INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  CAP further practice questions needed

    Posted 06-19-2021 13:01
    Hello,

    Having recently joined INFORMS, and vigourously studying for the CAP exam... (already had my app accepted based on edu and work exp.) I can't seem to find any further practice questions sources online, only those that were in the official CAP study guide. Most professional certifications seem to have practice exams for sale on various hub-like sites, but not this one... the only additional prominent resource I came across was a book by Dr. Rajan Gupta, but that's only available in the U.S. at a fairly high price at that, and I'm in Canada.  Regrettably, it's not available as an e-book.  So I'm wondering if anyone has any such sources to mention?

    Jason A. Oliver

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    JASON OLIVER
    Project Leader, Compliance Research and Data Science
    CANADA REVENUE AGENCY
    Ottawa ON
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  • 2.  RE: CAP further practice questions needed

    Posted 06-20-2021 01:10
    As part of the CAP prep course you will have 25 qs as practice for the exam that in addition to Dr. Rajan Gupta book, I'm not aware of any practice exam. Some people studied the study guide and passed the exam.


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    Georges Michel
    IT Manager
    Paaneah, LLC.
    SCOTTSDALE AZ
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  • 3.  RE: CAP further practice questions needed

    Posted 06-21-2021 15:14
    Hello Jason,

    We currently do not have any designated practice exams for the CAP and aCAP exams however they will be coming soon! If you would like to be one of the first to purchase this new prep product, please contact Bill Griffin (bgriffin@informs.org) to be alerted when the new tests are available. Feel free to reach out to either of us if you have any questions about preparing for the exam!

    Sincerely,
    Christy

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    Christy Mulhall
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  • 4.  RE: CAP further practice questions needed

    Posted 06-21-2021 21:14
    Edited by Shaun Doheney 06-21-2021 21:15
    Hi Jason,

    You're correct that there aren't many places to go for CAP practice exam questions out there.  (I'm very glad to hear from Christy that practice exams are coming soon!)

    You probably already know this, but INFORMS offers a CAP exam prep course (https://www.informs.org/Professional-Development/Continuing-Education/INFORMS-CAP-Prep-Course).  I found it very helpful and recommend that you check it out.


    In addition to the CAP Exam Prep Course, here are my recommendations on how to prepare for the CAP exam (just one person's opinion):

     

    1. I reviewed all of the questions provided throughout the INFORMS CAP Prep Course and I also reviewed the sample test questions on the INFORMS CAP website, https://www.certifiedanalytics.org/sampletest.php.
    2. I used a glossary of terms provided in the CAP Prep Course and made sure that I was familiar with all the terms.  I think the most important part for passing the exam was to be familiar with the terms in the glossary, so if the question was asking about a method associated with optimization, you could immediately throw out any answers talking about regression modeling, for example.  Just knowing the terms and the context associated with the terms is huge. 
    3. I found Data Science Central (https://www.datasciencecentral.com/) to be a great resource for terms I got stuck on if Google didn't immediately work.  
    4. Another key component seemed to be familiarity with the analytic process writ large.  Knowing that the question was asking about something to do with analytic problem framing meant you should immediately dismiss any answers talking about comparing models, for example.  A good place to start for that is the Analytics Body of Knowledge (ABOK) (which I believe is now included in certain versions of the CAP Prep Course or you can order here,

      https://www.amazon.com/Analytics-Knowledge-Operations-Research-Management/dp/1119483212).  

    5. Finally, the one book on my shelf that I still go to regularly is my old text book, Spreadsheet Modeling & Decision Analysis by Cliff Ragsdale.  He covers almost the entire Operations Research spectrum with easy to understand examples.  I'm sure that there are other good references out there, but that was mine.

     

    Hope that helps and good luck!



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    Shaun Doheney
    INFORMS MAS VP
    shaun.doheney@outlook.com
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