Exam Tips (1/6)

1. Be clear about why you want to appear for the CTA board. A high level of motivation is difficult to maintain over a long period without understanding what you want to achieve from the CTA board and why you want to achieve it.

2. The CTA board is a huge commitment. Set expectations with your friends, partner, and family around time management and the support you need in this journey. Also, set expectations with colleagues and employers around workload management.

3. Eat healthily, exercise, and relax. You are attempting a paper that can last for more than six hours. You need to practice maintaining high levels of concentration for a long time. Consider practicing meditation to increase your concentration span.

4. Practice with erasable pens, a ruler, and A4 sheets for paper-based artifacts. This helps to ensure that artifacts are clean and presentable with minimal effort.

5. It takes a team to put together a CTA heist. Find yourself a daily study group as this is great for sense-checking your learning, sharing insights and resources, judging mocks, and staying accountable. Make sure to find people at a similar level as you and in a similar time zone.

6. You might not have experience in all areas. Do not hesitate to ask for help but be mindful of others’ time. For instance, you can reach out to the Project Manager in your team to learn about project governance.

7. Try to maximize your learning from the project, for instance, presenting and convincing other architects in the Technical Design Authority (TDA) in your solution.

8. Do not rush into the CTA journey. Take your time to understand the basics. Wait until the excitement of learning surpasses the fear of failure before attempting the CTA board.