CBAP® · IIBA · Requirements Life Cycle Management · Bank updated 2026-07-02
CBAP® practice questions: Requirements Life Cycle Management
5 free questions from 41 on this area · answer and explanation for each · no sign-up
These 5 questions come from the Requirements Life Cycle Management section of our CBAP® bank (41 questions on this area, which carries 15% of the real exam). Every question is original, with the correct answer explained and linked to the source it is drawn from.
1/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · easy
After a project closes, a business analyst wants to ensure that several well-defined requirements describing a recurring compliance rule can be leveraged on future initiatives. Which Maintain Requirements activity directly supports this goal?
AObtaining sign-off approval from the sponsor to close the requirements
BAssessing the impact of a proposed change to the compliance rule
CMaintaining requirements for re-use by naming, defining, and storing them so they are accessible to other stakeholders and initiatives
DPrioritizing the requirements again so the highest-value ones are implemented first on the next project
Show answer & explanation
C is correct. The Maintain Requirements task ensures requirements remain accurate and current after they are first approved, and includes maintaining attributes and maintaining requirements for re-use. Re-use applies to requirements that are stable and long-lasting (such as enduring compliance or regulatory rules); the BA names, defines, and stores them so they are accessible to future initiatives and stakeholders.
↗ BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
2/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · hard
Late in a fixed-deadline initiative, a stakeholder proposes a change that would deliver meaningful long-term value but would also jeopardize the immovable launch date if implemented now. The business analyst has completed a full assessment of the change's benefit, cost, impact, and urgency. The change is genuinely worthwhile but cannot be safely absorbed before launch. According to Assess Requirements Changes, which recommendation outcome best fits this situation?
ARecommend implementing the change quietly without formal approval, to capture its value without disrupting the governance timeline
BRecommend deferring the change so it is reconsidered for a later release rather than approving it now or rejecting it outright
CRecommend denying the change permanently, because any change that threatens the launch date can never add value to the solution
DRecommend approving the change immediately, since any change with long-term value must always be implemented as soon as it is proposed
Show answer & explanation
B is correct. The output of Assess Requirements Changes is a recommendation on whether to proceed with a proposed change, and that recommendation may be to approve, deny, or defer it. When a change carries real value but cannot be absorbed in the current release without unacceptable impact, deferring it to a later release is the disciplined outcome: it neither forces a damaging change in nor permanently discards worthwhile value, and it keeps the decision within the governance process.
↗ BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
3/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management
While building a traceability matrix, a BA needs to record that a particular functional requirement exists only because another, higher-level requirement was decomposed and analyzed — fulfilling the lower one fulfills part of the higher one, and removing the higher one would invalidate the lower. The two are not merely sequenced, nor does one merely give context to the other. Which traceability relationship type best captures this?
ADepends — necessity sub-type
BValidate
CDerive
DSatisfy
Show answer & explanation
C is correct. BABOK identifies several relationship types for Trace Requirements: Derive, Depends (with necessity and effort sub-types), Satisfy, and Validate. The scenario describes a requirement produced by decomposing/analyzing a higher-level one, whose removal would invalidate it — the defining characteristic of Derive. Depends/necessity is about whether a requirement is meaningful without another, Satisfy links solution elements to requirements, and Validate links to confirming evaluations.
↗ BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
4/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · hard
Two teams in the same organization handle change differently. Team Alpha runs a fixed-scope, contract-driven build and routes every proposed requirement change through a formal change-control board with full written impact analysis. Team Bravo runs short iterations with an evolving backlog and absorbs most changes by re-prioritizing upcoming work, reserving formal assessment for changes affecting an agreed baseline. A new analyst argues one team is doing it 'wrong.' What is the most accurate BA perspective?
ABoth are wrong because change should be prevented rather than assessed
BTeam Alpha is wrong because formal impact analysis is never appropriate once iterations begin
CTeam Bravo is wrong because all requirement changes must pass a formal change-control board to be valid
DBoth can be appropriate; the rigor and formality of assessing requirements changes should scale with the change-control approach defined for the initiative, which differs between predictive and adaptive contexts
Show answer & explanation
D is correct. The degree of formality applied when assessing requirements changes should match the initiative's defined change-control/governance approach. Predictive, contract-driven efforts typically use formal change boards and documented impact analysis; adaptive efforts frequently absorb change by re-prioritizing the backlog and reserve formal assessment for baseline-affecting changes. Both are valid in context, so neither team is categorically wrong.
↗ BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
5/5 · Requirements Life Cycle Management · hard
During backlog ordering, a stakeholder argues that a requirement to comply with an upcoming privacy regulation should be ranked at the very top. The requirement delivers little direct customer-facing value, and on a pure cost-versus-benefit comparison it scores low. The BA wants to explain, in prioritization terms, why this low-benefit item can still rightly sit near the top of the order. Which prioritization basis most directly justifies elevating it?
APenalty — the consequences of not implementing the requirement, including failing to meet regulatory or policy obligations
BStability — how likely the requirement is to change
CDependency — whether other requirements rely on this one being implemented first
DBenefit — the advantage the solution provides to stakeholders
Show answer & explanation
A is correct. BABOK's Prioritization technique lists several bases including benefit, penalty, cost, risk, dependencies, time sensitivity, stability, and regulatory/policy compliance. Penalty specifically captures the negative consequences of failing to implement a requirement, which subsumes regulatory and policy non-compliance. A compliance item can score low on benefit yet high on penalty, justifying a top ranking on that basis alone.
↗ BABOK v3 — Requirements Life Cycle Management
Other CBAP® areas
The same kind of free sample for every other section of the CBAP® bank:
Study Requirements Life Cycle Management with instant feedback
6 free questions · filter study mode by area and difficulty · error log with spaced repetition · no card, no dumps, no ads.
Create your free account →
Read next
How Hard Is the CBAP Exam? Pass Rate, Failure Points, and a 6-Week Plan (2026)
An honest look at CBAP difficulty: what the (unpublished) pass rate really means, the five reasons experienced BAs fail, and a realistic 6-week study plan.
PMI-PBA vs CBAP: The Business Analysis Certification Decision, Settled with Data
PMI-PBA ($405-555, 36 months of experience) vs CBAP ($495-650 all-in, 7,500 hours plus references): eligibility, exam mechanics, three-year cost, salary data.
ExamDeck is an independent study tool, not affiliated with IIBA®. CBAP® and BABOK® are trademarks of the International Institute of Business Analysis. Exam facts checked against official IIBA materials (as of August 2026); confirm current details on iiba.org.