The following questions are representative of the types of questions you will find on the CRCM (Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager) exam.

1.  A borrower has a right to rescind a loan agreement in all of the following situations except:

a. A line of credit used for the borrower's business, secured by the borrower's primary  dwelling
b. A revolving line of credit secured by the borrower's primary dwelling used to Boost the borrower's home
c. An increase of a line of credit from $5,000 to $10,000 secured by the borrower's primary dwelling
d. A loan to pay off a contract for a deed secured by the borrower's primary dwelling

2.  When opening a deposit account online, Regulation E disclosures MUST be provided at the time of account opening or: 

a. Before the first EFT occurs 
b. Along with the first periodic statement 
c. Within three business days of account opening 
d. Within three business days of a customer's request for the EFT service

3.  The primary responsibility for overseeing a bank’s inherent compliance risk should lie with which of the following?

a. Internal audit
b. Consumers
c. Board of Directors
d. Compliance officer

4.   A branch manager finds an unexplained $7,000 cash shortage in Teller #1's cash drawer. Which of the following actions must the bank take?

a. File a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) with the IRS
b. Discharge Teller #1 immediately
c. Send a notice of adverse action to the bank's federal regulator
d. File a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)

5.  A compliance professional recently discovered the bank did not file and disclose an accurate covered agreement, as required by the CRA Sunshine Act. In order to ensure correct reporting in the future, what must be provided? 

a. All individual mortgage loans 
b. Grants or loans to fulfill CRA activity 
c. Non-public or confidential information that will be provided in the public file 
d. A copy of the agreement to the regulatory agency 24 months after the end of the term

Answer Key

1. a
2. a
3. c
4. d
5. b

The following questions are representative of the types of questions you will find on the examination.

1. A trust you administer, in a jurisdiction that has adopted Directed Trust statutes, contains language in the trust document appointing a fiduciary for investment purposes.  Your institution is a directed trustee responsible as a fiduciary for administration only.  You believe that the investment fiduciary is abusing this power and is directing you to make an imprudent investment. You should:

a. Tell the advisor he must first obtain the consents of the current beneficiary and presumptive remaindermen.
b. Confront the advisor and, if the situation cannot be remedied, seek court guidance.
c. Follow the advisor's directions nonetheless.
d. Obtain the written consent of all fiduciaries. 

2. Your client is married and has a net worth of $12 million, which includes a jointly owned house worth $2.5 million. His wife has assets of $1 million. They have simple wills leaving everything to each other and then to their two children in equal shares. The BEST advice to reduce federal estate taxes is that he:

a. Leave everything to his wife in his will.
b. give $14,000 per year to each of his two children.
c. Incorporate a credit shelter trust provision in his will.
d. Transfer the house ownership completely to his wife.

3. Distributions from which of the following CANNOT be rolled over into an IRA?

a. 401(k)
b. Money Purchase Pension Plan
c. Profit Sharing Plan
d. Rabbi Trust

4. John creates a trust with income during life to Sam, the remainder to Sue. John retains the right to amend or revoke the agreement. Sue will have to disclaim her interest in the trust within 9 months of:

a. John's death
b. Sam's death
c. The creation of the trust
d. The appointment of the executor or administrator of Sam's estate

5. A client faces a 30% federal income tax rate and a 5% state tax rate. Municipal bonds issued in the client’s state of residence are exempt from state taxes. Considering current income only, and not adjusting for the federal deductibility of state taxes, which of the following repre­sents a proper comparison of bond attractiveness?

a. A 10% Treasury bond is more attractive than a 7.2% municipal bond issued by a state of which the client is not a resident.
b. A 6.0% bond issued by the client's state of residence is more attractive than a 7.2% municipal bond issued by another state.
c. An 18% corporate bond is more attractive than a 12% municipal bond issued by the client's state of residence.
d. A 6.75% municipal bond issued by the client's state of residence is more attractive than a 7% municipal bond issued by a U.S. territory.

1. b
2. c
3. d
4. a
5. a​

Purpose

To determine authenticity and authorship.

Method

The specifics of an investigation will depend on the nature of the document being studied (e.g., historical or personal) and the goals of the inquiry. Generally speaking, a document will be examined from three different aspects: historical, scientific, and stylistic.

Historical Analysis

It is virtually impossible to pinpoint the age of an undated document, but there may be clues to the era. If it is a printed piece - say a greeting card - the method of printing, address, and even the stamp may be important.

At the very least, materials and techniques must be consistent with place and time. Many forgeries are identified by the presence of materials that didn’t exist at the time alleged.

Scientific Analysis

A detailed paper analysis will detect every shred of physical evidence concealed in a document.

Stylistic Analysis

Comparisons of style are essential for authentication. Penmanship, cultural phrasing, and form of address can help to identify both the era and author. Handwriting comparisons can authenticate a signature or manuscript.

In some cases, all of it taken together can’t solve a historical puzzle. For example, there are five known manuscript copies of the Gettysburg Address. Testing has proved that all are authentic Lincoln documents. But it will never prove, definitively, which of the five Lincoln actually read from at Gettysburg.

Getting Prepared for the Microsoft Azure Administrator Certification Exam

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• Database technology is crucial in multiple applications and computing tasks, and certifications help demonstrate job readiness and core competencies. 
• Before pursuing a database platform certification, you should have a solid background in relational database management systems and the SQL language. 
• Valuable certifications are typically tied to specific technology companies and their platforms, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.
• This article is for IT professionals considering database certifications to further their careers. 

While database platforms have come and gone through the decades, database technology is still critical for multiple applications and computing tasks. IT professionals often seek database certifications to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise as they navigate their career paths and pursue professional growth. 

While database certifications may not be as bleeding edge as Google cloud certifications, cybersecurity certifications, storage certifications or digital forensics certifications, database professionals at all levels possess in-demand career skills — and a plethora of database-related jobs are waiting to be filled.

We’ll look at some of the most in-demand certifications for database administrators, database developers and anyone else who works with databases.

What to know about database roles and certifications

To get a better grasp of available database certifications, it’s helpful to group these certs around job responsibilities. This reflects the maturity of database technology and its integration into most aspects of commercial, scientific and academic computing. As you read about the various database certification programs, keep these job roles in mind: 

• Database administrator (DBA). A DBA is responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining a database management system (DBMS). The job is often tied to a specific platform, such as Oracle, MySQL, DB2 or SQL Server.
• Database developer. A database developer works with generic and proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs) to build applications that interact with a DBMS. Like DBA roles, database developer positions are also often platform-specific.
• Database designer or database architect. A database designer or architect researches data requirements for specific applications or users and designs database structures and application capabilities to match.
• Data analyst or data scientist. A data analyst or scientist is responsible for analyzing data from multiple disparate sources to discover previously hidden insights, determine the meaning behind data, and make business-specific recommendations.
• Data mining or business intelligence (BI) specialist. A data mining or BI specialist focuses on dissecting, analyzing and reporting important data streams, such as customer, supply chain and transaction data and histories.
• Data warehousing specialist. A data warehousing specialist assembles and analyzes data from multiple operational systems (such as orders, transactions, supply chain information and customer data) to establish data history, analyze trends, generate reports and forecasts, and support general ad hoc queries. 

These database job roles highlight two critical issues to consider if you want to be a database professional:

1. You need a solid general background. First, a background in relational database management systems, including an understanding of Structured Query Language (SQL), is a fundamental prerequisite for database professionals of all stripes. 
2. There’s a focus on proprietary technologies. Second, although various efforts to standardize database technology exist, much of the whiz-bang capability that databases and database applications deliver comes from proprietary, vendor-specific technologies. Serious, heavy-duty database skills and knowledge are tied to specific platforms, including various Oracle products (such as the open-source MySQL environment and Oracle itself,) Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2. Most of these certifications relate directly to those enormously popular platforms. 

Best database certifications

Here are details on our five best database certification picks for 2023.

1. IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 12

IBM is one of the leaders in the worldwide database market by any objective measure. The company’s database portfolio includes industry-standard DB2, as well as the following:

• IBM Compose
• Information Management System (IMS)
• Informix
• Cloudant
• IBM Open Platform with Apache Hadoop

IBM also has a long-standing and well-populated IT certification program that has been around for more than 30 years and encompasses hundreds of individual credentials. 

After redesigning its certification programs and categories, IBM now has a primary data-centric certification category called IBM Data and AI. It includes a range of database credentials: 

• Database Associate
• Database Administrator
• System Administrator
• Application Developer 

IBM’s is a big and complex certification space, but one where particular platform allegiances are likely to guide readers toward the handful of items most relevant to their interests and needs. 

Database professionals who support DB2 (or aspire to) on IBM’s z/OS should check out the IBM Associate Certified DBA — Db2 12 certification. It’s an entry-level exam that addresses routine planning, working with SQL and XML, security, operations, data concurrency, application design, and concepts around database objects.

This certification requires candidates to pass one exam. Pre-exam training and familiarity with concepts, or hands-on experience, are recommended but not required. 

IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 facts and figures

Multiple choice questions are perhaps the easiest to complete - you simply put a cross in a box - however, the questions often have two answers that could, at first glance, be correct. Don't make the mistake of memorizing the first answer and thinking this is correct without checking all the others.

If it says 'Tick one box', you must tick one box. If you leave it blank or tick two or more boxes you will get zero marks. These multiple choice questions will not start with command words like 'Describe...' or 'Explain...'. They will be written in the form of a question like 'What...?' or 'Why...?'.

There will be more multiple choice questions on the Foundation paper.

These questions have been written by Bitesize consultants as suggestions to the types of questions that may appear in an exam paper.

A typical examination question in Mathematics will have several parts to it. Some parts (most usually at the beginning of the question) test your knowledge, by asking you to reproduce "bookwork", i.e. material presented in the lectures. Really, these parts test how well you've revised. Occasionally, especially in certain more advanced courses, there are entire questions that are bookwork. In some courses, some pieces of bookwork come up in the exam almost every year. In other courses, hardly any bookwork is set explicitly.

Tip: Figure out which pieces of bookwork come up most frequently, and make sure you can answer those questions easily and quickly.

You would be surprised how many poor attempts at routine bookwork questions we see every year. These are the parts of the questions that we expect students to be able to do.

Other parts of examination questions involve a "problem". In a "Methods" course, this will typically involve you applying a known technique from the course, and again this is something we expect you to be able to do. In a Pure Mathematics course, you might be asked to prove a result, or to apply a result in a particular setting.

Tip: Sometimes (but certainly not always!), the first part of the question is intended as a big hint as to how you should approach the second part.

Many exam questions, especially those that are otherwise very routine, have a last part (a "rider") which is more challenging than the rest of the question. This is quite deliberate, and the intention is to test whether you've really understood the material.

Tip: Do try all the riders (they're not always so hard after all!) but don't waste too much time on them in an exam if there are other things you can tackle instead.

Students sometimes seem to be annoyed that they have to do something clever to get 100% on a question. Don't forget, in many other subjects it's practically impossible to score 100% on a question!

Tip: Make sure you've answered all the parts of the question. Sometimes you're asked to do seven or eight things, and it's easy to overlook one.

General Final exam Information⁠

GeneralFinal exams will be generated by the Registrar’s Office according to an exam matrix on or about the last day of the add/drop period for the term for any course that has 'Yes' indicated for a Final exam in the catalog. The day and time of the first class meeting during the week determine the date and time for each exam. Courses that meet outside the normal university block scheduling will be scheduled within the time block that best fits the schedule without creating conflicts for students.

Exam times are as follows:

• 8 – 11 a.m.
• 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
• 3 – 6 p.m.
• 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

While exam blocks are three hours long, the real length of the exam is determined by the instructor.

If examination days are postponed because of weather conditions, the first make-up day is documented on the academic calendar.

Faculty should review their exam schedule just after the last day of add/drop. If an exam was not generated or changes are needed, please email: scheduling@uml.edu. Requests for final exams, combined exams, etc. will not be accepted after the mid-semester evaluation date for the term in question. Please refer to the academic calendar for specific date information.

Common Exams

• Faculty should plan to administer a separate exam for each section of a course that they are teaching.
• Requests for common exams must be approved by the Dean AND the course must have, at minimum, three (3) class sections to be considered for common exam scheduling. 
• Requests should be submitted by email to: scheduling@uml.edu no later than the mid-semester evaluation date for said term, and all requests are subject to classroom availability.
• Common Finals will need to be applied to all sections of a course not to individual instructors.
• Common exam Finals will be assigned to a common exam block. 
  • Students who are scheduled for two common exams at the same time should check with their instructors to see which exam has priority.

Note: Requests for combined exams will not be accepted after the mid-semester evaluation date for the term in question. Please refer to the academic calendar for specific date information.

Examination Conflicts

If a student has three (or more) finals scheduled on the same exam day, the student has the right to ask that a make up exam (or exams) be scheduled to reduce the number of exams in each day to two. Under these circumstances, required courses¹ take priority, so the student should make every effort to arrange the make-up exam for a non-required course with the respective instructor. Likewise, if a student has two finals scheduled in the same exam period, the required course takes priority; the student should schedule a make-up exam for the non-required conflicting course with the respective instructor. If for any reason a mutually agreeable solution between the student and the instructor cannot be achieved, the student should see his or her college dean immediately.

Students – If you have questions regarding any of your final exams, please contact your instructor directly. Instructors should reach out by email to: scheduling@uml.edu if an exam update is needed in SiS.

^1'Required courses' refers to whichever course is required toward that specific student’s degree pathway.

Final Exams for Hybrid and Virtual Class Sections

Exams (including final exams) for fully virtual classes should be administered virtually, as that is the modality which students selected. Exceptions to hold on-campus exams require deans' approval. An email (noting the approval) should be sent by email to: scheduling@uml.edu so that the exam location may be updated – exceptions are subject to room availability. If approved, faculty must indicate the alternate exam format in their course syllabus and accommodate students who are unable to attend in-person exams.

If a class section is hybrid (includes both an in-person meeting and either an online or virtual meeting pattern), then the final exam will be assigned as in-person, but the instructor may request the final exam to be virtual/online depending on the modes of instruction of the hybrid section. Hybrid courses also include courses that have more than one component with different modes of instruction (i.e., the lecture portion is virtual, but the recitation is in-person) and the instructor may decide whether or not the final exam is in-person in this scenario as well. Any requests for final exam updates should be sent by email to: scheduling@uml.edu.

Undergraduate and Graduate Final Exams (Day-school Sections)⁠

• Faculty are not required to administer cumulative final examinations and should assess their students as appropriate to their discipline and course content. If an exam is assigned and will not be taking place, please email: scheduling@uml.edu.
• Faculty who opts to administer final examinations must do so at the time and place specified by the Registrar's Office and listed in SiS. All day-school sections that are noted in the catalog with 'Yes' for final exam, will have a final exam block generated.
• Final take-home examinations or final papers must not be due earlier than the time that the Registrar's Office has scheduled the final examination for the course in question (although instructors may opt to allow such examinations or papers to be submitted early).
  • Note: If an academic program requires that students take final examinations for accreditation purposes, faculty are expected to adhere to the requirements of their accrediting organization.
• Graduate class sections may opt to administer their final exams on the last day of regular class meetings (week prior to the final exam period) but should contact scheduling if this is what they decide and need to remove a final exam block that was generated for their class section.
• For any course with a final exam during the exam period, no hour-examination (or major paper or project) shall be administered or due during the last five academic days of the semester unless the college dean has allowed an exemption.

Graduate, Online and Professional Studies Final Exams (GPS Sections)⁠

Graduate, Online and Professional Studies sections (section number typically begins with '0') take place on the final on-campus meeting day for that section (usually the week prior to the final exam period) – please see the on-campus course dates on Graduate, Online and Professional Studies website for the final meeting date (not to be confused with the course session dates).

If a GPS section is 'matched' (combined) with a day-school section (example ACCT 2010 201 and ACCT 2010 001), the final exam will follow day-school guidelines and an exam block will be assigned for both sections in SIS.

Classroom Reservations During the Final exam Period⁠

Classroom reservations for ad hoc needs during the final exam period (review sessions, exam accommodations, makeup exams, etc.) will be accepted one week prior to the final exam period. Please email scheduling for these requests.

Makeup Examinations⁠

Individual makeup exams should be coordinated between the student and instructor as needed and should take place through the UMass Lowell Testing Centers or in a department location (please do not use academic classrooms for individual makeup exams without a confirmed reservation).

If an entire class needs to makeup an exam due to an unforeseen circumstance or emergency, the exam should be rescheduled by emailing: scheduling@uml.edu. Makeup exams for classes should take place during the regular examination period. 

The university final exam makeup dates listed on the university calendar are only to be used for inclement weather or other unanticipated university closure and should not be used as final exam dates for individual student or class makeup exams.

Disability Services Support & Resources⁠

Students who are registered with the Disability Services Office and have been approved for an extended time accommodation: if you have two exams scheduled on the same day, you may reschedule one of the exams if it has been confirmed that both exams are scheduled to use the entire 3-hour block. Please refer to the instructions under Examination Conflicts listed above to do so. For any other accommodation or disability-related question or concern, please contact by email: disability@uml.edu or visit Disability Services website for faculty and student resources.