L5M9 Certification Exam Guide + Practice Questions

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Comprehensive L5M9 certification exam guide covering exam overview, skills measured, preparation tips, and practice questions with detailed explanations.

L5M9 Exam Guide

This L5M9 exam focuses on practical knowledge and real-world application scenarios related to the subject area. It evaluates your ability to understand core concepts, apply best practices, and make informed decisions in realistic situations rather than relying solely on memorization.

This page provides a structured exam guide, including exam focus areas, skills measured, preparation recommendations, and practice questions with explanations to support effective learning.

 

Exam Overview

The L5M9 exam typically emphasizes how concepts are used in professional environments, testing both theoretical understanding and practical problem-solving skills.

 

Skills Measured

  • Understanding of core concepts and terminology
  • Ability to apply knowledge to practical scenarios
  • Analysis and evaluation of solution options
  • Identification of best practices and common use cases

 

Preparation Tips

Successful candidates combine conceptual understanding with hands-on practice. Reviewing measured skills and working through scenario-based questions is strongly recommended.

 

Practice Questions for L5M9 Exam

The following practice questions are designed to reinforce key L5M9 exam concepts and reflect common scenario-based decision points tested in the certification.

Question#1

According to Juran, there are several options to improve quality- these include which of the following? Select THREE

A. repair
B. reallocate
C. refine
D. renovate
E. remove

Explanation:
repair, refine and renovate are part of Juran's quality improvement interventions ( there are '4 Rs' - the last one is reinvent- p.122). The end of Chapter 2.3 talks about three different philosophies of TQM: Crosby, Juran and Deming. As far as I'm aware these don't come up often as questions, mainly because they're all so similar. You may get a question on this, and possibly on Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (CIPS LOVE the Deming cycle for some reason) but don't stress too much about memorising all the philosophies word for word.

Question#2

Which of the following are basic performance objectives used for day-to-day operations and ensure staff are working towards tangible achievements? Select TWO

A. cost
B. quality
C. customer satisfaction
D. operations agility

Explanation:
1 and 2 are correct. The 5 BASIC performance objectives (according to CIPS) are cost, quality, flexibility, speed and dependability. Customer Satisfaction and Operations Agility are objectives at the strategic level. See p.75

Question#3

Below are details of 4 local manufacturing companies. For each company you must decide what the main objective is for the organisation and what layout their manufacturing plant has.
Company 1: This company creates large, delicate products which are hard to move. The main aim of the company is to stand out from competitors due to the superior level of materials used and by using the latest forms of technology to create the items.
Company 2: This company produces 72 different items and has designated zones within its premises for the creation of each item. The zones are organised based on the technology used and some products may be passed between different zones to be completed. The company creates many different items in response to changing customer demands, with many product lines only lasting a single season.
Company 3: Company 3 creates one product which flows along a single production line, with staff members adding to the product on four different occasions. The company must produce a high volume of this singular product in order to break even. Therefore, there is always a steady flow of items through the plant and it is important there is no stoppage in production.
Company 4: This company produces small batches of products, as and when they are ordered by customers. Due to uncertainty in demand, a high profit margin is added to the cost of each item. Teams in the factory are grouped into different areas depending on the technological process they are using.
Complete the table below by listing the objective criteria and plant layout for each company. Each response should only be used once: flexibility, speed, quality, cost, functional layout, cell layout, product layout, fixed-position layout



Which of the following will you put into box 2?

A. flexibility
B. speed
C. quality
D. cost

Explanation:
The correct answers are as follows:


Question#4

Little Joy Ltd is a large company with several functional departments. Below are details of four departments. For each, you must decide which functional area of the business the department is, as well as the SERVQUAL Gap that each Department Lead is concerned with.
Department 1: This department is concerned with the creation of products. The products are created in line with BS EN 716-1 and undergo vigorous tests before they leave the factory. Many customers are unaware of the additional costs of testing to BS EN 716-1 and complain about the price of this product line.
Department 2: Other departments of the business are internal customers of this functional area and approach the Department Lead when they require something to be bought. Often the internal customers have unrealistic expectations of the timescales involved in the process and the Department Lead spends a lot of time explaining lead times and logistics.
Department 3: This functional area creates the budgets for the company and emails these to the Department Leads at the beginning of every quarter. Due to the complexity of the documents, other functional areas of the business often don’t understand the information provided.
Department 4: This area of the business is concerned with revenue, which has recently slumped. The Department Lead is conducting market surveys to find out the reason for this.
Complete the table below by listing the Functional Area of the business, and the corresponding SERVQUAL Gap. Each response should only be used once: procurement, finance, sales, production, satisfaction gap, delivery gap, standards gap, communication gap.
Little Joy Ltd is a large company with several functional departments. Below are details of four departments. For each, you must decide which functional area of the business the department is, as well as the SERVQUAL Gap that each Department Lead is concerned with.
Department 1: This department is concerned with the creation of products. The products are created in line with BS EN 716-1 and undergo vigorous tests before they leave the factory. Many customers are unaware of the additional costs of testing to BS EN 716-1 and complain about the price of this product line.
Department 2: Other departments of the business are internal customers of this functional area and approach the Department Lead when they require something to be bought. Often the internal customers have unrealistic expectations of the timescales involved in the process and the Department Lead spends a lot of time explaining lead times and logistics.
Department 3: This functional area creates the budgets for the company and emails these to the Department Leads at the beginning of every quarter. Due to the complexity of the documents, other functional areas of the business often don’t understand the information provided.
Department 4: This area of the business is concerned with revenue, which has recently slumped. The Department Lead is conducting market surveys to find out the reason for this.
Complete the table below by listing the Functional Area of the business, and the corresponding SERVQUAL Gap. Each response should only be used once: procurement, finance, sales, production, satisfaction gap, delivery gap, standards gap, communication gap.



Which of the following will you put into box 4?

A. procurement
B. finance
C. sales
D. production

Explanation:
The correct answers are as follows:


Question#5

What is the purpose of a quality circle?

A. to increase turnover
B. to mitigate risks to the organisation
C. to reduce the number of defects
D. to resolve problems in the workplace

Explanation:
A Quality Circle is a small group of employees who meet regularly to resolve problems in the workplace. This is from p.111

Disclaimer

This page is for educational and exam preparation reference only. It is not affiliated with CIPS, CIPS Level 5 Advanced Diploma in Procurement and Supply, or the official exam provider. Candidates should refer to official documentation and training for authoritative information.

Exam Code: L5M9Q & A: 122 Q&AsUpdated:  2026-02-24

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