Hi Sanjay,
Here's some well-rounded advice I have provided to several BAs who are studying for the CCBA or CBAP. I successfully earned the CBAP in 3/12. Hope these suggestions help! Good luck!
1) Plan on spending about 3-4 months of concentrated studying. From 1-2 times/week for a few hours at first, to several times/week for a few hours as the test date nears.
- Strongly recommend studying the entire weekend before taking the exam on a Monday or Tuesday.
2) Focus on fully understanding each KA, its tasks, each tasks techniques, each tasks inputs/outputs, and lastly the stakeholders involved.
- Note: Devote extra time to learning all the techniques in detail, and their appropriateness for a task.
- As applicable, try to picture how you performed the task (or techniques) in the past, or how you would do so in the future (if it's new to you)
- Among all the BABOK sections, the Underlying Competencies need not be studied as much. Similarly, the glossary need not be memorized, but you should understand all the terms.
- And don't forget the intro chapter and the intro paragraphs for each KA.
3) Diagram all KAs (almost to the level of detail in #2 above)
4) Memorization techniques
- Mnemonics (e.g, for all the types of non-functional requirements, for all the types of requirement attributes, for any given task's elements) is helpful
- Mind Maps (wheel hub and its spokes)
- Flash cards (useful for glossary terms)
- Matrices (see attached samples)
5) Exam Preparation
- See attached BA Mentor sample
- Consider subscribing to Watermark Learning's classes or exam simulations.
- Near the end, focus on those areas that you may be struggling with (e.g., concepts, memorization, etc.)
6) Exam Day
- Get a good night's sleep for sure!
- Get to exam site early.
- As you as you are seated, use the provided note paper to do a mind dump of mnemonics, KA tasks, etc, for you to use as a reference while these are fresh in your mind. That way, you'll keep-up the test answering momentum - and refer back to your reference notes as needed.
- You will have 3.5 hours to complete the 150 question exam - which should allow you ample time to revisit tough questions, and proof others. So, no need to feel rushed.
- With 100 hours or so of preparation, and the confidence gained by preparing, you will pass the exam! I am sure of it!