I began to distrust the exam simulators and also my own test taking skills.  Although frustrated, I withheld judgement. How could I provide an honest evaluation of the simulators before I could compare them to the real exam?

If you remember, I was using simulators from two different companies: Watermark Learning’s, to which I purchased a 60-day license, and BA Mentor’s, to which as a Bridging the Gap partner I was provided with complimentary access. Both were helpful tools and they were similar in many ways.

The Features

Watermark Learning

• Provides 3 modes – Warm-Up, Study Drills, and a full exam simulator. I did not see the need for the warm-up, but used several of the study drills to determine how well my studying was going with a particular knowledge area. I also did not have the opportunity to use the full Exam Simulator because my subscription expired a day earlier than I expected, so I can’t comment on that aspect of the tool.
• I really liked how Watermark explained the answers – there were explanations both for the right answers and the wrong answers. So if I chose a wrong answer, I’d be able to read why it was wrong (often with some interpretation of why my thinking may have wrongly led me to that answer). The right answer included a reference to the appropriate section of the BABOK and, for the most part, some more detail from the BABOK or summarizing the BABOK.
• I did not like that in order to view all my wrong answers, I had to scroll back through each question individually. (I was told that an enhancement was being made to address this and so it may no longer be an issue.)
• You do have the option to submit one question at a time and receive feedback about whether the answer was right or wrong with the detailed explanations.
• Also, Watermark only saved one exam at a time, so as soon as I started a new drill, I lost the results to the previous drills and could not review those answers or see progress in terms of scores.

BA Mentor

Pricing

Watermark Learning: CBAP Online Study Exam

• 30 Days: $99
• 60 Days: $129
• 90 Days: $159.

If in doubt, purchase the longer package. I purchased a 60 day package and then wanted to extend for a week before my exam and was only offered a 30-day rate of $79 to renew.

BA Mentor: CBAP Exam Simulator:

• 15 days: $39.99
• 30 days: $59.99
• 45 days: $69.99
• 60 days: $79.99
• 90 days: $99.99

Renewal discounts are approximately 50% and you can renew for as little as two weeks at a time.

Which one is best for you?

Well, first, be clear that there are many other exam simulators out there. I chose Watermark Learning because they seem to be the most globally trusted among BAs, and BA Mentor because I have always trusted founder Linda Erzah and her passion for helping BAs get certified. Before choosing one or the other, you might want to do more research into the other options out there. (If you have publicly published reviews of other products, feel free to leave a link below.)

It will really depend on what’s important to you as you prepare. Are you confident in your test-taking skills? Do you want specific features? How important is the price difference? Can you afford more than one tool so that you don’t have to put your eggs all in one basket?

Looking back, the biggest difference was the questions and I found that BA Mentor’s exam simulator did a better job of preparing me for the unexpected and convoluted questions I faced on exam day. Maybe not everyone had this same experience with their CBAP exam, but it definitely caught me by surprise. Like I mentioned above and in this post on my experience with the CBAP exam itself, I didn’t believe the questions would be confusing until I was actually sitting in the room. It didn’t seem right to me at all (and it still doesn’t). And, while I’m still disillusioned by the relationship between the exam questions and being a good (nevermind great) BA, that’s really not the point. If you want to pass the exam, you need to be able to fight your way through the confusing questions. Prepare yourself.

>>Learn More About Becoming a CBAP or CCBA

Interested in becoming a CBAP or CCBA? We cover 8 steps to the CBAP certification, that will take you to just learning about the certification to successfully sitting for the exam.

Click here to read the article

At about 12:55, I had signed in, made chit chat with the exam proctor, confirmed bathroom procedures, put my stuff in my locker, and gone through the exam instructions and was looking at my first question. It was about business needs and I did not know the answer. Actually, the question didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Hmm..must just be a fluke. (But a little flake of self-doubt creeps up nonetheless.)

For the next hour or so, I continue through this pattern.

• About one out of every three questions is crystal clear and I answer confidently.
• About one out of every three questions is slightly confusing, but I can make a good guess. There’s two reasonable answers and I am choosing what I think is probably the best one.
• About one out of every three questions does not really make sense to me and I feel that I can eliminate one, sometimes two answers but am not really doing a great job of picking the best one.

After an hour or so of this pattern, I reflect on what’s happening and realize I could actually fail this exam. Answering 1 out of 3 with confidence does not provide very good odds. And it’s definitely not how I expected to feel after all of my preparation.

In cycles a flow of negative energy. The questions get harder. Now I am doubting myself for about 2 out of every 3 questions. Then the negative energy shifts to a bit of anger. I studied. I know the material. Why can’t I understand these questions? Is that a typo or is it deliberately misleading? That seems like the right answer, if only there was another comma or one letter was shifted. None of these answers seem right at all. Oy.

At 1 1/2 hours in, I decide that a break will do me good. I get up and go to the bathroom. I take two long drinks at the water fountain. I stretch. I shake my head. I take deep relaxing breaths.

Since the middle of last week, I’ve done a lot of last minute prep which is helping me feel more confident. Here’s a quick rundown of my last-minute efforts:

• Analyze results of the CBAP full exam simulation and re-review relevant sections of the BABOK and my notes to fill in obvious knowledge gaps.
• Read the Underlying Competencies section, which had not yet been part of my “deep dive” since I’m likely to only get 2-3 questions on the exam in this area.
• Drew out a model of the inputs and outputs of the first 4 knowledge areas, to visually walk-through for myself how they related.  I only stopped because I ran out of paper and, well, it was time for dinner. This was a valuable exercise as it helped me clarify some of the relationships between tasks and it would be great to see if someone could pull this together with no overlapping lines!
• Did one last review of my notes, focusing on the purpose for each task and technique.
• Confirmed the exam logistics. Went over my confirmation email with a fine tune comb for instructions. Since I’ll be at a Community College, confirmed the location of the exam place within the college, printed out duplicate directions, and typed up a quick schedule to allow for pre-exam snacks AND extra time in case something unexpected happens.

This past week I took my first two practice exams. The first was Watermark’s 50 question “light” exam. The second was BAMentor’s full 150 question exam. (Watermark also offers a full 150 question exam, but my subscription ran out a day earlier than I was expecting, so I didn’t get to try it out.)

I liked the light exam because it was reasonably efficient to complete and gave me a breakdown of how I did by knowledge area. I could quickly see that Requirements Management and Communication was my weakest area and used that information to plan some short-term cramming.

But it was when I got to the full practice exam that I really learned what it’s going to take next Tuesday, when I sit for the real deal. Here are a few of the challenges I’m preparing myself for.

Distraction and Boredom

While it doesn’t seem that big, 150 questions is a lot of questions. It took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to complete the practice exam. Admittedly I checked email and Twitter a few times and got up for snacks and bio breaks. But I felt I needed to do these things to keep my energy up and refocus. During the exam, I doubt I’ll have access to Twitter (though it would be great to leverage your collective expertise!) so I’ll need some quick, short distractions that will help me refocus my energy on the task at hand. And, well, at about 8 months pregnant, I’m sure I’ll need some bio breaks too and will hopefully be able to snack on a handful of almonds or something.

Uncertainty and Self-Doubt

Undoubtedly, there were questions I did not know the answers to. Sometimes this uncertainty created a lot of self-doubt.

Some were big and impacted many questions. How could I forget the purposes of the elicitation knowledge areas? (This cropped up especially after about the third question on elicitation where it became clear I was missing some key transition or output.) What was the difference between requirements validation and verification again? (I thought I had nailed it but then grew wary.)

Some were small. What’s the difference between an operative and structural business rule? Did I even see this model that looks like a decision tree and was it labeled? Is the input for this task business need (since so many are) or is it something further down the process (many more are than I thought during the exam)?

These doubts really speak to the need for a bit more preparation. As I made my way through the exam I realized it would be useful to capture these patterns so I could do more detailed reviews of these areas before my next practice session.

But regardless of how much I study, I know I’ll forget something or doubt something. So I think what’s important during the exam is to isolate these areas of doubt to specific questions and not let them creep into the entire exam.

Choose Between the Two Best Answers

Despite my doubts, I could almost always rule out two answers. Then it was a matter of choosing between the two best answers. They might both seem logical or relevant. Sometimes I could build some confidence that one seemed better than the other. Sometimes I just had to choose randomly. But choosing randomly between 2 gives you better odds than between 4. I’ll take my chances.

Opportunity and Sunk Cost

These are both concepts from the BABOK but they apply to the exam prep process too. When I looked back at my afternoon, I was a bit disappointed at the amount of time (sunk cost) I had invested in the practice exam. I wondered about the opportunity cost of this activity. In the context of exam preparation, I think the time spent taking a sample exam was well spent. In the context of all the other areas of my professional and personal life I could be investing in, it was a difficult pill to swallow. I’ll be swallowing it at least one, possibly two, more times before Tuesday. And then it will all be sunk cost behind me…and we know there’s no reason to fret over a sunk cost. At that point I’ll be able to look forward to all the magical things the future holds.

>>Learn More About Becoming a CBAP or CCBA

Interested in becoming a CBAP or CCBA? We cover 8 steps to the CBAP certification, that will take you to just learning about the certification to successfully sitting for the exam.

Click here to read the article

Some of this seemed so readily apparent, the BABOK terms falling nicely into place. Other aspects seemed so completely foreign.

And that’s when it hit me over the head.

The BABOK makes so much sense when…you’ve done it before!

Never having done decision analysis, the description to “calculate expected value of outcomes” seemed foreign until Kym went over it a second time. (Then it was relatively simple.)

Never having done a sequence diagram, I had to break apart the elements and try to piece them together. Essentially, using the BABOK descriptions to teach myself how to do a quick and dirty sequence diagram.

But having written user stories, the knowledge fell right into place (or validated what I already knew). And though I’ve never done anything I called Functional Decomposition, I could definitely relate the material to examples from my own work.

Obviously, this opinion isn’t the result of any fancy rocket science. But the realization hit me with so much force, I thought it would be worth sharing.

>>Learn More About Becoming a CBAP or CCBA

Interested in becoming a CBAP or CCBA? We cover 8 steps to the CBAP certification, that will take you to just learning about the certification to successfully sitting for the exam.

Click here to read the article

When I first started my journey with CBAP exam simulators, I posted a Tweet voicing this frustration. Kevin Brennan promptly replied that IIBA purposefully does not use trick questions on the exam. So perhaps the exam providers are helping us over-prepare (or freak out) with crazy questions that make no sense? Or, perhaps Kevin’s understanding of a trick question and my own are different? How will I know before I sit for the exam?

When I started taking sample tests 5 weeks ago somehow I thought by answering more questions and reading the BABOK with more care and attention, this would magically get easier. So it’s frustrating to find that it’s not. My test scores seem to be going down instead of up.

This isn’t one simulator either — it’s both the simulators I’m working with. So something tells me it’s not them, it’s me. It’s frustrating now to realize I need to work more on my test taking skills, something that has about zero value for me in my career, except that I get to put these 4 letters behind my name at the end. But alas, I’ve started on this journey and I’m not about to give up now.

If I had more time ahead of me, I think I would give up on the exam simulators and trust that my best-Laura-test-taker would magically emerge come exam-day. (She tends to come out when needed. For me, stress creates focus and focus brings forth the right skills for the right situation. I know stress shuts other people down, but I guess I’m lucky that doesn’t happen to me too often.) I would study the BABOK, be confident in my knowledge, and sit for the exam to the best of my abilities. Then, if I failed, I could revisit the exam simulators with the prior experience of what the exam was really like so I could focus my time and attention. But I really don’t want to be taking this exam with a 6-month old in my lap (I’m pretty sure that’s not even allowed — heck I’ll be 8 months pregnant and can’t even bring in water to drink!). So I must fight a way through this and be confident by exam day that I have done everything in my power to pass.

And soon. I scheduled my exam for September 27th!

>>Learn More About Becoming a CBAP or CCBA

Interested in becoming a CBAP or CCBA? We cover 8 steps to the CBAP certification, that will take you to just learning about the certification to successfully sitting for the exam.

Click here to read the article

But now I am at the point where the rubber hits the road. Literally. About two weeks ago, I sent the check in for my exam fee. I walked it down our little dirt road to the mail box, breathed in deep, dropped the letter in the box, and put up the flag. We’re not exactly in the country, but we are not in the city either. The mail truck going by is a rusted out old jeep, painted white. This being one of the first pieces of mail I sent from our new home and given my choice to use a recycled envelope instead of a nice clean new one, I had some lingering doubts about whether the check would arrive safely.

So every day I check to see if the check is cashed. Every day it’s not. Although the entire CBAP process is really well documented with timeline expectations, this is one piece that’s a little vague. So I’m actually not sure what to expect next.

Luckily, IIBA sends a confirmation email when they have received a check. I received that last week. And then earlier this week (about a week later) I received the email that’s now plaguing my inbox. This one is from the test center. It has every piece of information I need to schedule the exam. And given there are exam times just about every morning and afternoon from here to eternity, now it’s up to me to decide.

When do I sit for the exam?

• Morning or afternoon?
• Beginning of the week or end?
• September or October?

Then the reality hit. Another week, another chapter, another simulated exam. Although the material is new, there is a certain monotony in preparing for an exam. At first, you are trying different study techniques, experimenting with new ways of absorbing information, and exploring new tools. Around every corner surfaces something new and unexpected. Then you land on what seems to be the best way for yourself to study the material, and you become acclimated to the discovery process. And there’s nothing left to sludge on through, using the process you’ve discovered, again and again and again. It’s more like getting on one of those little kid trains that goes a few feet up and down than the Gemini, the Blue Streak, or the Millenium Force. (Yes, I live in Denver, but I grew up near Detroit where boat trips to Cedar Point were yearly occurrences. I remember approaching Cedar Point from a mile or more away and seeing the initial climb of the Millenium Force rising into the air and thinking, “tomorrow I’ll be up there.” But again, I digress. CBAP. CBAP.)

This is where you find me now. Diligently moving forward. Occasionally putting off studying. Doing what needs to be done. The excitement is gone. The passion for the process was really never there so there is nothing to rekindle. But I might be being a bit dramatic here. There have been a few moments of excitement along this otherwise now routine path. A few blips that keep my interest piqued and my intellectual faculties engaged. Most of them have come from interactions with my CBAP study group. And, again, they revolve around this core idea of discovering how what I do is similar or different to what “the BAs of the world” do.

Elicitation results vs. Documenting the Results of Elicitation

This is one of those things you read in the BABOK and makes sense, but then when someone else explains it to you, it becomes more puzzling. The Elicitation knowledge area of the BABOK is split into 4 tasks:

• Prepare for Elicitation,
• Conduct Elicitation Activity,
• Document Elicitation Results, and
• Confirm Elicitation Results.

The output of Conduct Elicitation Activity is “Elicitation Results,” which is an input to the next task, Document Elicitation Results. But in a pattern that emerges throughout the BABOK, the output does not have a prescribed form. Often it’s safe to assume it’s some sort of document and storage of information, even if in the real world that information is captured in a deliverable with outputs from one or more other tasks. But the Documenting Elicitation Results task clearly indicates that meeting notes, meeting recordings, or even picture recordings of a whiteboard fall within its domain. So what exactly is this output from the earlier task? It seems that the Elicitation Results are things that hang in the ether somewhere.

I raised this question in the CBAP prep class I’m taking and was glad to learn that I wasn’t alone at being a little puzzled. Through the chat box, several participants shared possible examples and we had a bit of interaction about the possibilities. I ended up deciding to keep things straight in my mind by thinking of “Elicitation Results” as raw notes, perhaps even those transcribed by hand during the meeting, and the outputs of Document Elicitation Results, which are Stated Requirements and Stated Stakeholder Concerns, as organized notes ready for analysis.

Of course, in the real world, I blend all of this together for expediency and because I can often quickly move to analysis. But I get the separation and think I have the concepts straight enough to answer questions correctly on the exam.

What is a focus group anyway?

It’s always surprised me that focus groups are a technique in the BABOK as I think of them as a marketing activity. And as we talked through Focus Groups in class my perception didn’t shift. Then someone from class asked a question about the difference between Focus Groups and what she has called Breakout Sessions. After the instructor summarized the technique, the student added a bit more context about her Breakout Sessions and how she used them to better understand a problem and stakeholder perceptions of a problem. It seemed that she was probably facilitating Focus Groups in a very different way than I had thought of them before. This line of thinking opened up the possibility that I, too, had used the technique. While the broader definition I now understand isn’t likely to help me with the exam, it does expand my view of my own experience and help me think about the separation between Focus Groups and Requirements Workshops, which might help me plan a few meetings better in the future.

Discovering my primary elicitation practice is 1/3 interview, 2/3 requirements workshop

I made a lot of assumptions about the techniques in the BABOK. It’s funny what you learn when you actually take the time to read the text carefully. I had always assumed a Requirements Workshop was the kind described by Ellen Gottesdiener in Requirements by Collaboration – a full day meeting in which participants collaborate together on requirements deliverables. After reading the BABOK‘s description of the technique, I discovered while the time frame of 1-2 days is referenced, the creation of deliverables is not. In the general way the technique is described, it could include collaborative creation of deliverables. But it could also include group dialog, around a set of requirements, which are captured by a scribe, and then put together after-the-fact by a BA. And this is the type of meeting I typically run. Still, since the BABOK specifically says these meetings typically last 1-2 days and mine typically last 1-2 hours, I say I’m about 2/3 there. And the other 1/3 is captured by the Interview technique which can include interviews of more than one person together.

Interesting?

Where am I going with all of this?

I’ve been reticent to offer advice to other potential CBAPs along this journey, since I know not yet whether my process is going to work and do not have the real experience (i.e. taking the exam) to enable me to reflect on what aspects of my preparation were most useful and why. But one thing that’s emerged so far is that finding a group of BAs to share the experience with might be the most important thing I did in terms of keeping my energy up.

This doesn’t have to be a prep class. It can be a study group or just one other BA to share experiences with. But you have to step through the BABOK with them, share experiences, share frustrations, work out details, and use dialog to absorb the material. I think this group picks you up when you get down (or bored) and reigns you in when you get lost. I’m really glad our instructor treads the fine balance between interaction and focus, allowing us some discussion about the material, and how it relates to the real-world, to ensure we actually get it and then refocusing us back to the BABOK and what we need to understand for the exam. Because sometimes all I need to hear is, “yes, that’s a good point, but let’s be sure we understand what the BABOK is telling us.” This sort of subtle redirection that keeps the energy I have focused on the preparation that will help me be exam-ready.

How about you? Has being part of a group helped you prepare for the CBAP exam?

So it’s no surprise that I’ve bypassed a good deep reading of the preface and introduction to the BABOK until preparing for the exam. What a mistake I had made! There’s some good stuff in there! Here are a few of my favorite passages:

IIBA encourages all practitioners of business analysis to be open to new approaches and new ideas, and wishes to encourage innovation in the practice of business analysis (2) .

Sometimes the BABOK can feel like a self-contained world in which everything we do as business analysts must have a spot. But when you begin to look at the content with this perspective, it’s more about a framework for bringing new ideas into the profession. I still think that we BAs have a lot to learn from UX professionals (and vice versa). And when you read the list of sources of information that follows the introduction, you get the feeling that business analysis is more about inclusion and trying new approaches, than following a rigid methodology or process. Nice. This is my kind of BA.

The BABOK Guide contains a description of generally accepted practices in the field of business analysis. …. In addition, practices which are not generally accepted by the business analysis community at the time of publication may be equally effective, than the practices described in the BABOK Guide (3).

As Kym Byron, my instructor for BA Mentor’s Exam Prep Class, so nicely noted, this is what separates the BABOK from other BA texts. It’s not one person’s opinion on how to do BA. It’s not an example of a methodology that has worked in a certain set of circumstances. It represents a collection of tasks and techniques that have been validated by a large number of business analysis professionals in their active work.

As such, the BABOK is an “as is” document, not a “to be” or, definitely a “should be.” Although many take it that way and look to the BABOK as a methodology. This is an important constraint to keep in mind when we consider the value of certification against the knowledge in the BABOK as well as consider how we use the BABOK in our work. Assimilating the BABOK is more about becoming connected with business analysis as it’s done today, flaws and all. For individuals or organizations looking for a baseline to measure themselves against, the BABOK would provide that framework. For organizations and individuals looking to become best in class, this might mean leveraging the BABOK framework but looking beyond it for practices and approaches. At least that’s how I understand the implications of this passage.

Finally, my absolute favorite.

Similarly, we do not assume that requirements are analyzed at any particular level of detail, other than to say that they should be assessed to whatever level of depth is necessary for understanding and action (5).

Get out the yellow highlighters and pink stickers! Or, you might be re-reading the above sentence and wondering what the heck I’m so excited about. Well, I feel like a bit of my own BA Manifesto is validated (even if it’s publication does post-date the publication of the BABOK 2.0) with the focus here on understanding (what I called alignment) and action (what I called positive change).

I also feel validated in the natural tension I feel on so many projects where I try to balance clarity and ambiguity and decide when “enough is enough.” Here’s our professional body of literature telling us that this tension is justified, because our work is not just to document the requirements, but to assess the requirements at the right level of detail to keep the project moving and ensure everyone understands the implications of those requirements.

Hmm…perhaps I should re-evaluate my “skip the introduction” philosophy. I wonder what else I’m missing?

>>Learn More About Becoming a CBAP or CCBA

Interested in becoming a CBAP or CCBA? We cover 8 steps to the CBAP certification, that will take you to just learning about the certification to successfully sitting for the exam.

Click here to read the article