TOGAF® 9 Foundation Study Guide - 3rd Edition

Passed my Foundation Exam today! This book was a major factor (~80%) in preparing me for the exam. Like many others studying for the exam, I wanted to make sure that I had the most effective resources and tools to aid me in passing the exam. Unfortunately, there just aren't many high quality study aids on the market for the TOGAF exam, but this book definitely fills the gap. I highly recommend using it.One thing I should mention to those new to TOGAF, at first the material may seem confusing, boring, and overly complex. Initially, I found myself re-reading paragraphs multiple times just trying to make sense of a concept, and how it relates to other concepts. Additionally, because the book does not provide a visible real world example of TOGAF structures (i.e. Enterprise Continuum, Architecture Vision document, Governance Log, etc..) and is terminology-dense, it may take a bit longer to learn some concepts. Be patient, things will become clear as you progress through the book.For the next edition of this book, I think it would be useful to have sample website that contains examples of all the major TOGAF documents used to build a simple Java Pet Store Demo application (or something similar). This would provide both students and practitioners with an actual implementation of a technology architected with TOGAF.Here's a quick Q & A for those interested:Q. What test simulator or book has best prepared me for the official exam?A. The two exams provided at the end of the official TOGAF 9 Study Guide - 3rd edition best prepared me for the official exam. Other exam questions/simulators* I used seemed like a derivative of the TOGAF 9 Study Guide questions, but with a different style of writing, however, they were a good resource for additional free practice questions.Q. How difficult is the exam?A. In my opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10, the exam difficulty is between 7.0 and 8.0. The exam is not difficult in a computational or analytical sense, but more in terms of applying conceptual knowledge based on a large set of framework-specific terms, structures and processes. For reference, I scored a 77 (31/40) on my first attempt.Q. How long did you study before taking the exam?A. Off and on for about 3 months. The first month I took the Udemy class (Become an Enterprise Architect with TOGAF 9.1 Part 1)** and that helped give me a broad overview of TOGAF. Then I read each chapter in the TOGAF 9 Study Guide, took notes, and did the questions at the end of the chapter. After I finished the book, I did the practice exams - over and over again until I was scoring in the 90s. (I used an excel spreadsheet to track my progress.) In the last month, I re-read the TOGAF 9 Study Guide, and actually understood much more of the book than I did during the first read through.One thing I found EXTREMELY helpful in the last few weeks was watching the Orbus TOGAF Distilled video playlist***. They did an amazing job of concisely summarizing the TOGAF ADM. I must have watched the entire playlist at least 5+ times. I also kept a printed copy of the Orbus TOGAF 9.1 in Pictures Guide on my desk and regularly reviewed it. ****For reference, here are my practice exam scores:FSG Exam 1: 75,77.5,97.5,97.5,97.5,97.5FSG Exam 2: 90,92.5,95,100,97.5Udayan Exam 1: 47.5,77.5,80,85,97.5,95,87.5Udayan Exam 2: 85,97.5,97.5,92.5,95Best of luck on to all.NOTE: If your Prometric testing center is not on v3.1.3.1 of the TCFlow software, your test may not load. If you see an error like: '...your test in not available yet, you may need to reboot this workstation' – then have the test administrator verify they are running v3.1.3.1. The tutorial will load, but the exam may not. I waited for over 3 hours as a Prometric tech had to remote upgrade from v2.8.4.2 to v2.8.17.1 to v3.1.3.1. Definitely not how I expected my testing experience to go, but at the end of the day - mission accomplished :-)[...][...][...][...]

I took a class that has both TOGAF level 1 (foundations) and Level 2 (certified) rolled into one and both certifications taken at the end of the week. I found this book to be far better study material than the class itself. I actually even left the class itself go home and study using this guide and some other notes I had. If you learn this book I think you are equipped to handle both TOGAF levels of certification and a very solid foundation to start using it in real life.I passed both tests - 80% on level 1 and 100% on level 2.

Started reading this looks good till now will provide the review once again after I appear for the exams.

This was a critical tool to prepare for the Foundation test. Several of us did a group study and passed the test with a good margin above passing. The test questions at the end were very helpful for preparing. I took them once, marked my results, and then studies some more before taking them again. Looking at what I had wrong both times gave me another tool for preparing for the test, which is not easy.

Best study guide for certification..I cleared the exam by referring to this guide alone! The practice questions are very useful.

Simple and crisp.

This book alone is sufficient to pass the foundation exam. 5 stars !

(would give it 2.5 if possible)When i was looking for a book to prep for Togaf certification prep, i purchased this book given so many good reviews, and maybe some people did find it useful. I agree that it has good coverage of the test scope and areas of interest. But where this book failed for me is the content, not the coverage of content. Content is very dry and academic. I have worked as an Architect for many years and even the concepts and terminologies that are so common and easy are explained with complex, academic and wordy definitions. The aim of the book should not be to just memorize and pass the test, it should also be to provide a clear understanding and explanation with simple and contextual examples so that one can easily apply them in practice.