Customer Reviews

CBAP Certified Business Analysis Professional All-in-One Exam Guide with CDROM

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As part of my study plan I got to the point where it was this book's turn and I was surprised... but in a negative way. Looks to me that the book was actually initially prepared for the version of the test based on BABOK 1.6 then quickly revamped to make it look as if it was a guide for the version 2.0 of the test; not a big deal but the problem is that it wasn't done right and the result might confuse you in some parts of the book. The book is useful anyway as it describes many topics that are common in both versions of the BABOK but I wouldn't learn the names of the Knowledge Areas or some of the tasks since they are still 1.6. Examples of this can be seen on pages 12, 56 and 57 just to mention some. 4 stars as a generic BA book, 2 stars as a CBAP preparation guide, which it claims to be.

This book is seriously out of date, although nowhere does it state which CBAP exam it pertains to. Since IIBA has moved on to v 2.0 of the exam, this book should be discontinued. The quiz included in the CD has errors in it; in some cases an answer has been provided rather than the question. It appears that questions and answers have somehow gotten out of synch. At the end of the quiz, you are told whether you passed or failed, but not which questions you missed. In addition the book is not that well written and, as a hard-bound text, it is cheaply constructed. It would have been more effective as a soft-bound spiral workbook. Unfortunately, there is not a lot available as a study guide to BABOK 2.0. Very disappointing purchase.

While this looks like an impressive text, it should be followed with a word of caution. There is some good information in here, but much of it is incorrect or out of date. I think I was impressed by the fact that this was one of the first books to hit the stands after the BABOK went to version 2.0. However, it looks like the author used most of the old stuff, made a few tweeks and published. Another note is that the IIBA is working to align more closely withe PMI standards in the PMBOK. Much of the risk and project management discussions here are out of date or inconsistent with PMI. You may learn something useful from this book, but it should not be your primary source to prepare for the CBAP exam.

This book should be removed as a CBAP preparation tool. It was written to cover BABoK 1.6, and is 'just' adequate for that - many errors, and in particular, the CD-ROM test has a number of questions that are missing questions, answers or both. The content does not reflect the BABoK 2.0, and as such, many areas are just wrong - missing entirely the approach used in BABoK 2.0. Further, the test question emphasis is totally off for the BABoK 2.0 test, and had I relied on this book, I would not have passed. It also purports to be a BA guide. I think you would be better served by just reading the BABoK 2.0 - it's better written, more easily absorbed, pithy and would take less time. My final thoughts: I would give this book a lower rating if I could, and not only am I sorry I purchased this book, I won't sell it for fear that someone else may mistakenly use it.

I bought this book for preparing for my CBAP certification and I found it totaly useless. The problem that this book is written by a Project Manager not a Business Analyst. So you find ton's of exercises about risks, and pm stuff. Nothing on the first chapter, all exercises are about the IIBA procedures for taking the exam... what has this to do with the CBAP exam?

It is well written and it is a good book about Business Analysis.

I would not use this as the only resource for CBAP certification. The approach that I would recommend to pass the exam is deep study of BABOK to get a clear idea of the framework and processes, and using this book to get additional topic knowledge and practice exams.

The "All-in-One" CBAP exam guide competes with about three other similar books written in 2009. They are all essentially structured the same way - to mirror the format of the CBAP Exam and the IIBA Body of Knowledge document (on a side note, I once dated a girl in college with an incredible body of knowledge... but I digress). They all present the same material in roughly the same manner and they stress the same tricky parts of the exam. So if these four books are all so similar, you have to ask yourself, "why should I buy this one?" The answer is that the delivery style of this book is extremely similar to Joseph Phillips' other book - the highly successful PMP Study Guide book. He has a knack for making dry material palatable, which, speaking as an author, is a challenge I face as well. He is professional, concise, and thorough, yet he avoids being boring.

Rather than selecting a CBAP book based on some minor technical advantage, my advice is to focus instead on picking a book you might actually finish. The biggest obstacle you face in passing the CBAP Exam isn't failing the test - it's becoming disinterested and preoccupied with something else and just dropping the effort entirely. Pick a book that is at least, in part, fun. I enjoyed learning from this book and found the style engaging enough to carry me through the end, despite its utter lack of a single erotic photograph.

Glenn Hostetler, author Web Service and SOA Technologies