COBOL is an acronym for Common Business Oriented Language. Developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, COBOL is the second-oldest high-level programming language (FORTRAN is the oldest). It is particularly popular for business applications to maintain, develop and distribute COBOL programs in mid-size and PC environments. Although disparaged by many programmers for being outdated, COBOL is still one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. The COBOL assessment includes questions regarding to Basic COBOL Structure, COBOL Syntax, Control Breaks, Data Declaration, Data Manipulation, File Processing, Sorting, Subprograms, and Tables. This test is non-version specific and is appropriate to administer to COBOL programmers. Tests for COBOL 400 and COBOL II are also available. Total Questions 53 Question Types Multiple Choice Competencies Tested Basic COBOL StructureCOBOL SyntaxData DeclarationData ManipulationFile ProcessingControl BreaksTablesSortingSubprograms Tasks Tested Paragraph NamesScreen DisplayCOBOL DivisionsScope TerminatorsEnvironment DivisionCOBOL LogicFile NamesData HierarchyLevel NumbersArea BIF StatementCharacter ReplacementOCCURS DEPENDING ONAccept and Display StatementsFalse Condition BranchUnderstanding IF StructureVariable DeclarationMathematical SymbolsNested IFCOBOL-85Valid SyntaxDatesSite SpecificsEvaluation HierarchyHierarchy of OperationArea AElementary ItemsZero SuppressingPicture ClausesDecimal Point PrintingCR and DBEdit CharactersTruncation or PaddingFile Status CodeREAD/WRITEControl Break OccurrenceLoop TerminationPERFORM VARYINGAccumulating TotalsTable SearchingTable SizesTable DepthTable DeclarationTable LookupsSubscriptsBasic SORT StatementINPUT PROCEDURESD CauseSorting KeysCOBOL-74 StandardUse of SubprogramsLINKAGE SECTION
