AssistKD's Oral Preparation Workshop is designed to help participants prepare for the BCS Oral examination, which they must pass before being awarded the Diploma.
The Oral exam consists of a 50-minute interview with two BCS oral examiners. The examiners evaluate whether participants can put all of the techniques they have learned from the various Certificate modules into an overall context - and verify that they have the required analytical and interpersonal skills to be awarded the Diploma.
During the Oral Preparation Workshop candidates have the opportunity to review the various modules they have taken and are prepared for what they might expect from the examiners during the Oral exam.
Key areas of the workshop are:
- Revision of the core modules of the BCS Diploma in Solution Development
- Revision of the specialist modules of the BCS Diploma in Solution Development
- Sample oral questions, how to approach them and practice answers
We recommend that the optimal time to attend this workshop is between two and four weeks before your actual oral examination. This provides sufficient time for personal study and revision before the examination.
Solution Development Oral Preparation day via Skype.
If you are unable to attend an on-site oral preparation day, AssistKD can offer a unique programme to prepare you for your Solution Development oral examination:
- An initial discussion by 'phone held between the candidate and an AssistKD SD oral examiner
- A 2 hour Skype session held between the candidate and an AssistKD SD oral examiner
- A Solution Development Oral Preparation Document
Fee = £325+VAT
The Solution Development Diploma oral exam can be booked for an additional fee of £340+VAT
- The format of the exam and the examiners checklist
- Hints and tips for sitting the exam
- Review of the core modules
- Review of the knowledge-based specialist module(s)
- Review of the practitioner specialist module(s)
- Mock oral exam questions
No but this course prepares participants for the 50-minute oral examination leading to the BCS International Diploma in Solution Development
A comprehensive revision pack is provided
BCS Solution Development Diploma Oral Examination Preparation Workshop (a one-day course)
Course Content
Solution development principles
- The rationale for solution development
- The holistic nature of solution development including systems development
- Relationship between solution development and other disciplines
Solution development lifecycles
- Solution development lifecycles and approaches (bespoke, COTS and component based)
- Roles and responsibilities
- Quality assurance including static testing
Solution development techniques
- Fact finding and investigation techniques
- Prioritisation
- Prototyping
- Escalation of issues
- Requirements engineering
Systems modelling techniques
- Three views of a system (data, process and events)
- Logical and physical models
- Structured or object oriented/UML approaches
- Top down and bottom up model development
- Cross-checking models with each other
Design and deployment
- Controls and security
- Solution architecture
- Testing
- Implementation and deployment approaches
- Release management, configuration and version control
- Maintenance and evaluation
- CASE and CAST tools
Selected knowledge-based specialist module
- The role and responsibility of the solution developer within the chosen module
- Relevance of the selected module to solution development
- Solution development within the lifecycle of the chosen specialism
Selected practitioner specialist module
- Relevance of the selected module to the solution development role
- Relevance to solution developer responsibilities
- Description of the chosen approach and techniques
- Application of the chosen approach and techniques
Practice questions
In this part of the workshop, the trainer, who is always an experienced oral examiner, provides participants with practice in handling the types of questions that they will face in the oral examination and gives feedback on the participants’ answers and presentation.
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