What does it mean to be disciplined?

A quick look to Mayoclinic.com tells us that a person running a 5K race, must create a training schedule. This schedule consists of setting aside at least 30 minutes every day for 7 weeks to condition their body to this upcoming race. This schedule helps the runner develop a new behavior and learn to be disciplined. Most of us need to develop a new behavior and discipline with the help of a schedule of activities. In our instructor-led or self-paced courses, we provide a detailed schedule for participants to use as a study plan.  Our study plan makes it manageable to condition your mind and create the new behavior to help you ace the CBAP® or CCBA®.

What about focus?

If you are like me, you have 100 things to do on your to-do list at work, plus a demanding family and friends who schedule events almost every weekend, plus kids who require your attention every minute of the day...etc. Yes, lack of focus is usually what discourages most people from achieving a desired goal. To get focused, it’s important that you decide to remove all distractions and learn to say no. In our courses, we offer a goal setting exercise that helps the participants to list all barriers to their goals and determine a solution for dealing with this barrier. For example, if you know that in the next 3 months, you will work on a high visibility project while you are studying for the CBAP®, most likely, work will be top priority. You do not want to jeopardize your job while pursuing career goals. Therefore, you need to figure out a way to study while balancing your load. One way to do this could be to set your lunch hours as your studying time or to wake up one hour early to read the BABOK®.

What you should always keep in mind is the fact that preparing for the CBAP® or CCBA® will only last a few weeks or months. While rearranging your life to study for the exam may seem hard; remember that this hardship is temporary and will last only until you achieve your goal.

Practice makes perfect.

I wish I came up with that saying! Practice, practice, practice... and practice some more. Many researchers agree that our brain works like a muscle. If you do not use it, you lose it! This principle applies generally in our lives and is certainly true when preparing to sit for an exam such as the CBAP® or CCBA®. In order to ace the test, you must practice. Some of us do not continuously use 34 techniques and 32 tasks defined in the BABOK® on a daily basis. You may have used the brainstorming technique 5 years ago while working on a new development project and cannot remember how to setup a brainstorming session today. In order to ensure that you can recall this information during the exam, merely relating your experience to the information in the BABOK® may not be sufficient. Reading over it a few times and quizzing yourself several times will help your brain retain the information and will also help you reinforce your knowledge.

When you come to BAMentor for help with your journey towards the CBAP® or CCBA®, we promise that you will be successful! We provide you with a study plan schedule to get you disciplined goal-setting exercises to help you get focused, and plenty of time to get as much practice as possible with our Exam Simulation questions. We even provide you with a tool and guidance on how to properly document your work experience so that your application for the certification will be approved. At the end of it all, you will gain the confidence and knowledge you need to sit for and ace the certification exam!