CBAP Exam Preparation, Tips & Tricks

Some of friends recently contacted to understand approach I took to pass CBAP exam. So, thought to write detailed approach to help all those who may be interested in taking “Certified Business Analysis Professional” exam by International Institute of Business Analysis. This post will provide you an insight into approach I took to pass CBAP exam in first attempt, and should be taken as guidelines as you may have different knowledge and experience and approach to take exams. 

Recommended Books for CBAP exam

For CBAP exam I studded following two books: 

1.     Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK v3.0) by IIBA

2.     CBAP Certification Study Guide v3.0 by Watermark Learning (WML)

That is it, NO OTHER MATERIAL. No PDFs with 1000s of pages, no hours and hours of videos or audios. 

I only read above two books and attended weekend lessons by Adaptive US (AUS). Although I was provided with many PDFs books and supporting hours and hours of audio and video lectures by AUS, I limited my reading to above two books only, I would recommend the same. 

Make a deal with the devil

Every BOK has some level of contradictions / inaccuracies / conflicting information, BABOK is no exception. In first read I picked up over a dozen such contradictions and it was evident that BABOK is written by people with different mind sets with different view point on things than yours, for example;

• BABOK doesn’t present Business Analyst working in a “Project” (instead call it Initiative / Change) or under a “Project Manager” but working in partnership / collaboration with PM. 
• BABOK introduces “Change Strategy”, In my little world of projects I worked as “Certified Change Management Professional - CMP”, I see change very differently as presented by BABOK. You need to remember BABOK see what I would call an “Implementation Approach” as “Change Strategy”. 
• In BABOK as a BA you are expected to provide WBS, Estimation, activities and plans, but these are seen as approaches instead of plans. If you worked as Project / Programme Manager forget what you call it at least while giving CPAB exam. 
• BABOK breakdown each knowledge area into ITO, Elements, General Guidance & Tools, Techniques and Stakeholders. For me it was most confusing part of the BABOK. It gets even more confusing when you see outputs as additional outputs but not part of main ITO. There are Outputs those are not inputs to any other tasks, there are outputs you do not see as inputs to relevant knowledge areas. How you find your way in this maze requires a whole post in its own right, I suggest you find a logic to build an understanding before attempting exam. 

What’s most important for passing CBAP is put aside your differences which may be based on past 10-20+ years of experience in the field and just try to understand and remember whatever BABOK is preaching about glorious and victorious Business Analyst or you can risk failing the exam. In other words make a deal with the devil to pass the CBAP exam..  :)

Studying BABOK for CBAP 

I read BABOK first and in details that is reading about 20 pages per hour, with about dedicated 3-4 hours daily, and finishing whole BABOK in under 7 days. During this study time, I did underline all key points, wrote several notes on my BABOK. I spend good 20+ hours reading CBAP Certifications Study Guide 3.0 as well. This is one of the best CBAP exam preparation book out there, you would not regret investing money on this book. 

I suggest you split your study time into 3 parts where you spend 2/3 of your time studying first 9 chapters and 1/3 of your time studying chapter 10 – techniques. Chapter 10 has about same number of pages as first 9 chapter, exam questions specially 40-45 questions with cases will be based on one or other technique. 

I did not use any other study material except BABOK and WML study guide, although I had many available from other sources. I strongly believe BABOK and book by WML is more than enough to prepare for CBAP exam. CBAP is one of those cases where less is better. Do not use 10s of PDFs with 1000s of pages to prepare for CBAP. 

Understand BABOK Vs Remember BABOK 

In some certification exams, you need to remember certain aspects of a BOK, for example when you prepare for PMP you must remember ITTO along with understanding. In case of BABOK understanding the “knowledge area” concepts along with tasks and techniques is the key to passing the exam, at least that’s how I prepared. 

Some suggest remembering all the Inputs and Outputs and Stakeholders, I spent no time remembering stakeholders at all. There were only couple of questions and all it requires was applying common sense to pick the right stakeholder. Having said that, one must understand logic behind why certain stakeholders are included or excluded for different tasks / knowledge areas, once one build this understanding picking correct stakeholder won’t require remembering it but applying common sense. 

Same goes to picking up correct technique and tasks, only area which may be worth remembering is types, classifications etcs., of requirements etcs., I was lucky to have experience of using complex requirement traceability matrix in past and luckily those were in line with what was in BABOK. 

In short, if you try to remember whole of BABOK, you will need months and months of preparation. I took the approach of understanding it and it worked well. Pick your approach wisely, you may need to remember some parts based on your past knowledge and experience, understand and know your past experience and decide what area you need to understand only and which aspect you need to understand as well as remember for the exam. 

CBAP Cost Breakdown / Investment

CBAP certification is not cheap, it could cost you anything between $450 to $3000. Below is a breakdown of this cost. 

If I have the opportunity to go back in time I will be doing all except taking a training course which double the cost but does not give twice the benefits. Having said that, my experience was great with Adaptive US and I see a lot of value from different viewpoints not just CBAP examination. Make a wise investment, and see this as investment not an expense. 

CBAP Exam Simulation

There are many free and paid CBAP exam Simulation available. Best by a mile is one provided by Watermark Learning. It is important to note I had access to more than one exam simulation, but what I like the most about watermark learning exam simulation is: 

• You have exam drills which you can pick and choose by any combination of knowledge area. 
•  You can even have exam drills by BA Competencies etcs., as well.
• Exam results give you detailed breakdown by % of knowledge area, BA competencies etcs., That helps you know your weak areas.
•  You can see reference to BABOK for exam answer correct as well as incorrect. Along with detailed explanation why one option is correct or incorrect. 

No other exam simulation I used on CBAP provide this level of analysis post exam simulation. If you buy WML CBAP exam preparation, you will get 5 days’ free access to this exam simulator, however if you need to extend it, you can get another 30 days’ access by paying $99. 

Other CBAP Exam preparation sources

There are few other CBAP exam sources I suggest you look into. 

• BABOK Visual Study Guide by Institute i4: If you learn quickly using visual aids, you may find BABOK Visual guide a useful tool. It provides breakdown of all 6 knowledge areas, 30 tasks and 50 techniques visually. Only available as eBook at cost of $65. I didn’t buy it or used it be, but found 12 free examples pages very tempting. Go for it only if you are really struggling to understand concepts. They also offer training course and exam simulation all-inclusive for a cost of c$1000. 
•  SimpliLearn Mobile App: SimpliLearn allow free CBAP course access using their Android App. In their app you have hours of online video lessons along with CBAP eBook (over 1000 pages of PowerPoint slides). I found a lot of value in Power Point slide pack aka CBAP eBook. Try that for your revision. It may not be as visual and as good as one provided by Institute i4, but I found it pretty good to get some of concepts right.  

My CBAP Exam preparation plan / steps

Although I am putting my CBAP exam preparation, I strongly recommend you make an assessment of your readiness and adjust your plan accordingly. Not all of us learn and understand at same pace, only you know when you nailed it and ready to take on CBAP exam. Having said that, here we go with my plan which enabled me pass my CBAP in c7/8 weeks. 

Week 1: (On average 3 hours / day study time)

• Read BABOK (end to end) - 1 week (took me about c25 hours)  
• I took WML exam - 1 full simulation exam (scored 46%)  

Week 2: (On average 3 hours / day study time)

• Based on so poor results on exam simulation I decided to take AUS weekend learning, which started day before I called AUS. 
• I watched all videos by topics available in AUS. These videos are worth watch as these gives topic specific insight. Though Techniques are not given full coverage. 
• In parallel to AUS I start studying WML CBAP Certification Study Guide (completely read - spending over 30 hours).  
• End of week two, I again took full simulation exam, this time scoring 54%.  

Week 3: (On average 2 hours / day study time)

• Identified my weak areas from WML exam Simulation - i.e., RADD and certain Techniques (Data Modelling, Financial Analysis, Business Modelling) and spend good 20+ hours studying that during the week
• Given 3rd Simulation exam, and this time got 60% score. 

Week 4-6: (On average 1-1/2 to 2 hours / day study time)

• I revised whole of BABOK and CBAP Study guide by WML. 
• Took 4th exam simulation and again got 60% marks, but I knew I rushed the exam as I completed all 120 questions under 120 minutes. So was happy with the result. 

Week before Exam: (on average 1-2 hours / day)

• Focused study of my weak areas, covering techniques as well as knowledge areas and tasks. Using WML CBAP study guide and BABOK. 
• one day before exam I went through 1000+ eBook by SimpliLearn, took me about 6 hours in total as those areas all slides but good tool for quick revision. 

My CBAP Exam Experience, Tips & Tricks

• Below are few tips for taking CBAP or for that matter any certification exam. 
• Take enough rest before exam. 
• Take comfort / natural break before the exam. 
• Drink & Eat just enough before exam so you do not feel hungry or thirsty during exam, but do not overdo it. 
• Be ready for exam at least 30 minutes before the exam. 
• PSI is painfully tough proctor based online exam, they took good 20+ minutes to check everything before releasing my CBAP exam. Be prepare for humiliation by an unknown proctor, they will check every corner of your room you choose to give exam from. 
• Read question carefully, normally last sentence or two has actual question and everything before that is not needed to answer the question. But some questions are other way around. In short, read question carefully, if needed read it two or three times before picking answer. 

Read question carefully, normally last sentence or two has actual question and everything before that is not needed to answer the question

• Once I pick an answer, I do not re-visit. I know other recommend do this or that, I simply pick my answer after carefully reading questions and once I picked it, that’s it. Thinking twice normally confuses things for me and waste valuable time.
• When answer case based question, read the question first, for some questions you do not even need to read the case at all. In other cases, you need to read only one or two paragraphs only and not whole 1-2 pages long case. Time is money during this type of exams. 
• Try to understand Knowledge Area / Task referred in Scenario / Case question you are attempting, if you can nail KA/Task in the question you already nailed the answer. 

Try to understand Knowledge Area / Task referred in Scenario / Case question you are attempting, if you can nail KA/Task in the question you already nailed the answer.

• When picking answer, make sure you understood question. Rule out obvious wrong answer, and pick best answer. Once click next, do not look back. 
• When answering questions, apply BABOK terms and logic whether you agree with that or not. 

I hope you find it above helpful, if you have any question, connect and drop me a message on https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/basithabib/

All the very best for your CBAP certification exam.