Student Profile: Andrew Jeffrey, PMP

My name is Andrew Jeffrey and I currently work with the Guyana Government as a Consultant - support engineer. I also freelance as a structural engineer. I obtained my Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering in 2004, my Master's degree in Project Management in 2014 from the University of the West Indies (Trinidad) and I completed my Master's degree in Structural and Foundation Engineering from Heriot-Watt University (Scotland, UK) in 2018 - just one month before starting my 2.5 months study journey for the PMP® exam.

I fully understood that obtaining my PMP certification was a vital milestone in my career as I've been involved in projects during my entire career as an engineer. Originally, I was opting for a class-based system to prepare for the PMP exam - the two available in my country required 6 months of study before being eligible to write the exam, but after seeing the Project Management Prepcast and Cornelius's advertisement on Facebook that allowed me to reduce my study cost to 1/4 of the class-based tutorial system and to write the exam in just over 2 months, I decided to sign up for the PMP Prepcast and Exam Simulator in mid-September 2018. Finally, since I was scheduled to begin my postgrad studies in Bridge Engineering with the University of Surrey in January 2019, so it was essential that I complete my PMP exam in December 2018. 

Since the exam is based on the official PMP Handbook, it makes obvious sense to read the Handbook at least once before the exam. I read it once and then re-read sections of it (because of time). Memorization of the process chart is vital to passing the exam, and knowledge of all the terms in the Glossary at the back of the book is also critical. Based on reviews of other persons, and this is also my personal opinion, that it is not essential to memorize ITTOs but to understand them for each process.

The last two weeks should be focused on practice with an Exam Simulator (it is my opinion that the PM PrepCast Exam Simulator is the best available online). I BELIEVE THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PASS THE PMP EXAM WITHOUT SIMULATION EXAMS. The week before the exam should be spent ensuring that you have a thorough knowledge of Section 4 of the PMBOK guide (Project Integration Management) and Section 13 (Project Stakeholder Management) - those two chapters constitute at least 20% of your exam marks. Also, this time should be used in skimming through and reinforcing weak areas using Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep 9th edition book. There are a few apps in the Google Apps store for the practice of exam preparations on the go. Finally, during your commute during the final week before the exam, it is a good idea to listen to a few podcasts to reinforce concepts.

Andrew Jeffrey

MSc. (PM), MSc.(Struct.Eng.), PMP

Consultant-Support Engineer, NQI (Ministry of Business)