ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt Study Guide

Preparing for the ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt exam can be overwhelming. This ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt Study Guide lists all key concepts (and links to learn more) for the ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt Certification. This list comes from the 2022 update to the official ASQ Green Belt BOK. And it’s totally free to use.

What is ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt BOK

The ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt BOK is created by the American Society of Quality (ASQ). It’s periodically reviewed and updated by leading members and Six Sigma professionals to ensure it’s relevant to today’s world.

The ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt BOK has six sections geared around Six Sigma Fundamentals and the different phases of DMAIC.

You’ll need to master various topics in order to pass the exam.

How to use the ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt Study Guide

Some ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt candidates will have taken Six Sigma training. Others will be self-taught. No matter your path, you will have to know what’s on the standard BOK – Body of Knowledge.

Step 1: Scan over the material below.

Scan through the rest of this page before proceeding further. Take a look at what will be asked. Do you feel comfortable with this material? Is anything new to you? Are there any surprises?

Make a mental note of that and proceed.

Step 2: Review (or learn!) the material.

Not every training program covers every topic. Depending on the quality of the training you took, your instructor may have skipped a section entirely! Click one of the links to dive into any topic that you don’t feel as strongly as you’d like and read up.

Step 3: Leave a comment on any page where you have questions.

Each topic below is linked to a detailed article where I thoroughly review the concept. If you have any questions, or if any topic is less clear than you’d like it to be, leave a comment, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Step 4: Practice as many questions as possible.

Find an excellent question bank covering each section, and take as many practice tests as possible.

The ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt BOK

What follows below is the ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt BOK. The top-level sections I through VI also list the number of questions you can expect in that section. This will help you see the relative weight of those topics compared to others.

I Overview: Six Sigma and the Organization (11 Questions)

I.A Six Sigma and organizational goals

I.A.1 Value of Six Sigma

Recognize why organizations use Six Sigma, how they apply their philosophy and goals, and the evolution of Six Sigma from quality leaders such as (Juran, Deming, Shewhart, Ishikawa, and others.).

I.A.2 Organizational goals and Six Sigma projects

Identify the linkages and supports that need to be established between a selected Six Sigma project and the organization’s goals, including SMART goals, and describe how process inputs, outputs, and feedback at all levels can influence the organization as a whole. (Understand)

I.A.3 Organizational drivers and metrics

Recognize key drivers for business (profit, market share, customer satisfaction, efficiency, product differentiation, key performance indicators (KPIs)) for all types of organizations. Understand how key metrics and scorecards are developed and how they impact the entire organization. (Understand)

I.B Lean principles in the organization

I.B.1 Lean Concepts

Define and describe lean concepts such as the theory of constraints, value chain, flow, takt time,
just-in-time (JIT), Gemba, spaghetti diagrams, and perfection. (Apply)

I.B.2 Value-stream mapping

Use value-stream mapping to identify value-added processes and steps or processes that
produce waste, including excess inventory, unused space, test inspection, rework,
transportation, and storage. (Understand)

I.C Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodologies

I.C.1 Road maps for DFSS

Describe and distinguish between DMADV (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) and IDOV (identify, design, optimize, verify), and identify how they relate to DMAIC. Describe how these methodologies are used for improving the end product or process during the design (DFSS) phase. Understand how verification and validation are used to compare results against stated goals.

I.C.2 Basic failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)

Use FMEA to evaluate a process or product and determine what might cause it to fail and the effects that failure could have. Identify and use scale criteria, calculate the risk priority number (RPN), and analyze the results. (Analyze)

I.C.3 Design FMEA and process FMEW

Define and distinguish between these two uses of FMEA. (Apply)

II Define Phase (20 Questions)

II.A Project identification

II.A.1 Project selection

Describe the project selection process and what factors should be considered in deciding whether to use the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology or another problem-solving process. (Understand)

II.A.2 Process elements

Define and describe process components and boundaries. Recognize how processes cross various functional areas and the challenges that result from process improvement efforts. (Analyze)

II.A.3 Benchmarking

Understand various types of benchmarking, including competitive, collaborative, and best practices. (Understand)

II.A.2 Process inputs and outputs

Identify process input variables and process output variables and document their relationships using the supplier, inputs, process, output, and customer (SIPOC) model. (Apply)

II.A.3 Owners and stakeholders

Identify process owners and other stakeholders in a project. (Apply)

II.B Voice of the Customer (VOC)

II.B.1 Customer Identification

Identify the internal and external customers of a project, and what effect the project will have on them. (Apply)

II.B.2 Customer data

Collect feedback from customers using surveys, focus groups, interviews, and various forms of observation. Identify the key elements that make these tools effective. Review data collection questions to eliminate vagueness, ambiguity, and any unintended bias. (Apply)

II.B.3 Customer requirements

Use quality function deployment (QFD), Critical to X (CTX when ‘X’ can be quality, cost, safety, etc.), Critical to Quality tree (CTQ), and Kano model to translate customer requirements statements into product features, performance measures, or opportunities for improvement. Use weighting methods as needed to amplify the importance and urgency of different kinds of input: telephone call vs. survey response, product complaint vs. expedited service request. (Apply)

II.C Project management basics

II.C.1 Project Methodology

Define and apply agile and top-down management methods. (Apply)

II.C.2 Project charter

Define and describe elements of a project charter and develop a problem statement, including baseline or current status to be improved and the project’s goals. (Apply)

II.C.3 Project scope

Help define the scope of the project using process maps, Pareto charts, and other quality tools. (Apply)

II.C.4 Project metrics

Help develop primary metrics (reduce defect levels by x amount) and consequential metrics (the negative effects that making the planned improvement might cause). (Apply)

II.C.5 Project planning tools

Use work breakdown structures (WBS), Gantt charts, critical path method (CPM), program evaluation and review technique (PERT) charts, and toll-gate reviews to plan projects and monitor their progress.

II.C.6 Project documentation

Describe the types of data and input needed to document a project. Identify and help develop appropriate presentation tools (storyboards, spreadsheet summary of results) for phase reviews and management updates. (Apply)

II.C.7 Project risk analysis and management

Describe the elements of project risk analysis, including feasibility, potential impact, risk priority number (RPN), and risk management. Identify the potential effect risk can have on project goals and schedule, resources (materials and personnel), business continuity planning, costs and other financial measures, and stakeholders.

II.C.8 Project closure

Review the project objectives achieved in relation to the project charter with team members and sponsors and ensure that documentation is completed and stored appropriately. Identify lessons learned and inform other parts of the organization about opportunities for improvement. (Apply)

II.D Management and planning tools

Define, select, and use 1) affinity diagrams, 2) interrelationship digraphs, 3) tree diagrams, 4) prioritization matrices, 5) matrix diagrams, 6) process decision program (PDPC) charts, 7) activity network diagrams, and SWOT analysis. (Apply)

II.E Business results for projects

II.E.1 Process performance

Calculate process performance metrics such as defects per unit (DPU), rolled throughput yield (RTY), cost of poor quality (COPQ), defects per million opportunities (DPMO), sigma levels, and process capability indices. Track process performance measures to drive project decisions. (Analyze)

II.E.2 Communication

Define and describe communication techniques used in organizations: top-down, bottom-up, and horizontal. (Apply)

II.F Team dynamics and performance

II.F.1 Team stages and dynamics

Define and describe the stages of team evolution, including forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning, and recognition. Identify and help resolve negative dynamics such as overbearing, dominant, or reluctant participants, the unquestioned acceptance of opinions as facts, groupthink, feuding, floundering, the rush to accomplishment, attribution, discounts, plops, digressions, and tangents. (Understand)

II.F.2 Team roles and responsibilities

Use tools such as RACI to describe and define the roles and responsibilities of participants on Six Sigma and other teams, including black belt, master black belt, green belt, champion, executive, coach, facilitator, team member, sponsor, process owner, etc. (Apply)

II.F.3 Team tools

Define and apply team tools such as brainstorming and decision-making concepts such as nominal group technique and multi-voting. (Apply)

II.F.4 Team Communication

Identify and use appropriate communication methods (both within the team and from the team to various stakeholders) to report progress, conduct reviews, and support the overall success of the project. (Apply)

III Measure Phase (20 Questions)

III.A Process analysis and documentation

Develop process maps and review written procedures, work instructions, and flowcharts to identify any gaps or areas of the process that are misaligned. (Create)

III.B Probability and statistics

III.B.1 Basic probability concepts

Describe and interpret basic probability concepts: independent events, mutually exclusive events, multiplication rules, permutations, and combinations. (Understand)

III.B.2 Central limit theorem

Define the central limit theorem and describe its significance in relation to confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, control charts, etc. (Apply)

III.C Statistical distributions

Define and describe various distributions as they apply to statistical process control and probability: normal, binomial, Poisson, chi-square, Student’s t, and F distributions. (Apply)

III.D Collecting and summarizing data

III.D.1 Types of data and measurement scales

Identify and classify continuous (variables) and discrete (attributes) data. Describe and define
nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio measurement scales. (Analyze)

III.D.2 Sampling and data collection plans and methods

Define and apply various sampling methods (random and stratified) and data collection methods (check sheets and data coding). Prepare data collection plans that include gathering data and performing quality checks (e.g., minimum/maximum values, erroneous data, null values). (Apply)

III.D.3 Descriptive statistics

Define, calculate, and interpret measures of dispersion and central tendency. Develop and interpret frequency distributions and cumulative frequency distributions. (Evaluate) Also, see Kinds of Statistics.

III.D.4 Graphical methods

Depict relationships by constructing, applying, and interpreting diagrams and charts such as stem-and-leaf plots, box-and-whisker plots, run charts, scatter diagrams, Pareto charts, etc. Depict distributions by constructing, applying, and interpreting diagrams such as histograms, normal probability plots, etc. (Create)

III.E Measurement system analysis (MSA)

Calculate, analyze, and interpret measurement system capability using gauge repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R) studies, measurement correlation, bias, linearity, percent agreement, and precision/tolerance (P/T). (Evaluate)

III.F Process and Performance Capability

III.F.1 Process performance vs. specification

Define and distinguish between natural process limits and specification limits, and calculate process performance metrics. (Evaluate)

III.F.2 Process Capability Studies

Define, describe, and conduct process capability studies, including identifying characteristics, specifications, and tolerances and verifying stability and normality. (Evaluate)

III.F.3 Process capability (Cp, Cpk) and process performance (Pp, Ppk) indices

Describe the relationship between these types of indices. Define, select, and calculate process capability and process performance. Describe when Cpm measures can be used. Calculate the sigma level of a process. (Evaluate)

III.F.4 Short-term vs. long-term capability

Describe the assumptions and conventions that are appropriate when only short-term data are collected and when only attribute data are available. Describe the changes in relationships that occur when long-term data are used, and interpret the relationship between long- and short-term capability as it relates to a 1.5 sigma shift. (Evaluate)

IV Analyze Phase (18 Questions)

IV.A Exploratory data analysis

IV.A.1 Multi-vari studies

Select appropriate sampling plans to create multi-vari study charts and interpret the results for
positional, cyclical, and temporal variation. (Create)

IV.A.2 Correlation and linear regression

Describe the difference between correlation and causation. Calculate the correlation
coefficient and linear regression and interpret the results in terms of statistical significance (p-value). Use regression models for estimation and prediction. (Evaluate)

IV.B Hypothesis testing

IV.B.1 Basics

Define and distinguish between statistical and practical significance and apply tests for significance level, power, type I, and type II errors. Determine the appropriate sample size for various tests. (Apply).

IV.B.2 Tests for means, variances, and proportions

Conduct hypothesis tests to compare means, variances, and proportions (paired-comparison t-test, F-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Chi-square) and interpret the results. (Analyze)

IV.C Additional Analysis Methods

IV.C.1 Gap analysis

Analyze scenarios to identify performance gaps and compare current and future states using predefined metrics.

IV.C.2 Root cause analysis

Use cause and effect diagrams, relational matrices, 5 Whys, fault tree analysis, and other problem-solving tools to identify the true cause of a problem. (Analyze)

V Improve Phase (16 Questions)

V.A Design of experiments (DOE)

V.A.1 Basic terms

Define and describe terms such as independent and dependent variables, factors and levels, response, treatment, error, repetition, and replication. (Understand)

V.A.2 DOE graphs and plots

Interpret main effects analysis and interaction plots. (Apply)

V.B Implementation planning

Apply implementation planning by using proof of concept, try-storming, simulations, and conducting pilot tests. (Apply)

V.C Lean tools

V.C.1 Waste elimination

Select and apply tools and techniques for eliminating or preventing waste, including pull systems, kanban, 5S, standard work, and poka-yoke. (Apply)

V.C.2 Cycle-time reduction

Use various techniques to reduce cycle time (continuous flow, setup reduction), single-minute
exchange of dies (SMED). (Analyze)

V.C.3 Kaizen and kaizen blitz

Define and distinguish between these two methods and apply them in various situations. (Apply)

VI Control Phase (15 questions)

VI.A Statistical process control (SPC)

VI.A.1 SPC Basics

Describe the theory and objectives of SPC, including measuring and monitoring process
performance for both continuous and discrete data. Define and distinguish between common
and special cause variation and how these conditions can be deduced from control chart
analysis. (Analyze)

VI.A.2 Rational subgrouping

Define and describe how rational subgrouping is used. (Understand)

VI.A.3 Control Charts

Identify, select, construct, and use control charts: X Bar−R, X Bar−s, individuals and moving range (ImR / XmR), median, p, np, c, and u. (Apply)

VI.B Sustain improvements

VI.B.1 Control plan

Assist in developing and implementing a control plan to document and monitor the process. (Apply)

VI.B.2 Document control

Understand document control and its role in controlling and sustaining improvements. (Understand)

VI.B.3 Training plans

Develop training plans to implement and sustain improvements. (Apply)

VI.B.4 Audits

Define first-, second-, and third-party audits. (Remember)

VI.B.5 Plan-do-check-act (PDCA)

Apply and distinguish between the steps of plan-do-check-act (PDCA). (Apply)

Six Levels of Cognition based on Bloom’s Taxonomy (Revised)

In addition to content specifics, the subtext detail also indicates the intended complexity level of the test questions for that topic. These levels are based on the Revised “Levels of Cognition” (from Bloom’s Taxonomy, 2001) and are presented below in rank order, from least complex to most complex.

Remember
Be able to remember or recognize terminology, definitions, facts, ideas, materials, patterns, sequences, methodologies, principles, etc. (Also commonly referred to as recognition, recall, or rote knowledge)

Understand
Be able to read and understand descriptions, communications, reports, tables, diagrams, directions, regulations, etc.

Apply
Be able to apply ideas, procedures, methods, formulas, principles, theories, etc., in job-related situations.

Analyze
Be able to break down information into its constituent parts and recognize the parts’ relationship to one another and how they are organized; identify sublevel factors or salient data from a complex scenario.

Evaluate
Be able to make judgments regarding the value of proposed ideas, solutions, methodologies, etc., by using appropriate criteria or standards to estimate accuracy, effectiveness, economic benefits, etc.

Create
Be able to put parts or elements together in such a way as to show a pattern or structure not clearly there before; able to identify which data or information from a complex set is appropriate to examine further or from which supported conclusions can be drawn.

ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt Study Guide Helpful Links:

https://asq.org/cert/resource/pdf/certification/2022-SSGB-BoK-Map.pdf

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