CBAP Certification Success Stories

​I wanted to move from the routine of managing day to day operations and explore business analysis / consulting as a profession. I believe that in the BA/Consultant position every day presents a new challenge and resolving client’s problems provides new learning. Working in the industry for few years and gaining experience was very valuable and made my transition to consulting/business analysis role easy. My first assignment as a domain consultant was to streamline the business processes of the client and implement the best practices followed in the industry.

Business Analysis profession presents an opportunity to face challenges every day and resolve client’s problems.

Since I had spent sufficient time working with various clients in the business analysis field I had a fair knowledge of the BA concepts. I wanted to formalize my understanding of the Business Analysis knowledge and apply these concepts for the appropriate business problems in consulting assignments. After researching on the internet, speaking to my colleagues, and taking inputs from industry peers I concluded that attending a formal BA training and completing the CBAP certification will help me to formalize by BA knowledge and skills. CBAP certification would put a formal seal of approval on the skills that I already possessed and my credibility as a Business Analysis consultant would also get a boost because of the global acceptance and appreciation of the CBAP certificate.

I wanted to formalize my understanding of the Business Analysis knowledge and apply these concepts for the appropriate business problems in consulting assignments.” “My credibility as a Business Analysis consultant would get a boost because of the global acceptance and appreciation of the CBAP certificate

The preparation started with attending a formal training program on Business Analysis about 6 months back. I planned to take up the certification exam immediately after the training but due to my work commitments I had to postpone my exam date. The overall preparation took approximately 2 months. During these 2 months, I spent about 2-3 hours each day revising the notes provided by MCAL. I started to build my own mind-maps for each knowledge area which became my flash card for easy remembering. I must have read the BABOK close to 4 times and every time I read the book I always got a fresh viewpoint of the business analysis body of knowledge. Attempting the practice exams provided by MCAL multiple times also helped my preparation.

Attempting the practice exams provided by MCAL multiple times also helped my preparation.

MCAL’s Master BA Training is very conducive for Business Analysis & CBAP exam preparation training sessions. The training material and the practice exams helped my preparation quite a lot. The exercises, case studies, and real-life examples shared during the training make it very easy to relate to the otherwise boring text in BABOK. MCAL also helped me prepare and review the exam eligibility data within a very short span of time. I got on-call support for my queries post my training as well which I do appreciate. I believe that a reliable post-training support is a very important factor in achieving the certification. I also got insights from MCAL regarding experiences of their recently certified students. Those fresh insights helped me to gain confidence and get over the last-minute pre-exam anxieties as well.

The exercises, case studies, and real-life examples shared during the training make it very easy to relate to the otherwise boring text in BABOK.” “I got on-call support for my queries post my training as well which I do appreciate.

​As they say, “there are no shortcuts to real success”, similarly getting through the CBAP certification is not an easy process. Hard work, dedicated time, reading and understanding of BABOK multiple times and practicing the exams can help not only in the certification process but also in permanently cementing the BA concepts in our brains. Do not try to mug-up BABOK, instead try to put yourself in the shoes of a BA performing the tasks mentioned in BABOK. This way we can relate BABOK to our own Business Analysis experience and then it becomes easy to answer the case study based questions.

Do not try to mug-up BABOK; instead try to put yourself in the shoes of a BA performing the tasks mentioned in BABOK.

I am already applying the BA concepts in my day to day job. The certification and understanding of this area has helped me look at client’s problem from a fresh perspective. When you align every requirement to the right knowledge area finding the approach and solutions to each of these knowledge areas become simple and easy as they are so well articulated by IIBA, it really helps all CBAP certified Business analysts. From my own learning and experience, I would encourage all the BAs to pursue these IIBA certifications. The learning will benefit us for a long time to come.All the best.

When you align every requirement to the right knowledge area finding the approach and solutions to each of these knowledge areas become simple and easy as they are so well articulated by IIBA, it really helps all CBAP certified Business analysts.