A CBA is a months-long project. It should be run like one.
Twenty-two to thirty-four examples is not a task you finish in a weekend, and the failure mode is not difficulty — it is drift. CBA Pro tracks where you actually are, what to do next, and whether your date is still realistic.
- A seven-item checklist where nothing is ticked by hand
- A weekly pace line: “N per week to hit your date”
- The daily nudge is skipped entirely if you were already active today
- Finish onboarding
- Add your first work experience
- Reach 3 experiences
- Start your first competency
- Complete it
- Run the self-assessment score
- Set your target date
Target: 14 Nov
4 competencies per week to hit your date.
9-day streak
Nudge skipped — you were already active today
+155 Points · Silver league
$20 in credits, redeemable against a P.Eng review.
Nothing here is ticked by hand — every tick is read from what you have actually done.
Progress read from what you did, not what you claimed
The getting-started checklist lives on a floating card, minimisable to an 'n of 7 steps done' pill, and covers the whole first week: finish onboarding, add your first experience, reach three, start your first competency, complete it, run the self-assessment score, set your target date.
Nothing on it is a manual checkbox. Every tick is derived from real state on each render, so a tick lands the instant the underlying thing is true — the moment your third work experience saves, the item ticks itself and the Application card unlocks. Two items expand into sub-steps, and 'complete your first competency' always shows the five workflow steps with a Continue link on the active one.
Beyond the first week, pacing takes over: a target submission date, a countdown banner while progress is under 90%, a pace line telling you how many competencies per week hits the date, and a daily reminder email that fires near your preferred time in your own timezone.
The systems that keep you moving
- 1
The self-ticking checklist
Seven items, derived from live state. It never pushes the main cards below the fold, and it minimises to a pill once you would rather it were out of the way.
- 2
Target date and pace
Set a submission date and the countdown banner carries the weekly rate you need. It only runs while a date is set and progress is under 90% — an urgency banner on a finished application is just noise.
- 3
Reminders on your schedule
Near your preferred time of day, in your timezone, and skipped entirely on days you were already active. A nudge that arrives after you have done the work teaches you to ignore nudges.
- 4
Points, streaks and leagues
Points for experiences added, for answer detail, for completing a competency and for doing it promptly. Silver league is worth $20 in credit, gold $50 — redeemable against NPPE Pro, a P.Eng review, consulting or your next upgrade.
Gamification that isn't decorative
Bronze is worth nothing, deliberately
A reward for signing up is not a reward. Credits start at silver, and the gold threshold is calibrated so it is out of reach on the smallest plan by design.
Points track work, not logins
You earn for recorded experiences, detailed answers and completed competencies — the things that actually move a submission forward.
One toast, coalesced
'+55 Points · Detailed answer ×3' as a single reward per step, drained from a one-shot outbox so a page refresh cannot replay your history at you.
Stats you can act on
Streak, real time invested (from 30-second heartbeats of visible, non-idle time), percentage complete, a seven-day chart, plan usage meters and mastery by category.
How long a Competency-Based Assessment really takes
There is no honest single number, because the work splits unevenly. Recording your experience base takes an evening. The first two or three competencies are slow, because you are learning what an assessor wants. After that, most applicants settle into a rhythm of two to four competencies a week alongside a full-time job.
On that rhythm, a 22-competency framework is roughly two months of consistent evenings and a 34-competency one closer to three. What blows the estimate is not writing speed; it is the weeks where nothing happens, followed by the realisation that the date you had in mind is no longer reachable.
That is why the pace line matters more than the countdown. Knowing you are 40% through with six weeks left is ambiguous. Knowing you need four per week from here, when you have been doing two, is a decision — either the rate changes or the date does, and you get to choose which while both are still options.
Trusted by engineers across Canada
Sadegh Behboudian
“Using CBA Pro by CertNova Software Solutions helped me get my P.Eng. approved on the first attempt without any CBA rejections. What surprised me most was that the challenge wasn't my experience, it was how to present it properly. Having the right structure and guidance made the entire process much more manageable. Definitely saved me time and avoided the usual back-and-forth revisions.”
3 months ago
M. Ibrahim
“This was a wonderful experience. Hossein and Jenny were very helpful and prompt to reply to my emails and questions. Hossein got on a call with me before enrolling just to answer my questions. The review for my CBA questions was detailed, thorough with clear direction on what needs to be done to improve, which made it very easy for me to fix my answers. They gave me a time for looking into my CBA questions. They ended up delivering earlier than promised. Finally, they are very fairly priced. Definitely recommend their service for anyone looking to get someone to assess their CBA answers.”
1 week ago
Nahal Nobahar
“I recently used this service to review and strengthen my competency submissions for my P.Eng. application, and I had a very positive experience. Reza and the team provided detailed and thoughtful feedback on my existing drafts, helping me clearly understand what was missing and what needed improvement to meet the expectations of the P.Eng. assessment process. They didn't just correct wording, they guided me on how to better structure my responses, highlight my individual contributions, and align my examples with the required competencies. What I found especially valuable was their ability to point out gaps in my explanations and suggest exactly what kind of technical details, context, and outcomes should be included. Their feedback made it much easier to refine my responses and present my experience in a clear, concise, and professional way. Overall, this service was extremely helpful for improving both the quality and clarity of my submission. I would recommend it to anyone who is working toward their P.Eng. designation and wants expert guidance to strengthen their application.”
4 months ago
Next in CBA Pro
A five-step workspace per competency
Match your experience, close the gaps, draft, review, finalize. The screen always answers “what do I do next?” — and steps 1 and 2 cost nothing.
Learn moreYour CV in, structured evidence out
Upload your résumé and every proposed record opens for your review — gaps ringed amber, nothing written to your account until you say so.
Learn moreThen a real P.Eng reads it
A licensed Professional Engineer reads every competency line by line — five business days, with one complimentary meeting included.
Learn morePacing & progress — questions applicants ask
No. Everything works without one — you just do not get the countdown banner or the pace line. Applicants with a firm regulator deadline get the most out of setting it.
Only if you are not already working. The daily reminder fires near your preferred time of day in your timezone and is skipped entirely on days you were active in the app. There is also a weekly countdown while a target date is set and progress is under 90%.
Silver is $20 and gold is $50, redeemable against NPPE Pro, a P.Eng review, career consulting or a plan upgrade. Bronze carries nothing on purpose.
Yes — it comes from 30-second heartbeats of visible, non-idle time in the app, not from how long a tab was left open.
In short
CBA Pro tracks progress through a seven-item getting-started checklist derived from live account state (nothing is ticked manually), an optional target submission date with a countdown banner and a 'competencies per week' pace line that runs only while progress is under 90%, and daily reminder emails sent near the applicant's preferred time in their own timezone and skipped on days they were already active. A points system rewards recorded experiences, answer detail and completed competencies, with league credits worth $20 at silver and $50 at gold, redeemable against other CertNova products; bronze carries no reward. A stats page reports streak, real non-idle time invested, percentage complete, plan usage and mastery by competency category.
Run one full competency, free
Every step, on a real competency, with no card. Everything you write carries over the moment you upgrade.