BOOK REVIEW
Book Title: PMI-PBA Exam Practice Test and Study Guide
Author: Brian Williamson
Publisher: CRC Press
List Price: $72.95
Format: Hard Cover, 402 pages
Publication Date: 2018
ISBN: 978-1-138-05447-9
Reviewer: Richard Gower
Review Date: December/2019
Introduction
The PMI Professional Business Analyst certification is earned through meeting the experience and education requirements and passing a 200-question, multiple-choice test, the PMI-PBA exam. This book helps candidates prepare for the exam by:
This is a large, hard cover book with over 400 pages. It is sturdy and well bound.
The author, Brian Williamson, has considerable experience at the PMI exams, having achieved certification in PMP, RMP, SP, ACP, PBA, PgMP, PfMP as well as Six Sigma, ITIL and CFE. He is an Executive Director of PMO, serves on the Post University graduate business school project management degree program advisory board, is a PMI subcommittee member for the Standard for Risk Management in Portfolios, Programs, and Projects, and is the lead trainer for PMO Advisory. Obviously, he is no stranger to preparing and taking the PMI exams
Overview of Book’s Structure
One of the introductory sections discusses the layout of the book and provides a comprehensive approach to preparing for the exam:
- Read other material (PMI-PBA Handbook and other documents)
- Read one of the domain chapters in this book and reread the supporting material
- Practice the exercises and do the 20-question domain quiz
- Repeat for each domain
- Take the final practice exam and review and understand the answers
- Take the provided online 4-hour sample test and review the answers
The first chapter introduces business analysis and requirements management and discusses the roles the project manager and business analyst play in a project and dives into the business analyst’s tasks.
The following five chapters cover the five domains in which the exam questions are allocated:
- Needs Assessment
- Planning
- Analysis
- Traceability and Monitoring
- Evaluation
Each chapter provides study hints, a list of the tools and techniques and output broken down by major topic covered by the domain, exercises and games to help memorize key features, 20 practice multiple choice questions, a blank answer sheet for filling out, and the answers describing both the correct answer and why, a reason why the other answers are incorrect and a reference to the topic allowing further reading.
More…
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About the Reviewer
Richard Gower
San Antonio, TX, USA
Richard Gower has worked in the software industry for over 30 years, specializing in software development, business intelligence and data analytics. His experience includes software development, business analysis, project management, and product development. He is a Project Management Professional and has a M.S in Data Analytics from UTSA. He is currently the VP of Information for E.J. Ward.
Richard can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rchrdgwr/
Editor’s note: This book review was the result of a partnership between the publisher, PM World and the PMI Alamo Chapter. Authors and publishers offer the books to PM World; books are delivered to the PMI Alamo Chapter, where they are offered free to PMI members to review; book reviews are published in the PM World Journal and PM World Library. PMI Alamo Chapter members can keep the books as well as claim PDUs for PMP recertification when their reviews are published.
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