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Rupa Kamat, CBAP®

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12 weeks to CBAP®
 Published on July 18, 2017
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Rupa Kamat, CBAP®

Senior Business Analyst - Healthcare at Cybage Software

Certifications like CBAP® have many benefits tangible and intangible. I for
one, decided to take one up to attain a credential that is relevant and recognized
in the IT industry globally, and something that isn’t specific to my domain,
Healthcare. Coincidentally, my organization announced a training program for
all Business Analysts that would also provide professional development hours
for CCBA®/CBAP®. Thus, I enrolled and pursued!

I am writing this article because I didn’t find much guidance on the v3 exam
format on public forms when I started. So, I really hope this helps at least a few
of the readers.

In this article, I have described what I did to accomplish CBAP® and

suggestions based on my experiences. I believe the preparation and study for
CCBA too is very similar, just the type of questions in the exam may differ. So,
while this may help as baseline guidance, I recommend you reach out to
professionals experienced with ECBA® or CCBA® if you are aiming at any of
those. Coaches and institutes will be able to give better information on these
aspects.

Some statistics before we kick start:

~7700 CBAP® professionals worldwide with only 426 certified under the
latest BABOK v3 since October 2016 of which 55 CBAP® v3 professionals
are in India (as published on IIBA® Registry on July 11, 2017).

P.S. suggestive timeline of how to accomplish CBAP® in 12 weeks (i wasn't

able to insert an image; hence presenting a textual timeline)

 week 0: complete Research

 week 1: You should have taken the IIBA membership, browsed through
the online library and familiarized with BABOK v3. Also, identify your
mode of acquiring 35 PDH
 week 3: acquired 35 PDH
 week 5: by the end of week 5 you should have completed the application
process i.e. have your application approved by IIBA; and have your exam
day confirmed. Also complete the first reading of BABOK v3.
 week 6: dare to take your first mock test! (or even a few bunches of
sample questions; ~80-100 questions are good enough)
 week 8: complete the second reading of BABOK v3 based on the
feedback of the mock test/sample questions
 week 9: attempt another mock test - you are preparing yourself for a
patience and focus test than just CBAP!
  week 10: complete a brief reading of BABOK v3 - areas you highlighted
or marked or notes
 weeks 11 & 12: No harm in taking a last mock test & another reading or
browsing through BABOK to cover the gaps you discovered after the
mock test. And you are all set to go to the exam!

To simplify the journey to achieving CBAP®, I have broken it down to

sequential activities over 12 weeks which is a reasonable duration for working
professionals with other personal responsibilities. I have read blogs stating just
40 hours of study, and others 6 months. But let’s go with an average and
realistic estimate.

In my case, these were NOT 12 consecutive weeks. But I think it would have
been more efficient that way. My recommendation would be to build the
tempo, and keep it going.

RESEARCH: (~1 week)

·        Visit www.IIBA®.org

·        Read about all the aspects of the certifications, and

·        Identify which one you are eligible for

·        A little awareness goes a long way – research about the benefits of this
certification vs similar other certifications, whether you really want to do it, are
you convinced that it will add value to your career, does your employer or
industry recognize certifications like these, and so on

·        Identify the institutes that provide coaching in your city, or online courses
approved by IIBA®. Reach out to them to compare prices, convenience, etc.

MEMBERSHIP: (~1week)
·        Take the IIBA® Membership

·        This gives you access to the BABOK v3

·        Print the BABOK and bind it based on personal preference. I printed

every chapter separately & stapled every chapter separately so it’s easier to
handle

·        Start reviewing the BABOK – ToC, introductory chapters (#1 & 2),
presentation/structure of the book

·        Chapter 9: Underlying Competencies – no direct questions, but good read

once Good to read before you start the actual coaching & studying

·        Chapter 11: Perspectives – no direct questions, but good read once. Good
to read before you start the actual coaching & studying

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT HOURS: (35 hours spanned over ~10

days)

·        By the end of week 2 you should have enrolled and got your dates to start
the PD program

·        Enroll in a web learning or contact program to achieve the 35 PD hours.

This is based on personal preference of the learning method

·        I had enrolled in a contact program that was conducted at my

organization. It was a two-weekend program

·        I was trained on v2 since I planned to answer the exam before Sept 2016.
But kept procrastinating until I finally appeared for it in July 2017 for BABOK
v3. Which meant that I studied the v3 myself in two months. (implying that you
really do not need coaching if you have been a practitioner since a few years,
and can research on topics yourself. But 35 PDs are mandatory, so there’s no
skipping that!)

·        Note that my application was approved in July 2016 for v2, and yet was
eligible to take the exam for v3. Hence, this worked. If you have 32 PDs from
before Sept 2016 but haven’t applied yet, you might need to get 3 hours more.
Do check with your coaching institutes.

CBAP® APPLICATION:

·        Ideally, your instructor or PD institute should provide info and assist you
with the application process. There is adequate information on www.IIBA®.org.
& your member portal. Do not be stressed about this process; it is pretty
straightforward

·        Identify the references you would like to seek feedback from as soon as
you have planned for appearing for your exam. You will need only two, but
identify 3 or more based on your confidence level of their willingness to help
you or their availability. They will need to provide online feedback about you;
usually should take 15-20 min.

·        If you have been practising business analysis for a few years, you don’t
have to worry at all. All you must be able to do is to categorize work hours (in
%) per knowledge area in every organization/project. (I had found an Excel
template for v2 and that helped; also, the instructor had vetted the hours against
every project)

·        When you submit your application, it instantaneously gets approved. I was

told that every application is verified…but not mine. You might want to check
with your instructor about the latest process.
·        Remember you’ll have one year from the day of submitting your
application to appear for the exam (includes all allowed attempts). But its best to
keep the tempo and attempt the exam soon after acquiring the PDs and
application approval.

PREPARING FOR THE CBAP® EXAM:

·        If you are already playing the role of a business analyst you might be
practicing many, if not most of the concepts and techniques. You are definitely
not learning this for the first time, but formally learning the best practices of
business analysis. So, do not feel pressured!

·        I guess a focused study for 120-150 hours over 60 days should be enough.
That’s what I did.

·        In fact, toward the end, I could assimilate no more...and it’s only to avoid
regret that I did study the last few days. Looking back, that didn’t make any
difference

·        I didn’t have any course material on v3, so my only sources were BABOK
and mock tests.

·        I have read that all Knowledge Areas have about the same weightage
(number of questions), but Requirement Analysis and Design Definition is
about 30%. But that really doesn’t matter. You have to read and understand all
of BABOK & attempt ALL questions. There is NO negative marking.

·        With one week to go, I was DONE and couldn’t assimilate any more…
although the fact that my time, money, and reputation were at stake made me
open BABOK and take mock tests until one day before!

BABOK:
·        After the first three steps above, you are pretty familiar with the BABOK.

·        I just went by the sequence of chapters. But I know many instructors
suggest a different logical order of the Knowledge Areas based on how they are
performed most often. Again, your preference.

·        Chapters 1 & 2: no direct questions, but provide context and background.

Must read for keywords, concepts, clues (if you’ve done it earlier, skip it from
this phase, or read it for leisure anytime)

·        Chapters 3-8: Knowledge Areas – focus your effort and time on these

·        Chapter 9: Underlying Competencies – no direct questions, but good read

once (if you’ve done it earlier, skip it from this phase, or read it for leisure
anytime)

·        Chapter 10: Techniques – understand the techniques, application

very well. Remember the various diagrams, tools used.

·        Chapter 11: Perspectives – no direct questions, but good read once (if
you’ve done it earlier, skip it from this phase, or read it for leisure anytime)

·        2-3 readings based on your grasping and concentration.

·        The first reading is often more detailed and slower because you have to
understand every Knowledge Area. Familiarize yourself thoroughly with the
diagrams, concepts, definitions, keywords while you are reading.

·        Complete a through first reading in 7-10 days. Identify the areas that you
find more complex, mark the definitions/concepts

·        The next one or two readings can be focused on the marked areas,
input/output diagrams
·        Many of them might prefer to prepare their own notes, cards…I didn’t do
any of those. CBAP® is definitely not a memory test of definitions, etc. It is
more of applying concepts, methodology, techniques…so no need to cram!

MOCK TESTS:

·        I purchased a 1000-questions bank with 360-days access when I had just
about 40 days to go (from Adaptive). But looking back, that seems enough. Any
more than that would have been an overkill

·        Start taking mock tests after your first or at max second BABOK reading.
This gives you an idea of what kind of questions are posed, and aligns your
thought process

·        For majority of the questions, you do not have to memorize definitions, or

concepts. Questions are very application-based.

·        In the actual exam, I saw only a couple questions that test your memory
for definitions of terms used in the BABOK, or diagrams, sequence of tasks, and
so on. But they are very logical…so don’t worry.

EXAM EXPERIENCE:

·        I preferred a Monday morning slot. So, my exam was scheduled at 8AM.
But since I got there by 7.15, my exam started by 7.30, and I was practically
done before 11.30.

·        Remember to sleep well, eat well, and be hydrated before the exam – you
really do not want to waste time going to grab water or rushing to the washroom
during the 3.5 hours.
·        Remember to relax after you have answered some questions – close your
eyes, stretch, stare away from the computer screen... (no, don’t sing... there are
others answering some other exams too!)

·        Aim at 40 questions/hour (120 in 3 hours), and 30 minutes for reviewing.

But this is very theoretical. I answered 40 questions in 1.5 hrs, then 40 in 1 hr,
and 40 in 45 min…fortunately I spared myself the last 15 minutes to review the
10 ‘marked’ questions which I narrowly scraped through!

·        All questions are single select questions (radio-buttons)

·        Only 1-2 definition type of questions;

·        Majority of the questions were small scenario based questions of about

50-75 words which you can read and understand in under 1 min

·        Tips on scenario based questions

o  3-4 questions are based on a given scenario.

o  In the Prometric software, you see the scenario first, then have to click next to
see the following questions

o  To save time, I did not read the scenario first…but went to the question
instead. You can see the question in the left panel, and question on you right

o  Based on what is asked in the question, read the scenario to find out

o  Some questions have no answer embedded in the scenario

·        The diagram question that I got (and there was only one of it) was a
scenario with that information represented in sequence, class, use case
diagrams. And the question asked had nothing to do with the diagrams at all! So
don’t waste time reading too much

·        Calculation based questions:

o  There were two scenario based questions with about 3 calculation based
questions in all.

o  If you are not too good or not quick at math, keep this for last – mark the
questions

o  The exam software has a built-in calculator

o  You will be provided a physical calculator, and two-sided laminated sheets on

which you can write with markers. Remember you do not need to erase unless
you have used all of the real estate on the laminated sheets

RESULTS:

·        You know the outcome on your screen soon as you have submitted the
answers

·        The Prometric center would give you a print-out of a temporary certificate

stating the CBAP® designation and that IIBA® shall send me the results via
email within two business days

·        Your performance on every Knowledge Area is presented as

Higher/Comparable/Lower relative to that of the minimum score of passing
candidates…no percentage or score.
 I am not sure I can be of much help beyond this, but you are welcome to reach
out to me via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupa-kamat-cbap
%C2%AE-4082449/

With that shared, I really hope it helps you get your certification soon. Wish you
the best…I am sure you will!

Best,

Dr. Rupa Kamat

Pune
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Rupa Kamat, CBAP®

Senior Business Analyst - Healthcare at Cybage Software
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3 comments
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4h

Navin Tripathi
Business Analyst Banking and capital market at IBM
Very Informative . Thanks for Sharing ! My application already been approved and got expired now
as one year time limit . I also did my training from Adaptive ( LN Mishra) for V2.I need to start and
explore pre requisite to appear for CBAPV3 exam.Thanks
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1d

Ananya Pani
Transforming BA careers with a human touch
Anyways finally you have done it congratulations on that, you have exactly said what we suggest our
certification seekers 10 weeks and 150 - 200 hours prep plan
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