Study Plan

A structured approach to CTA preparation, organized by domain with suggested activities.

Study Strategy

The CTA is not a memorization exam. It tests your ability to design, justify, and defend architectural decisions under pressure. Your study plan should emphasize:

• Understanding trade-offs (not just features)
• Practicing scenario-based design exercises
• Building presentation and communication skills
• Reviewing real-world architectures you’ve built or encountered

Domain Study Tracker

Track your progress across the 7 domains:

Domain	Confidence	Notes Read	Scenarios Practiced	Status
System Architecture	—	—	—	Not started
Security	—	—	—	Not started
Data	—	—	—	Not started
Solution Architecture	—	—	—	Not started
Integration	—	—	—	Not started
Dev Lifecycle	—	—	—	Not started
Communication	—	—	—	Not started

Suggested Study Activities

Per Domain

1. Read the domain notes in this study hub
2. Feed the notes into NotebookLM and generate quizzes/flashcards
3. Practice scenario design — given a business problem, sketch a solution covering that domain
4. Present your solution out loud (even to yourself) to build presentation fluency
5. Review trade-offs — for every decision, list what you chose, what you rejected, and why

Cross-Domain Practice

1. Full scenario practice — take a complete scenario from Scenario Practice and design a full solution in 2 hours
2. Peer review — present your solution to a colleague and have them challenge your decisions
3. Record yourself — watch the recording to identify communication gaps

Useful NotebookLM Workflows

# Create a notebook per domain for focused study
notebooklm create "CTA - System Architecture"
notebooklm use <id>
notebooklm source add docs/01-system-architecture/*.md

# Generate study aids
notebooklm generate quiz
notebooklm generate flashcards
notebooklm generate audio    # Audio overview for commute listening

# Cross-domain notebook for integration scenarios
notebooklm create "CTA - Full Scenario Practice"
notebooklm source add docs/05-integration/*.md
notebooklm source add docs/01-system-architecture/*.md
notebooklm source add docs/02-security/*.md