Juran and Deming and the rest of the founding fathers, so to speak, of the quality discipline. Here you will learn the different Quality eras. “Quality” has a rich history, but thankfully this part is not the most challenging part of the BOK. Here you will learn about team structures and the tools that a QE will need to know and use in the field.
The Math and Statistics pillar is the bread and butter of the CQE exam. Understanding math and statistics are crucial in passing the CQE Exam. If you are an established professional and are far removed from the days of old when the university was your second home, I would suggest you probably start with getting familiar again with statistics and all of the mathematics that go along with that.
And lastly, the final pillar is Interpretation, and Theory application, which interprets the math or makes inferences based on the results. Part of the CQE exam challenge is understanding the statistical question and knowing which mathematical concept to apply to the problem. This technique is far more complicated than I originally anticipated. There comes a time during the CQE exam, where you will stare at a question, and you will not know how to solve it even though you have a general understanding of the problem. Again, the way to anticipate this type of issue and avoid them is to practice many different scenarios beforehand.
Effort
As you read the cleverly designed questions, you need to understand what is being asked but, more importantly, what mathematical concepts you need to use to solve it. The best solution I can give you for this is to practice, practice, practice. Solve as many problems as possible and get familiar with the many math tools to solve that question.
What time of the day you study is also especially important? You have to try different things like waking up extra early in the morning and study before work or give yourself some time after supper to go through the material if you work better in the evening. The most important thing is to try to discover what works best and then run with it.
The Day Before
Look, it's essential to keep in mind that many of the dynamics that go into a successful exam are how much sleep you get the night before. If you’re into meditation, take a few minutes to clear your mind the day before. You have studied up to this point, and you prepared, but you need to be in your best form the day of the Exam. A good night's sleep is crucial to acing the Exam. There is much scientific information out there that explains why if you are interested.
One More Thing
Get the tools you need first. Gather your resources. Buy the books and study, practice the problems over and over until they become second nature. Find out if your work offers ASQ trainer-led classes. My job did, and I took advantage of that. Form a study group with other coworkers that are trying for the CQE as well. In the last four weeks before the Exam, find time after work and on weekends to study and practice problems at least 3 hours per day.
You will not get all the answers; that is an impossibility, and as I said, you only have 1.88 minutes for each question. So do not get bogged down on any particular problem. All you need to think about is reaching the passing score. The passing score is 550 out of 750. There are 175 questions, but only 160 get counted toward your total score. The correct answers are weighted based on difficulty, so it is hard to say how many items out of the 160 you have to get right. Time management is essential, so the technique I used was to get through the ones I knew on the first pass, and in the end, there were about a dozen questions that I had skipped with about an hour left to the Exam. At this point, I went back to finish the difficult problems. I was able to complete the Exam with some time to spare.
If you do all this, in the end, you will be successful. You will feel so good to have accomplished all of this for you and your family and employer. Good luck to all of you ASQ CQE seekers out there that will be putting all the hard work.
Writing by John Scardina, CQE. Quality Engineer
