CBAP Success – The Second Time Around

Not every road to certification is the same, and some don’t go the way we plan. It’s gratifying to hear from people who have passed, and we get spontaneous notes frequently from successful CBAPs and PMPs. We love hearing from you! We also get emails from unsuccessful candidates, and do our best to offer advice or when appropriate, coaching or other tutoring. Here’s a success story that started off with hours of study, but a failed CBAP® exam, and ended with a successful 2nd attempt and obtaining the CBAP®.

Congratulations, Peter, and thanks again for allowing us to tell your story. Not everyone studies the same way, and I’m glad a class was helpful to you. You have some good tips here that I wanted others to be able to benefit from. (We can see the confidence your approach gave you.) We know your tips will be helpful to others.

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“I took your advice and I attended your virtual CBAP® prep class in August. This weekend (late Oct.) I wrote the CBAP and passed!

“I want to thank you again for your company’s product, the very useful mnemonic system, and the amount of thought and preparation all of your products reflect. The difference this time in writing the exam, which I failed in February, was the approach. I hope these three points help, although I am sure you have heard them before.

1. I wrote my brain dump before I started, while reading the exam pre-instructions. Last time I chewed up 10 minutes of the 3.5 hour exam time.
2. I used the ‘mark’ facility. Last time I did not use the mark/review facility and reviewed every question again, which left less time to analyze each question.
3. This time I used the brain dump of Watermark Learning acronyms of each knowledge area (KA) to figure out what KA, and where in the KA the question was pointing to. I actually pointed my pen at my brain dump KA and a specific task to force myself to think out the sequence implied by the question.

“With 40 minutes left, I had 75 questions marked and the other unmarked questions I did not bother to look at again. I probably changed 20 – 25 of the marked questions to be different from my original choice (I had just guessed these ones the first time), again thinking out the sequence where appropriate and pointing to my brain dump with my pen. Prior to writing the exam, I had taken 7 full exam simulations which started at a 74% score try # 1 and finished at a 94% score for try #7. I was really prepared this time to see the trick questions and also analyze the questions using my brain dump. During my actual exam I took a 10 minute break and had 8 minutes to spare. I still found the exam challenging, but your products provided the tools to allow me to pass. Thank you!”

Peter Riddell, CBAP
Financial Services Company

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To learn more:
*  See our CBAP Study Resources
*  Check out our CBAP Certification Prep class
*  View our CBAP and CCBA Products