My CBAP Experience: A True Story

I've been 'threatening' to get my CBAP(Certified Business Analysis Professional certification) for the past three years. Not having studied for an exam for over 16 years, procrastination and numerous false starts kept on getting in the way. But I finally took the exam, and by some minor miracle, I passed! 

For the benefit of those who are en route to or are thinking of going down this path, I thought I'd document my experience before I forget. I must stress that this was my experience, unique because of my circumstances. Yours will be too.

In true BABOK (the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge) style, I've broken it down into three 'knowledge areas' - Application, Preparation and Exam (unfortunate acronym not intended!). If you're not looking to do the CBAP, turn away now or be prepared to be confused, bored or both.

The Application

In all honesty, applying to just qualify for the exam was an absolute pain in the butt. However, I think I understand the IIBA's intent, which is to reserve the privilege for those who really want it, proven by a willingness to go through some pain. I wondered if this part of the application process was to test your estimation and functional decomposition skills. If so, this would be the one and only non-multiple-choice question you will encounter in your CBAP quest!

By far the biggest challenge of this part of the process was detailing of your minimum 7,500 hours of BA experience. Unless you are OCD in keeping your entire BA work history, the best you'll likely be able to provide would be an estimate of hours. In reality, provided that there is no obvious discrepancy, it's unlikely that those assessing your application will validate your numbers. One of my favourite phrases applies here - "Don't boil the ocean." Close enough will be good enough. 

Oh, don't forget that when nominating referees, no Project Managers allowed...unless you call them something else. I have no idea why.

In summary, these were my 'takeaways' from the application process.

• The application process itself is somewhat of a worthiness test.
• An estimate of hours and knowledge area breakdown for each project is sufficient in substantiating the minimum required 7500 hours of BA experience.
• Two references are required with your application. They need to be either CBAP recipients or Career Managers, NOT Project Managers.

The Preparation

I mentioned a number of false starts earlier on.  I procrastinated...a lot! Truth be known, I had actually let the 12 months post-application approval deadline for taking the exam lapse on a previous occasion. I was very good at convincing myself that I'd know when I'm ready, and only then should I book myself in for the exam. Before I knew it, I was 6 months into the 12 month deadline. Not wanting to be a member of the 'fail to launch twice' club, I 'burnt the boats' and booked in for the exam, giving myself three months to prepare. As it's turned out, that was a good decision. My focus and sense of urgency sharpened significantly after that.

Checklists and memorisation acronyms: My life for three months

Not having studied for over 16 years also didn't help my cause. In short, I'd simply forgotten how to. In search of a silver bullet for 'study amnesia', I purchased and consumed the contents of numerous CBAP study helps (books, guides, toolkits, call them what you like), trying to find one that would just fix it. I eventually came to the conclusion that each one simply reflected its respective author's individual style of study. Not one would be a perfect fit. However, each one had bits that resonated with me. Among these bits, there were four I felt were critical for me.

• Developing checklists, one for each Task, each broken down into Inputs, Elements, Techniques, Stakeholders and Outputs sections. Under each section, I listed key relevant terms and accompanying brief descriptions, distilled from study guides and the BABOK itself. I took these checklists everywhere I went so that I could memorise and test myself whenever and wherever the opportunity presented itself.
• Setting aside a regular time slot each day, no more than an hour, to study. Setting aside a small slice of of time helped me to keep procrastination at bay. During each session, I memorised items on the checklists, jotting down terms from the checklists as I recalled them from memory. I found that the popular method of assigning letters of the alphabet to key terms as memory joggers and forming silly sounding acronyms with them worked well. Small bits of study daily helped me to maintain momentum and minimise 'memory leak' (like bailing water from a leaky boat!). 
• Doing a quick 20 minute self-test after each study session. I found a bunch of test exam products out there. Among these, I found the CBAP Exam Preparation product by Watermark Learning to be the most effective. 
• Gradually building up my BABOK knowledge. My initial plan of attack was to master one chapter before moving on to the next. I found that by the time I got a subsequent chapter covered, I'd forgotten half of the previous one. After trying a few other harebrain ideas, I settled on a layer-upon-layer approach, building up chapter by chapter, month after month. It looked something like this.
•  Month 1: Putting up the Frame' I formed and memorised acronyms representing tasks and terms for all knowledge areas chapter by chapter.
• Month 2: 'Building the House' I memorised the terms each letter represented and acquired a brief understanding of their meaning and start doing short tests, also chapter by chapter.
• Month 3: 'Landscaping the Garden' I read broadly about each term for a deeper understanding (particularly about application of concepts) and doing test exams.

Memorisation and textbook understanding will only get you partway towards your CBAP. If it's your lucky day, you may even jag a couple of questions. The rest will draw on the 7,500 hours of BA experience you logged!

The Exam

The actual exam itself was quite an experience. Mine was booked in for 2pm on a Thursday. I flew into Melbourne on Wednesday morning so that I would have a whole day and a bit of morning the next day to make final preparations. If you work, I'd suggest that you take and extra day off and clear your diary. Hopefully, you have a supportive employer. Otherwise, consider taking leave. Believe me, it'll be worth it!

By this time, you ought to have covered all the chapters. All that's needed now, to round things off, is to revisit parts that require more revision. These would have been identified from the short tests done after each study session. As a final 'role call', I used the full-length test exams. Doing these full-blown practice exams helped to identify the final holes in knowledge that required filling.

Come the day of the exam, I first made sure that I knew exactly where the exam location was. If possible I recommend that you get there with lots of time to spare and find a convenient place nearby (McDonald's in my case) to camp out until it's time to make your way to the exam location.

So, you get to the exam location. There will be lockers for you to store your belongings in. You'll be asked to produce one form of photo ID and read a set of conditions, before being taken into the observation room, where Big Brother (or Sister) will first confirm your personal details and (get this) scanned for hidden electronic devices that could assist you in the exam. You will also be asked to reverse out all your pockets and show some leg to further confirm that you're not hiding anything else. You're not allowed to take anything into th exam except for the clothes you are wearing. When all that is done, you're escorted into the exam room, where there'll likely be other undertaking exams also, given two lamnated A4 sheets with two fine-tipped whiteboad markers with a wiper, and seated in front of a PC, with a CCTV trained on you to track any suspicious behaviour.  They take it pretty seriously!

By the way, if you take a time out to visit the toilet, you have to go through the whole security procedure again before reentering the exame room. You'd also be interested that the clock does not stop, while you're relieving yourself. So, make sure you're hydrated but not too much. Like I said, they take it pretty seriously!

After going through a further onscreen ID check and instructions, you begin the exam. From my point of view there were four distinct types of question. 

• Straight out of the BABOK - These are questions that you can easily answer if you've memorised well from the BABOK. Not much explanation needed here.
• Application to a Scenario - You are given a scenario, typically described with more text than necessary, and asked which of the options constitute best practice according to the BABOK. Read these carefully to make sure that you spot subtleties that make all the difference in the answer.
• Technique and Underlying Competency Knowledge - These questions will test your knowledge of certain techniques and underlying competencies, which may or may not be found in the BABOK (e.g. Six Sigma principles, Tuckman's Stages of Group Development etc.). Don't be too surprised if there are few you may not have heard of.
• Questions with misspelled words in answers - Serious! I had a question where part of the answer was obviously "business rules" and was presented as "business roles."  I assumed they spelled it wrong and went with it.

As soon as the exam clock started ticking, I did a brain dump of what I'd memorised onto the laminated sheets provided. I didn't labour on those I could not remember. I would later remember them while working through the exam. While brain-dumping took up some time, it saved me lots down the track. I just made sure I did a quick calculation of time per question by dividing the time remaining (210 minutes - Time Taken for brain dump) and the number of questions left (150 - the number of questions already answered). 

If you have prepared reasonably well, you will finish the exam with time to spare. Use the remaining time to contemplate and make final decisions on questions you are unsure about. Once you're done, you'll be given the option of prolonging the agony by answering a short survey, and then, you will either get a Congratulatory message to say you've passed or not. You're never told your marks or which questions you got wrong or right. When everything on-screen is done and dusted, Big Brother/Sister comes and gets you, confirms your personal details once more and hands you a signed and sealed letter congratulating you of your success. There will be no fireworks unless you bring your own.

So, once you've passed, what now? I hope to share my thoughts in a future piece soon. In the meantime, if you haven't already booked in your exam, 'burn the boats', and good luck!