Jahnavi Gunnam: CBAP Certification Journey

In this blog, we will talk about the career journey of Jahnavi Gunnam, a business analyst with 7+ years of experience.

Every organization requires business analysts for identifying business needs and coming up with viable solutions to business problems. A business analyst supports and enables stakeholders to take important business decisions. Business analysis is a lucrative career option with a lot of space for growth and new opportunities. Organizations prefer to hire certified business analysis professionals as every organization wants professionals to bring in their expertise and knowledge. And this is where a CBAP certification comes into play. It is one of the most sought-after business analysis certifications offered to professionals with extensive business analysis experience.

Jahnavi is currently working as a full-time physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, Nashville. Let’s take a closer look at Jahnavi’s CBAP certification journey and how she was able to successfully clear the exam on her first attempt.

Jahnavi CBAP Certification Journey

Professional Background

Jahnavi comes from a master’s background in information systems and she always knew that she had to become a business analyst as it was her goal and a career that she wanted to pursue. She was constantly looking for opportunities as a business analyst and this is where she landed a job as a consultant in Chicago where she worked for a few years. However, she got her big break when she got a full-time physician role at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she has grown from business analyst to managing the Department of business analysts and leading the team.

What motivated her to take up CBAP Certification?

Since Jahnavi had a keen interest in becoming a business analyst, she always tried to keep up with the trends and news in the market related to business analysis. And this is where she came across the CBAP certification and decided to apply and prepare for the exam. Jahnavi had 7 years of work experience in the business analysis field, which made her eligible to apply for the CBAP certification exam. She knew that the CBAP credential would really help her perform better by aligning her day-to-day job responsibilities with IIBA’S CBAP best practices.

How did she prepare for the CBAP Certification exam?

Jahnavi was determined enough to take the exam and decided to give at least 1 hour a day after her work hours for going through the BABOK Guide. Jahnavi also spent time studying on the weekends, where she used to invest 1-2 hours to understand the concepts and knowledge areas. She was determined to clear her exam on the first attempt and did not want to retake the exam, so with this mindset, Jahnavi gave her all in studying for the CBAP exam. Jahnavi took somewhere close to 2 months for her entire CBAP exam preparation.

Her preparation strategy was quite straightforward, she took up each knowledge area for a week and ensured that she covered all the concepts before moving on to the next knowledge area for the next week.

Challenges faced by her

When asked about her preparation challenges and her journey, Jahnavi said that it was quite challenging as she had to allocate her schedule properly to make some time for CBAP preparation along with her personal work commitments.

How did she come across Techcanvass?

To get a better understanding of the concepts, Jahnavi decided to enroll herself in a training class at Techcanvass, where mock tests and the training classes really helped her gain confidence for the exam preparation.

How was the exam day for her?

On the day of the exam, Jahnavi was naturally a bit nervous like any other student, but she was confident about her preparation and was able to clear her exam and pass with flying colors.

Tips to Clear CBAP Certification

Jahnavi shared with us some tips and tricks that really helped her crack the CBAP certification exam with ease. She believes that it is important for every aspirant to be mentally prepared to take the exam and tackle every challenging question with an open mind, where you can recall the knowledge areas and apply it to every question to answer it correctly. Here are some tips that you can consider for successfully clearing your CBAP exam

• Time management
  Jahnavi believes that time management is really important while taking the CBAP exam. She says to not spend or linger too much time on one question and just skip and move on as you can bookmark that question and come back to it.


• Go back and review your answers
  Once you're done with the exam and you have time left, Jahnavi suggests going back and reviewing questions that you are not sure of or even to see if you answered all the questions on the exam. Therefore, going back and reviewing the answers will help you go to recheck on the answers or even change answers to the correct ones.


• Create a study schedule
  If you are also a working professional like Jahnavi, it is important for you to allocate your time wisely and take out enough time from your daily schedule for exam preparation. Creating a study table can help you a lot in allocating your time for the preparation.


• Stay hydrated and get enough sleep
  It will allow your mind to function properly on the day of the exam. Drinking enough water and getting a good night's sleep before the day of your exam is important to stay calm and perform well on the exam.


• Going through the BABOK Guide
  As mentioned by Jahnavi, the BABOK Guide is the most crucial resource for studying for the exam and it is important for the aspirants to go through the BABOK Guide thoroughly for the exam.


• Take mock tests
  To see where you stand on your preparation journey, Jahnavi suggests that it is always a good idea to take multiple mock tests before the big exam day. Mock tests are good practice as it helps you to keep what you have prepared fresh in your mind. This way you can identify your weakest areas and can work on them to improve them.
  You can check out CBAP EXAM SIMULATOR


• Practice a lot of case studies
  The CBAP certification exam will have a lot of case studies with real scenarios, where you will be expected to answer them in terms of the knowledge areas and the concepts that you have prepared so far.

After the CBAP Exam

This was the success story of Jahnavi Gunnam with 7+ years of work experience as a business analyst. With a CBAP certification in her hand, she saw an immense improvement in establishing processes or improving the existing ones. She says that the CBAP certification was a great addition to her business analysis career journey as now she is able to put her knowledge into real life and real-world experience. Jahnavi is even more confident than she was before by being a certified CBAP professional in her organization and further adding more value and seeing success in her organization.