---
slug: learning-tracks
summary: "Six study paths toward the TOCICO certification exams — a shared Common Trunk plus a colored path for each certification, each ordered the way its exam is scoped."
---
# Learning Tracks
Each track is a study path toward a TOCICO certification exam. Pick the one for the credential you are aiming for and read its colored path through the entries in order. Start with the Common Trunk, the foundation every exam shares, then move to your target track. Every article carries the colored ribbons of the tracks it belongs to, so you can always see where a topic sits on a path and what to read next.
## Common Trunk (Foundations)
Start here, whichever certification you are aiming for. Every TOCICO exam opens on the same foundation: the system and its goal, the constraint that limits it, the three measures (throughput, inventory, operating expense), the Five Focusing Steps and the process of ongoing improvement, plus the failure modes and cost-world thinking the method exists to prevent. This path builds that shared base in reading order, so the global-versus-local reasoning every later track leans on is already in place. Complete the Common Trunk first, then follow the colored path for your target exam.
1. [The Goal (concept)](goal.md)
2. [System](system.md)
3. [Constraint](constraint.md)
4. [Inherent Simplicity](inherent-simplicity.md)
5. [Throughput](throughput.md)
6. [Inventory (TOC Definition)](inventory.md)
7. [Operating Expense (TOC Definition)](operating-expense.md)
8. [Five Focusing Steps](five-focusing-steps.md)
9. [Process of Ongoing Improvement (POOGI)](poogi.md)
10. [Constraint Type Identification](constraint-type-identification.md)
11. [Subordination](subordination.md)
12. [Exploitation Without Elevation](exploitation-without-elevation.md)
13. [Local Optimization](local-optimization.md)
14. [Improving Non-Constraints](improving-non-constraints.md)
15. [Breaking the Wrong Constraint](breaking-wrong-constraint.md)
16. [Policy Constraint](policy-constraint.md)
17. [Efficiency Trap](efficiency-trap.md)
18. [Cost-World Thinking](cost-world-thinking.md)
## TOC Fundamentals (TOCFC)
The broad gateway exam, and the widest path here: a Thinking Processes layer plus operations, finance, and single-project applications on top of the shared foundation. Complete the Common Trunk first, then work this path through the change-sequence logic tools, the drum-buffer-rope and buffer-management operations core, the throughput-accounting finance line, and the Critical Chain single-project solution, with case studies to reinforce each layer. It runs the full Fundamentals syllabus end to end, so a candidate who finishes it has met the gateway exam on every section it weighs.
1. [Sufficient Cause (Sufficiency Logic)](sufficient-cause.md)
2. [Necessary Cause (Necessity Logic)](necessary-cause.md)
3. [Assumption](assumption.md)
4. [Undesirable Effect (UDE)](undesirable-effect.md)
5. [Evaporating Cloud (Conflict Resolution Diagram)](evaporating-cloud.md)
6. [Current Reality Tree (CRT)](current-reality-tree.md)
7. [Core Problem](core-problem.md)
8. [Injection](injection.md)
9. [Future Reality Tree (FRT)](future-reality-tree.md)
10. [Negative Branch Reservation (NBR)](negative-branch-reservation.md)
11. [Intermediate Objective (IO)](intermediate-objective.md)
12. [Prerequisite Tree (PRT)](prerequisite-tree.md)
13. [Transition Tree (TT)](transition-tree.md)
14. [Categories of Legitimate Reservations (CLR)](categories-legitimate-reservations.md)
15. [Six Layers of Resistance](six-layers-resistance.md)
16. [Capacity-Constrained Resource (CCR)](ccr.md)
17. [Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR)](drum-buffer-rope.md)
18. [Constraint Buffer](constraint-buffer.md)
19. [Shipping Buffer](shipping-buffer.md)
20. [Simplified Drum-Buffer-Rope (S-DBR)](s-dbr.md)
21. [Buffer Management](buffer-management.md)
22. [VATI Plant-Type Analysis](vati-plant-analysis.md)
23. [Protective Capacity](protective-capacity.md)
24. [Throughput Accounting](throughput-accounting.md)
25. [Cost-World vs. Throughput-World Thinking](cost-throughput-thinking.md)
26. [Product Mix Decision Under Constraints](product-mix-decision.md)
27. [Traditional Financial Measures and Their Dilemmas](financial-measure-dilemmas.md)
28. [Student Syndrome](student-syndrome.md)
29. [Parkinson's Law in Projects](parkinsons-law.md)
30. [Bad Multitasking](bad-multitasking.md)
31. [Padding Without Aggregating](padding-without-aggregating.md)
32. [Critical Chain](critical-chain.md)
33. [Project Buffer](project-buffer.md)
34. [Feeding Buffer](feeding-buffer.md)
35. [Resource Buffer](resource-buffer.md)
36. [Fever Chart](fever-chart.md)
37. [Israeli Air Force F-4 Phantom Maintenance](iaf-f4-maintenance.md)
38. [Mabe Mexico Manufacturing](mabe-mexico.md)
39. [Fundamental Structure of ToC](fundamental-structure-toc.md)
## Thinking Processes (TP Practitioner)
The logical-tools path, and the one the other practitioner exams draw on: every Practitioner candidate builds trees and clouds under the Categories of Legitimate Reservations, so the tools this track teaches do work well beyond the TP exam itself. Complete the Common Trunk first. This path assumes the change-sequence tools from the TOC Fundamentals track and extends them into Practitioner depth: goal-tree analysis, the conditional reality tree, strategy-and-tactics tooling, and the change-management layer that carries a solution into an organization.
1. [Goal Tree (IO Map)](goal-tree.md)
2. [Core Problem](core-problem.md)
3. [Conditional Reality Tree](conditional-reality-tree.md)
4. [Intermediate Objective (IO)](intermediate-objective.md)
5. [Transition Tree (TT)](transition-tree.md)
6. [Strategy and Tactics Tree (S&T Tree)](strategy-tactics-tree.md)
7. [S&T Trees in Organizations](st-trees-organizations.md)
8. [Viable Vision](viable-vision.md)
9. [Six Layers of Resistance](six-layers-resistance.md)
10. [The Change Matrix](change-matrix.md)
11. [Daily Management with TOC](daily-management-toc.md)
12. [ToC for Personal Dilemmas](personal-dilemmas.md)
## CCPM (CCPM Practitioner)
The project-management path: the behavioral root causes of project delay, the single-project Critical Chain solution, and the multi-project pipeline controls the Practitioner exam works in depth. Complete the Common Trunk first. Because the exam also has candidates build an implementation prerequisite tree, run the Thinking Processes track alongside this one for that tool. The path closes on the Agile and Boeing implementations that show Critical Chain at work in real programs.
1. [Student Syndrome](student-syndrome.md)
2. [Parkinson's Law in Projects](parkinsons-law.md)
3. [Bad Multitasking](bad-multitasking.md)
4. [Padding Without Aggregating](padding-without-aggregating.md)
5. [Critical Chain](critical-chain.md)
6. [Project Buffer](project-buffer.md)
7. [Feeding Buffer](feeding-buffer.md)
8. [Resource Buffer](resource-buffer.md)
9. [Full Kitting](full-kitting.md)
10. [Fever Chart](fever-chart.md)
11. [Multi-Tasking Cascade](multitasking-cascade.md)
12. [Agile CCPM](agile-ccpm.md)
13. [Boeing CCPM Implementation](boeing-ccpm.md)
## Supply Chain & Operations (SCL Practitioner)
The supply-chain and operations path: the production operations core, the make-to-stock/make-to-availability positioning, and the distribution solution from buffer aggregation through replenishment and dynamic buffer management. Complete the Common Trunk first. This exam too calls for an implementation prerequisite tree, so keep the Thinking Processes track open beside it for that tool. It is the most vocabulary-heavy exam, and the path is still filling in: several distribution articles it charts (marked elsewhere as forthcoming) are in preparation, so read it as the working map of the operations and supply-chain syllabus rather than a finished one.
1. [Capacity-Constrained Resource (CCR)](ccr.md)
2. [Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR)](drum-buffer-rope.md)
3. [Constraint Buffer](constraint-buffer.md)
4. [Shipping Buffer](shipping-buffer.md)
5. [Simplified Drum-Buffer-Rope (S-DBR)](s-dbr.md)
6. [Buffer Management](buffer-management.md)
7. [VATI Plant-Type Analysis](vati-plant-analysis.md)
8. [Protective Capacity](protective-capacity.md)
9. [Transfer Batch vs. Process Batch](transfer-process-batch.md)
10. [Make-to-Stock vs. Make-to-Availability (MTS vs. MTA)](mts-mta.md)
11. [Buffer Aggregation in Distribution](buffer-aggregation.md)
12. [Distribute-to-Availability (DTA)](dta.md)
13. [Replenishment Pull](replenishment-pull.md)
14. [Dynamic Buffer Management](dynamic-buffer-management.md)
15. [TLS Integration (TOC + Lean + Six Sigma)](tls-integration.md)
16. [DDMRP and TOC](ddmrp.md)
17. [Supply-Chain Collaboration](supply-chain-collaboration.md)
18. [Cash Constraint and Cash Buffer](cash-constraint-buffer.md)
19. [Throughput Dollar-Days and Inventory Dollar-Days](tdd-idd-measures.md)
20. [Procter & Gamble Distribution](pg-distribution.md)
21. [Mabe Mexico Manufacturing](mabe-mexico.md)
## Finance & Measures (FM Practitioner)
The finance path: the cost-world critique, throughput accounting as the TOC alternative, and the financial decision cases the Practitioner exam works (make-or-buy, investment, outsourcing, and pricing). Complete the Common Trunk first. The exam adds a throughput-accounting implementation prerequisite tree, which the Thinking Processes track teaches, so study the two paths together. The critique side of the syllabus is covered thoroughly here, while the decision-application side is filling in: the decision-cases article it charts is forthcoming, so the path maps the full finance-and-measures route while that material is being completed.
1. [Cost-World Thinking](cost-world-thinking.md)
2. [Cost-World vs. Throughput-World Thinking](cost-throughput-thinking.md)
3. [Efficiency Trap](efficiency-trap.md)
4. [Traditional Financial Measures and Their Dilemmas](financial-measure-dilemmas.md)
5. [Throughput Accounting](throughput-accounting.md)
6. [Product Mix Decision Under Constraints](product-mix-decision.md)
7. [Throughput Dollar-Days and Inventory Dollar-Days](tdd-idd-measures.md)
8. [Throughput-Accounting Decision Cases](ta-decision-cases.md)
9. [Buffer Management](buffer-management.md)
10. [Continuous Improvement Auditing](continuous-improvement-auditing.md)
11. [Holistic ToC Implementation](holistic-toc-implementation.md)
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