Examination of Software Architecture: Principles and Practices

To ensure continued excellence in software architecture practices, the SEI objectively validates a student's understanding of software architecture before students are eligible to receive professional certificates in software architecture, become certified to teach SEI software architecture courses, or become certified to lead SEI Authorized ATAM evaluations. This includes understanding of enterprise, system, and software architectures; the architecture business cycle; quality attribute requirements; architectural patterns and tactics; designing and documenting software architectures; architecture evaluation; the impact of COTS on software architecture; and software product line architectures.

Learners can begin the online exam at any time. Once the examination is started, the learner will have 24 hours to complete the examination.

Who should attend?

This validation exam is required for software architecture professionals who wish to pursue the following SEI credentials:

• Software Architecture Professional certificate
• SOA Architect Professional certificate
• ATAM Evaluator Professional certificate
• ATAM Leader certification
• Software Architecture: Principles and Practices (SAPP) Instructor certification
• Documenting Software Architectures (DSA) Instructor certification

Topics

The exam consists of 96 multiple choice questions. Each question has either four or five possible answers, only one of which is correct. The exam covers the following topic areas:

• Enterprise and System Architecture
• Software Architecture
• Architectural Patterns
• Reference Models
• Reference Architectures
• The Importance of Software Architecture
• Architectural Structures
• The Architectural Business Cycle
• Understanding Quality Attributes
• Quality Attribute Scenarios
• Quality Attribute Workshop
• Architectural Tactics
• Architectural Views
• Architecture Design
• Attribute Driven Design
• Architecture Evaluation
• Architecture Trade-off Analysis Method
• Architecture Mismatch
• Software Product Lines
• Architecture-related Case Studies

Objectives

Participants must achieve a minimum passing score of 75% for an SEI Professional Certificate.

Prerequisites

Before registering for this exam, participants must complete the Software Architecture: Principles and Practices course, which is available as instructor-led classroom training and as eLearning

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Materials

The exam is based on information found in the SEI Software Architecture: Principles and Practices course materials and in the course textbook, Software Architecture in Practice (2nd edition), by Len Bass, Paul Clements, and Rick Kazman. You may reference your textbook as needed. Please keep in mind that the test will conclude after 24 hours regardless of the number of questions answered.

Schedule

Once registered, learners can begin the examination of Software Architecture: Principles and Practices at any time. Learners can proceed through the exam at their convenience over a twenty four (24) hour period. Once answers are submitted, the exam will provide your score immediately and allow one opportunity to review and change responses to rescore, if necessary.