How to Prepare for CBAP Certification Exam in 2024

Benefits of Becoming a CBAP

Some of Adaptive's past CBAPs have been able to earn 100% More after getting CBAP certified. Watch Mary Person talk about her experience in being a CBAP.

• CBAPs, on average, earn 26% more as per the IIBA salary survey

• Established credentials and be globally recognized BA certification.

• Better career growth

• Better skilled in the BA domain

• BA is the fastest-growing career opportunity for IT professionals

This blog describes how one can be CBAP in a time-bound manner of 12 weeks.

5 Steps to becoming a successful CBAP in less than 3 months

1. Ensure eligibility for the CBAP certification exam (Week 1)

2. Take IIBA approved training on CBAP (Weeks 2 to 5)

3. Study BABoK and Practice CBAP questions (Week 2 to 11)

4. Get your application approved (Week 6)

5. Take the CBAP test and be a proud CBAP (Week 12)

Step 1 # Ensure eligibility for the CBAP certification exam (Week 1)

CBAP, the 3rd level certification from IIBA, has very strict eligibility criteria. The following are the eligibility criteria for CBAP certification:

1. 7500 hours in the last 10 years, 900 hours of which should be in 4 out of the 6 BABOK Guide Version 3 Knowledge areas

2. 35 hours of Professional Development in the past 4 years

3. Two references from a career manager, client or CBAP

4. A Signed Code of Conduct with IIBA

Step 2 # Take IIBA approved training on CBAP

Very often, we are asked by prospective CBAP aspirants, ‘Why should I join a formal CBAP certification training when there is so much free content on the internet?’. This is indeed a valid question.

Here are 5 key reasons why you should join a formal CBAP prep course.

#1. It is humanly impossible to go through all the content available on the internet, and it is not necessarily reliable

These days there are all kinds of information and resources available online. In fact, there are a plethora of free resources available for people who want to get certified as a CBAP from IIBA. The problem is there is no way to check the quality of these available resources. While preparing for the exam, you do not have the luxury of time (since most have a job to cater to). You simply can’t be spending your time on endless skimming of information to find the right resource, if at all.

This is where a formal prep course makes the difference. The course content is designed by mentors and coaches with expertise in the BA field and full knowledge of the CBAP certification exam pattern. The experts spend a great amount of time and effort creating the content as required by IIBA and periodically review it and make changes as needed.

Time is a critical factor to success, and a formal CBAP prep course allows you to spend most of it on things that matter, like actual preparation, rather than gathering information and verifying its authenticity and worth.

In fact, IIBA strongly recommends undergoing proper training from an EEP (Endorsed Education Provider) under a seasoned BA coach/mentor. This will help increase the chances of passing on the very first attempt in the shortest possible time.

#2. The Internet does not offer any support in clarifying your doubts

Another important reason why joining a formal prep course makes sense is the help you get from a mentor/coach. When you join a formal prep course, you have the advantage of a mentor who can answer your queries and resolve your doubts. This is something that is not possible when you are studying on your own.

The mentor is an expert in the BA field, one who is endorsed by and attached to IIBA, and is usually one who is herself/himself CBAP certified. BABoK contains more than 200,000 words and close to 500 pages of dense documentation. The sheer size of BABoK (which one must study while preparing for the certifications) makes understanding it without faculty guidance extremely difficult.

Most CBAP prep courses provide a study guide based on the BABoK, which, along with the help from the faculty, makes understanding BABoK much easier than doing it all by yourself.

#3. The Internet does not support you when you hit a wall with the CBAP application process

Another important reason is that a formal CBAP prep course provides comprehensive support. They provide you with all the support you require, from filling up the form to your giving the exam. They form your support system throughout your preparation time. This allows you to concentrate on what is most important for you, studying for the exam.

Attending a formal IIBA prep course with an EEP will also give you the much-needed PD hours during the preparation process itself. You also get tips and suggestions from past certified professionals who have taken the course. You can follow their tips and improve your chances of succeeding on the first attempt.

#4. Internet-based content is often dubious in quality

The information available for free on the internet is unverified and unstructured. You might just waste your time and effort on something that will give you zero results. When you prepare under a formal CBAP prep course, you get the benefit of curated content like study-guide, question banks, exam simulators, exam tips & prep plans, video & audio learning, etc. Learning hours are reduced by at least 50% as an instructor ensures participants pay attention to the course.

Adaptive’s course content also evolves according to the needs of the candidates and changes incorporated by IIBA for the CBAP course, thereby helping the candidate prepare in a better and more structured way.

#5. A self-managed process can be terribly slow, thus denying you many opportunities

Statistics prove that prep course participants tend to adhere to the set study plan and thus have a higher chance of success. We hope these reasons give you ample information and aid you in making an informed decision to join a formal CBAP prep course.

To ensure that you pass the certification exam on your first attempt, it is essential that you attend a formal CBAP Prep Course. IIBA itself strongly recommends undergoing proper training from an EEP (Endorsed Education Provider) by seasoned CBAP trainers. This increases the chances of passing on the very first attempt in the shortest possible time.

Attending a formal IIBA prep course with an EEP will also give you the much-needed PD hours during the preparation process itself. You also get tips and suggestions from past certified professionals who have taken the course. You can follow their tips and improve your chances of succeeding on the first attempt.

While choosing your training partner, consider the value of your time and the consequences of not being successful in the certification. The training sessions should give you clarity of concepts related to BABoK in such a way that it not only makes the CBAP certification exam easier for you but also makes you a better BA in your day job also. Hence choosing the right trainer or mentor is very important for this task.

The ideal CBAP training session is one where:

• Where the faculties understand BABoK really well

• Can relate the concepts to real-life examples

• Can break the knowledge area into smaller tasks

• Give you examples from real life

• Create a mind map for you among the tasks and techniques recommended by BABoK

• Apply the tasks and techniques to a real-life case and make it crystal clear to you

Why is Adaptive a great partner for your CBAP training?

Adaptive's training has helped multiple trainees clear their CBAP exam on the very first attempt. Watch Amitoj talk about how the vast amount of resources provided by Adaptive helped her to crack the CBAP exam with ease:

Adaptive US is an IIBA EEP and gives you all the above-mentioned deliverables. It is the only training organization that provides CBAP certification training with Success Guarantee. We will pay your re-take fees if you do not succeed in your first attempt.

The course content is designed by mentors and coaches with expertise in the BA field and full knowledge of the CBAP certification exam pattern. The experts spend a great amount of time and effort creating the content as required by IIBA and periodically review it and make changes as needed.

Adaptive’s first attempt success rate is more than 95%. This is indeed the best success rate for any training institute. Take a look at our past successful participants on our website. 

Adaptive’s trainers have been part of the IIBA BABoK development team and exam-setting committees.

Adaptive’s BA learning platform, Suxeed, comes with certification model questions, 100+ videos on BABoK, the world’s most compact BABoK study guide, audiobooks, flashcards, Exam prep tips, personalized exam preparation Plan, and Exam Alerts. 

Read more: About Adaptive US

Step 3 # Study BABoK and Practice CBAP Model Questions

Good preparation leads to good results. And for good preparation, you need to follow the right path toward your certification goals.

If you are committed to the CBAP certification goal and ready to put in at least 100 hours of effort towards the same, then this is an achievable target. A practical approach will be to take up a target date between 10 to 12 weeks timeframe and work backward. Set up a plan for the target. (Please take into account your family and work commitments while chalking out the plan).

Preparation Tips

• Do not start with BABoK.

BABoK is the mandated book and curriculum for CBAP certification; however, making one comfortable with BABoK can be quite a steep target given the subject's content, subject, and complexity.

So, we suggest at Adaptive that you don’t start your preparation by reading the BABoK. First, pick up a CBAP Study Guide which explains BABoK in a simplified manner. The study guide should break the jargon and terms into simpler words, capture the concepts in a logical manner, and at the same time should, be concise. Start your preparation with the study guide, understand the concept well and then move to BABoK for preparation. Starting with BABoK may get a little challenging. 

• Learn to correlate tasks and techniques

Understanding core concepts is vital for clearing the CBAP certification examination since the questions are case and scenario-based, which requires a deep understanding of the concepts.

Make sure you study tasks in connection with their techniques. Prioritize this as you prepare for CBAP. You need to understand the techniques best suited for particular situations and tasks at hand. Knowledge of their description, advantages, and disadvantages will also help here. Just understand the techniques well and be able to recall their key areas of application.

Understand the tasks and how information flows through the tasks, that is, inputs and outputs. Be able to identify the name of a task given its description and also be able to tell what follows that task. 

• Practice a sufficient number of exam questions

No amount of studying and practice is enough unless you test your knowledge.

Study each chapter thoroughly and take the chapter-based test of concepts, and then gradually move to case-based questions on the chapter. Each time you make a mistake, go back to concepts, read it again, verify the answer, and try to relate. Take a CBAP question bank which gives you real exam pattern questions and simulators. The greater number of questions you solve, the better prepared you are for the real CBAP exam.

Once you are comfortable with the chapter-based questions, then move to simulators. But simulators should be taken up when you are more or less thorough with the concepts. The simulators give you real exam experience with 120 questions (a mix of case and scenario-based) to be solved in 3.5 hours. Monitor your performance in the simulators, go back to all those questions where you were wrong and then move to the next simulator; take up simulators till you score around 85% consistently.

What to expect in CBAP Certification Exam?

• Questions will be a mix of case and scenario-based questions

• There will be some questions on mathematical calculations like ROI etc

• There will be 3 to 5 questions on a single case

• Scenarios are short cases

What not to expect in CBAP Certification Exam?

• Do not expect questions straight from BABoK from input, output, techniques, etc.

• Do not expect the exam to be easy

• Do not expect to have the luxury of time

• Do not expect to pass the CBAP certification exam without adequate business analyst experience.

Here is a simple infographic that shows a week-by-week plan and the resources you need to prepare for the CBAP certification exam.

Step 4 # Get Your CBAP Application Approved

Then comes the task of the CBAP application filing; this can get a bit confusing since one needs to gather experience across the knowledge areas over the last 10 years. Pick up a CBAP application filing template that simulates the IIBA application filing format, helps you gather experience throughout the Knowledge areas, and guides you with the expectations of IIBA. 

CBAP certification cost has the following components:

1. IIBA membership fee is $55 to $139 depending on the country of residence

2. CBAP Application Fee –$145

3. CBAP Exam Fee – $350 for IIBA members and $505 for non-IIBA members

The blog CBAP Certification Cost gives details about the cost of the certification.

Step 5 # Take the test and be a CBAP

CBAP is an online web-based and competency-based exam that you can take from anywhere. All you need is a computer, microphone, webcam, and working internet connection.

CBAP certification is based on the following pattern:

1. Competency-based exam

2. 120 multiple-choice questions

3. Questions are a mix of case and scenario

4. The exam is of 3.5 hours duration

Given below is the exam blueprint with the weightage given to different knowledge areas.

You are ready to take the exam. Choose a day when you are relaxed.

Set up the exam date preferably after a weekend or, if not, then on a Sunday. Don’t go for the exam immediately after a work week; that doesn’t let your brain relax. One needs to stay cool and have a good rest before the exam since the exam is quite exhaustive.

Once you have set up the exam dates, then do at least 2 times revisions of the study guide and the question bank. Brush through your notes and CBAP certification tips.

Go for the test. Do not overburden yourself. Success will be in your hands.

Some CBAP exam and time management tips-

• Relax and read the instructions carefully

• Target to clear 40 questions per hour. This will give you about 30 minutes to handle those that you may have marked for review. Pay close attention to the number of questions answered remaining and the countdown of time remaining.

• Don’t spend more than 2 minutes on one question.

• Never leave a question unanswered. Select the best answer, mark it for review, and revisit it at the end.

• Make use of the highlight and strike-through features of the exam software.

• Attempt the calculation-based questions first; there is an on-screen calculator available, make use of that.

• Case-based questions take the maximum amount of time, glance through the case on the first read, move to the questions, and then come back to the case since there is a lot of extra information that is not needed to answer the questions. Try to make use of the highlight feature. It will help you in long cases when you highlight the important parts of the case.

• Take a break if you feel your mind is tired and blank in the exam

• In CBAP, understanding the situation and question is very important. Read the question slowly and twice if required to understand it correctly. 

At the end of all this, the most important point is to stay focused all throughout the journey. No amount of study will be enough if you don’t set a deadline and work backward.

Keep a target for yourself and, work towards it, make some progress every day. Keep some time marked for prep every day and make use of the weekends more effectively.

All of us spend a significant amount of time traveling to and from work. Utilize this time to brush up your knowledge by listening to the CBAP audiobook that helps in refreshing your memory and concepts. This helps in memorizing the terms and tasks as well as input, output, etc.

From the inputs received from our past CBAP participants and their experience, we know that it is safe to assume that the CBAP exam passing score is more than 70%.

Hence it is suggested to target 80 – 90% in the CBAP mock tests to be successful in the CBAP final exam. Again there is no official data from IIBA to support this. This is based on our best estimate of the information on the CBAP exam.

Hopefully, by following these steps, you will be able to achieve your goal of getting CBAP certified on the first attempt.

The reassuring feedback from one of our CBAP certified professional reconfirms this-

“While preparing for CBAP, I realized it’s a tough nut to crack and the questions were tricky. A friend suggested adaptive simulation tests for practice. I joined the adaptive workshop and cleared my exam within one month after my last session. The sessions from LN, Peter, Lora were helpful in understanding the BABOK terminology better.

Though I have good BA experience, it’s important to practice the simulation tests and understand how to manage time during the exam. The simulation tests and presentations from adaptive were close to the real exam, so we can decode the questions well.

Adaptive also has lots of other blogs and study materials that are helpful in this profession. I would recommend the adaptive workshops for anyone who is looking for CBAP preparation. Thanks to Adaptive and LN for taking up my questions in email even after the sessions and guiding me through my prep.”

- Bhavana Kandikonda, CBAP

Have confidence in yourself and stay focused. Adaptive US has 500+ professionals who are now CBAP certified using these CBAP certification tips and steps and you should be the next.

All the best ahead for your preparation for CBAP. May you pass your exam with flying colors!

For more information, please visit our Free CBAP Training page.