CBAP in 12 Days, The Second Half...

This is in continuation to my previous blog The First Half https://lnkd.in/bcjEDSP where I wrote my CBAP failure story and how I got fail by 22 marks..! I scored 478/500. IIBA does not give any cut of marks and neither it gives how much marks you got once you clear the CBAP, it will only say Pass. In case you fail, it will state your marks out of passing marks of 500 and also state the KA’s which needs improvement.

Second Half......

With all the due considerations of CBAP first attempt exam fee (sunk cost of $325), rewrite fees of $250, prep time, watermark learning exam simulation fees  of $80 and enthusiasm to study again for second time I decided to again take calculative risk and paid the CBAP exam rewrite fee..!! This time I did not want to take any risks hence also enrolled for The Ultimate BA Kit for $150 which I hardly used during my preparation. I decided to take 8 days leave (excluding weekends) from my work prior to my exam and till the time I can study daily for at least 1 hour. This daily study plan got failed due to my daily work routine, timings and family commitments hence I only had an option to study hard during my 12 days of prep leave..! This is why I named the article – How to crack CBAP in 12 days..! By far you come to know my efforts of how to get fail J rather what not to do to crack CBAP in first attempt..!

I started my journey of CBAP preparation the second time with an unique incident, my 15 months young Son dropped my brand new Galaxy S6 in bucket full of water as he enjoys playing with water..!! Damn no one can expect the beginning (that too of 2nd attempt after spending so much of money..!) of CBAP prep with this kind of incident, it definitely distracted me for couple of days but I fortunately got it repaired under warranty free of cost which otherwise would have cost me bomb since it was liquid damage and doesn’t come under warranty..!!! How I got it is some other story which I don’t want to discuss in this blog J

This time I had a plan to finish the BABOK in 9+1 days’ time and remaining 2 days for revision and mock simulation tests. There are 6 Knowledge Area’s (KA) in BABOK and additionally Underline Competency, Techniques and Glossary. By this time you might think I might have remembered something I studied in first attempt even I thought the same but when I started my prep I realized I have forgotten 80% which I learned the first time..! I then decided to finish every chapter and take watermark learning’s exam at the end of every chapter, this time I scored more than 76% in every chapter mock exam…! This time I thoroughly read the book by Susan Weese and Terri Wagner apart from BABOK off course, which was suggested by Biju Behanan. It clarifies the KA area related concepts in more detail way and also highlights the recommend KA specific Techniques and its specific details. It also has case study section after every Tasks which outlines the Tasks under consideration and most importantly Exam Notes which pin points what is important wrt CBAP exam. At the end of each chapter it gives summary of what all you learnt and what all important things to remember. While you do your revision this is the best way to revise all your KA’s easily and quickly..! I highly recommend this book for all the CBAP aspirants.

Meanwhile my Galaxy S6 also got replaced with brand new motherboard free of cost and I started using it again with precaution to keep it at safe height and place out of reach from my lil son..! J

It’s very tough to concentrate on study when you are not used to it after you passed out of college..! I believe most of you will agree to it if not all..!

After 9 days passed by adhering to 85% to my game plan, by this time I had completed all my 6 Knowledge Areas but remaining were Underline Competencies and Glossary which I finished on 10th day and also took my first complete CBAP simulation exam without revising on any chapter. To my surprise this time I scored 82% in watermark learning CBAP simulation test. It increased my confidence.

The very next day I had to travel to Mumbai one day in advance for appearing my CBAP exam at Prometric centre in Mumbai. I checked in the hotel which was just 5 min walking distance from Prometric centre for which I got discount from Go Ibibo, very good app but need to check their business model how they can afford to give so much discounts or cash back to the customers even through Hotels charge them as per their regular tariff. I have some not so good experience with Go Ibibo and Stayzilla when I was booking a beach resort during one of the long weekend, I will write on this in my upcoming blogs, sorry to distract from my main story.

Coming to the point, I got settled in the Hotel room and started my revision in second half till late night, but could not able to sleep peacefully, woke up at 6am on my D day and started revising the notes, mnemonics, and used Susan Weese and Terri Wagner book for reading every chapter/KA summary. My exam slot was scheduled at 1 pm but I got bored of revising and thought of going to centre early so I went to the Prometric centre at 11 am and started my exam on the desk at 11.30 am.

Prometric guys were really quick in registering my biometrics in their system and checked all my pockets and informed me I am not allowed to take any personal pen, paper, not even handkerchief except my passport and locker key. You are supposed to get a locker wherein you can keep all your personal belongings including your dearest smartphone and lock it. You can keep some food items at the outside table but to go and eat you need to again go from security check which is counted in your exam time..!

Once everything is sort out they gave me 2 laminated sheets for rough work with 2 marker pens and a duster. Don’t be in impression that you would get a plain white paper with pencil or ball point pen. When you start the exam it gives you 15 minute brief demo of how to use the exam tool.  I used this time to write down all my mnemonics (given in the Watermark Learning’s Audio flash cards) which I remembered from all the KA’s on the laminated sheets. Needless to say you are not allowed to carry any cheat sheets unless you carry them in your mind..!

The first question I remember was scenario based and asked which technique you would use in the given scenario. It started off really well; like I hit 6 six’s in 6 balls of the first over of a T20 match..!

In the slog overs I mean after I crossed 65 questions, I did not felt lack of energy as I felt in my 1st attempt might be due to the confidence of knowing that at least 85% of my 65 questions were 100% correct J without having to flag not more than 5 questions..! Which was very important, I learnt that you should not flag the questions unnecessarily unless you are not at all sure. I believe system would give you more tough questions ahead if you keep on flagging questions. This is my assumption and based solely on my personal experience, may not be true.

The second half of the exam presented with some scenario based questions which was lengthy in terms of inputs in the question but given my preparation this time I knew what things needs to focus on in the question which helped to answer those scenario based questions quickly, also this scenario based questions gives the same business scenario with change in the last para pertaining to the question so I ignored the lengthy questions first 3 para and focussed on the last para which helped me save my time and answer quickly.

Then last power play started when last 20 questions needs to be answered, by this time I have flagged only 5 more questions so total tally of flagged questions were 10. I was eagerly waiting to reach to my 150th question and bang on I was there at the 150th question after 3 hours on the ground I mean on the exam, it was damn easy kind of glossary kind of question straight from the BABOK, no need to think twice. I then left with 30 more minutes to revise my 10 flagged questions which I did in I guess 10 minutes time and finally gathered courage to submit my exam.

Once you submit the exam it asks you to enter your feedback of the exam and Prometric centre etc and finally you have to submit it. Once submitted it was showing the processing and bang on it finally showed that I passed CBAP with Congratulatory message, the feeling was like I hit the 6 (helicopter shot J) in last ball of the inning when you need 6 runs to win in 1 ball..!

I can now proudly call myself CBAP?– Certified Business Analysis Professional. This is short? story of my CBAP journey and how I achieved it in 2 attempts and in 12 days straight..! Hope my story helps in your CBAP prep in terms of not repeating the mistakes I did and also get your self familiar with the actual exam, its prep and which study material to use and most importantly believe in your self that you can nail it in 1st attempt. Do reach out to me in case you need any help on CBAP prep on [email protected]

I am now off to to my next match soon..!!