CSSGB Body of Knowledge 2026: Six Sections, No Project, No Renewal
Measure and Analyze are 38 of the 100 scored questions, and all ten of the BoK's Evaluate- and Create-level subtopics sit in those two sections. Define is just as big, but it is mostly Apply.
- 110 (100 scored)Questions
- 4h 18mTime
- 6Sections
- YesWeights published
- 550/750Pass mark
- $383-$483Fee
Table of Contents
The whole paper in one bar
The 2022 CSSGB Body of Knowledge, tested since August 2022 is the exam guide ASQ publishes for Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB), restated so you can see the shape of the paper before you read a word of the detail. The bar below is the entire syllabus: 6 sections, in the order the certifying body lists them.
- §1 Overview: Six Sigma and the Organization — 11 items (11.0%)
- §2 Define Phase — 20 items (20.0%)
- §3 Measure Phase — 20 items (20.0%)
- §4 Analyze Phase — 18 items (18.0%)
- §5 Improve Phase — 16 items (16.0%)
- §6 Control Phase — 15 items (15.0%)
Those percentages are derived from ASQ’s own published question counts, not an estimate. That matters more than it sounds: most pages ranking for this query quote weightings the certifying body never published.
The syllabus, section by section
Each block below is one section of the official outline. The bullets are the sub-objectives ASQ publishes underneath it — the actual scope statement, not a summary of it.
Overview: Six Sigma and the Organization
- Value of Six Sigma and its roots in Juran, Deming, Shewhart and Ishikawa
- Linking projects to organisational goals, including SMART goals
- Business drivers, KPIs, key metrics and scorecards
- Lean concepts: theory of constraints, value chain, flow, takt time, JIT, gemba
- Value stream mapping to find waste
- DfSS road maps: DMADV and IDOV, and how they align with DMAIC
- Basic FMEA and RPN; design FMEA versus process FMEA
Define Phase
- Project selection, process elements and boundaries, benchmarking
- SIPOC, process owners and stakeholders
- Voice of the customer: data collection, QFD, CTX, CTQ tree, Kano model
- Project methodology (agile and top-down), charter, problem statement, scope and metrics
- Planning tools: WBS, Gantt, CPM, PERT, toll-gate reviews; project risk and closure
- Management and planning tools: affinity, interrelationship digraph, tree and matrix diagrams, PDPC, activity network, SWOT
- Business results: DPU, RTY, COPQ, DPMO and sigma levels
- Team stages and dynamics, RACI roles, decision tools (nominal group technique, multivoting) and team communication
Measure Phase
- Process maps and written procedures reviewed for gaps
- Basic probability and the central limit theorem
- Distributions: normal, binomial, Poisson, chi-square, Student's t, F
- Data types, measurement scales, sampling methods and data collection plans
- Descriptive statistics and graphical methods: histograms, box plots, stem-and-leaf, scatter diagrams, normal probability plots
- Measurement system analysis: gauge R&R, bias, linearity, percent agreement, P/T ratio
- Process capability studies; Cp, Cpk, Pp, Ppk, Cpm and sigma level
- Short-term versus long-term capability and the sigma shift
Analyze Phase
- Multi-vari studies: positional, cyclical and temporal variation
- Correlation versus causation; linear regression for estimation and prediction
- Statistical versus practical significance; sample size, power, type I and type II errors
- Tests for means, variances and proportions: paired t-test, F-test, ANOVA, chi-square
- Gap analysis between current and future states
- Root cause analysis: cause and effect diagrams, 5 whys, fault tree, relational matrices
Improve Phase
- DOE terms: factors, levels, responses, treatments, blocking, randomisation, replication
- Main effects and interaction plots
- Implementation planning: proof of concept, try-storming, simulation, pilot tests
- Waste elimination: pull systems, kanban, 5S, standard work, poka-yoke
- Cycle-time reduction: continuous flow, setup reduction, SMED
- Kaizen versus kaizen blitz
Control Phase
- SPC objectives; common versus special cause variation
- Rational subgrouping
- Control charts: X-R, X-s, ImR, median, p, np, c, u
- Control plans and document control
- Training plans to sustain improvements
- First-, second- and third-party audits; plan-do-check-act
- Total productive maintenance, including predictive maintenance; visual factory (andon, jidoka)
The computer-based exam is 110 questions in 4 hours 18 minutes, inside a 4.5-hour appointment; 100 are scored and 10 are unscored pretest items you cannot identify. Because exactly 100 count, each section's question count is also its percentage. The exam time includes a short tutorial, and the clock does not stop for breaks. It is open-book, but only for bound material - ring and spiral binders pass; hand-stapled notes, loose sheets and electronic copies do not, and collections of practice questions and answers are banned. A non-programmable calculator is allowed; a TI-89 is not. The Mandarin paper version is 100 questions in four hours.
What the weightings really mean
A percentage in an exam guide is a promise about how many questions get drawn from a section, not about how hard those questions are. On a paper of roughly 100 items, Define Phase at 20 items (20.0%) is worth about 20 questions and Overview: Six Sigma and the Organization at 11 items (11.0%) is worth about 11. No single section decides the result on its own here - the largest is 20 items (20.0%) of the paper - so the result is decided by how few sections you leave weak, not by how well you master one.
The trap is treating that arithmetic as permission to skip. Weightings are the floor of what a section costs you, because the low-weight sections on almost every blueprint are the ones that supply context for questions filed under a different heading. You lose those marks in the heavy section and never find out why.
Reading the verbs in the objectives
The verb at the front of each sub-objective is the part candidates skim and examiners take literally. It sets the depth you are tested at, and it is the difference between recognising a term and being asked to choose between two answers that both look right.
| Verb | What a question at that depth looks like |
|---|---|
| Evaluate / Create | The top two levels, on 10 subtopics, all in Measure and Analyze: capability indices, MSA, descriptive statistics and regression at Evaluate; process maps, graphical methods and multi-vari charts at Create. Expect output or a chart and a question about which conclusion it supports. |
| Analyze / Break down | 10 subtopics: FMEA and RPN, SIPOC, process performance metrics such as DPMO and RTY, hypothesis tests, gap and root cause analysis, SPC basics. A scenario where you must pick out the factor or tool that matters. |
| Apply / Select | The largest group, 28 subtopics, 16 of them in Define: charter, scope, VOC tools, planning tools, team decision methods, control chart selection. One correct tool for one stated situation. |
| Understand / Remember | 17 subtopics at Understand - DfSS road maps, probability basics, distributions, DOE terms, TPM - and one at Remember: the three types of audit. Recognising the correct description, with no calculation. |
Each BoK subtopic carries ASQ's maximum cognitive level, taken from Bloom's revised taxonomy. The Black Belt BoK stops at Evaluate; the Green Belt BoK uses all six levels, yet only 7 of its 66 subtopics sit at Evaluate, against 28 on the Black Belt. Expect far fewer judgement calls on statistical output than the Black Belt asks for.
Study it in this order, not the syllabus order
Exam guides are written to describe what a candidate must know, not to teach it. The published order is almost never the order that builds knowledge fastest. This is the sequence that front-loads the material everything else depends on.
| Order | Why here |
|---|---|
| 1. Define Phase | 20 items (20.0%), 23 subtopics, 16 at Apply: charter, scope, VOC, project tools and team dynamics. Start here - every later section assumes a chartered project, and it is the least mathematical of the big sections. |
| 2. Measure Phase | 20 items (20.0%) and the statistical base: probability, distributions, data collection, MSA and capability. 6 of its 13 subtopics are tested at Evaluate and 2 at Create. |
| 3. Analyze Phase | 18 items (18.0%). Regression, hypothesis tests, multi-vari, gap and root cause analysis. The tests reuse Measure's distributions, so take it straight after. |
| 4. Improve Phase | 16 items (16.0%). DOE is tested only at Understand and Apply here; the lean tools (5S, kanban, SMED, kaizen) and pilot planning are quicker marks. |
| 5. Control Phase | 15 items (15.0%). SPC, control chart selection and the Sustain Improvements topic: control plans, document control, training plans, audits and PDCA. |
| 6. Overview: Six Sigma and the Organization | 11 items (11.0%), mostly Understand: history, business drivers, lean concepts, VSM, DfSS road maps. The exception is FMEA, tested at Analyze - learn RPN alongside root cause analysis. |
The five DMAIC sections are 89 of the 100 scored items, so the DMAIC sequence is the efficient path and the Overview goes last. Do not leave Control as an afterthought: since 2022 it outweighs the Overview, and four of its subtopics are new.
What changed, and how to spot the next change
No new CSSGB Body of Knowledge has been announced. The 2022 BoK, first tested in the August 2022 window, is still current in October 2026. That update moved eight questions towards the back of DMAIC: the Overview lost two and Define and Measure three each, while Analyze gained three, Improve one and Control four. Six subtopics were new: agile and top-down project methods, gap analysis, and in Control document control, training plans, audits and PDCA. ASQ says very few programmes change significantly over five to seven years, so a refresh is plausible from 2027 but unscheduled. CSSGB runs in even-month windows; the next is December 2026, with applications closing on 9 November. The exam is $483, or $383 for ASQ members; a retake is $283. Unlike the Black Belt, CSSGB is a lifetime certification with no recertification.
Two habits keep you from studying a retired outline. First, open the official exam guide and look for its revision date before you buy anything — courses and question banks lag a syllabus change by months, and the cheapest ones never catch up. Second, re-check it the week you book. A revision announced after you started studying is still a revision you sit.
Turn the syllabus into questions
Reading an outline tells you the shape of the paper. Answering questions tells you which sections you would actually lose marks on. Start free, then $5.99 unlocks the full CSSGB bank.
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What are the CSSGB body of knowledge sections and their weightings?
Six, by ASQ's question counts out of 100 scored items: Overview: Six Sigma and the Organization 11 (11%), Define Phase 20 (20%), Measure Phase 20 (20%), Analyze Phase 18 (18%), Improve Phase 16 (16%) and Control Phase 15 (15%). ASQ publishes counts, not percentages; because exactly 100 items are scored, each count equals its percentage. The 10 unscored pretest items are spread across the BoK and do not affect your result.
What is the passing score for CSSGB?
550 out of a possible 750. It is a scaled score: a panel of subject matter experts sets a raw cut score using a modified Angoff method, and later forms are equated so the standard stays constant. Passing candidates are not told their score; failing candidates get correct and incorrect counts by subtopic. ASQ publishes CSSGB pass rates: 69% in 2022, 76% in 2023 and 77% in 2024.
Do I need a completed Six Sigma project to sit the CSSGB?
No. Unlike the Black Belt, there is no project affidavit. You need three years of full-time, paid work experience in one or more areas of the Green Belt BoK, and ASQ grants no educational waiver. Applications are audited at random: if yours is picked, a manager or colleague must verify your most recent experience within 30 days, or ASQ declines it and keeps $130. You do not need CSSGB to sit CSSBB.
How much does CSSGB cost in total?
The exam is $483, or $383 for ASQ members. A retake is $283 whether or not you are a member, must be taken within two years of your last attempt and cannot fall in the same testing window. Changing an appointment costs $130, and ASQ keeps $130 if your application is rejected. Your eligibility covers three consecutive windows; miss all three and the fee is forfeited. There is no recertification fee, because CSSGB is a lifetime certification.
Sources
Every section title, sub-objective and number on this page comes from the certifying body:
- https://www.asq.org/cert/six-sigma-green-belt
- https://www.asq.org/cert/resource/pdf/certification/cssgb-cert-insert.pdf
- https://www.asq.org/cert/resource/pdf/certification/2022-SSGB-BoK-Map.pdf
- https://www.asq.org/cert/resource/pdf/certification/ASQ-Certification-Candidate-Handbook.pdf
- https://www.asq.org/cert/faq/exam-grading-process
- https://www.asq.org/cert/resource/pdf/certification/cert-fact-sheet-cssgb.pdf
Checked October 9, 2026. Exam guides are revised without notice — confirm against ASQ before you build a study plan around this page.