Monday, April 11, 2011

Quick Look: Analysis Style Questions

Analysis questions are a bit more difficult to navigate than their simpler cousins, also known as knowledge and comprehension questions. I think this type of question is a medium difficulty question on your CBAP or CCBA certification exam. Analysis questions ask you to recognize patterns and seek hidden meanings in the information you are provided. This information may be straight from the BABOK® Guide, or it may be something you have learned from another source or your own experience as a business analyst.

A very common type of analysis question is looking at and analyzing a series of process or activity-related steps performed by the business analyst. Here is an example of such an analysis question:

To capture the process of provisioning a circuit, the business analyst observed an ordering supervisor for half a day. The resulting information could then be incorporated into all of the following types of requirements EXCEPT:
   A. Transition requirements
   B. Solution requirements
   C. Stakeholder requirements
   D. Functional requirements

The correct answer to this question is A. The question is a pattern question focusing on a recommended series of steps to be followed by the business analyst who is using observation as a technique to elicit or analyze project requirements. The twist is that you are looking for the wrong answer this time around. A capability of the solution is not usually found in the transition requirements for a solution.

Remember to watch for the positives and negatives in your exam questions, such as NOT or EXCEPT. If you miss the negative, it is very easy to get an answer wrong, even for a question that you know the answer for. Well, that's it for our quick look at analysis questions. In future posts, we will spend a little time with sole remaining question type of the five types: evaluation questions.

Happy studies and best of luck!

Susan

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