Student Profile: Engr. Md. Moktar Hossain MCIPS, PMP

I am an Electrical Engineer. But I have changed my career focus to the supply chain and Public procurement arena. I have achieved a Masters in Procurement and Supply Management(MPSM) and MCIPS from CIPS UK. I am working in this procurement and supply chain field for more than 4 years. Now I am working as a Procurement Specialist in a Project funded by IFAD-UN. Before this, I was involved in a bigger Power Plant construction project also. So performing in a project, I noticed that Project management knowledge is very much important to me for handling my activities. 

I love to enhance process efficiency, promote resource optimization and thorough planning of activities. Project management soon became a framework for all these attitudes to express themselves to their full extent.

To further grow as a professional in this area, besides my existing supply chain professional knowledge, I decided to pursue the PMP certification. As a procurement specialist in a donor-funded project, I have to handle almost every sector of the project, so I think this professional certification will help me a lot.

I think it is very important for a new student to read the official Handbook. If I divide this in two areas first one application for PMP exam and Preparation and appearing for PMP exam. For application starting from eligibility requirements, it also includes details on how to fill in the application form which will help to understand how to report the experience on overlapping projects. From application to audit all are clearly explained here. Secondly, I want to say for preparation for the PMP exam which area or topics an aspirant should know are clearly identified here. Besides this, the examination process also described clearly. So, for a new student when read the official PMP handbook from PMI can get a clear picture of what should he do.

Once a student gets to last week before the scheduled exam, s/he should focus only on the exam, not for more new topics that is totally unknown to him. In this period a student should seat for 1/2 full mock exam for making him prepared for the final exam. Mental stability for a 4-hour long exam is very much needed. So when a student goes through a full mock test which can help him to keep calm during the exam period. Then should review the mock question to understand the style of question word, how a single word can change the answer choice etc. S/he should practice the exam formula and revise the topics on specific elements (e.g., deliverables, or change requests) and how they flow through the PM processes and particularly on ITTOs. Lastly, I want to say that I used the PM PrepCast simulator which is highly similar to my original PMP exam. So new aspirants can use this for her/his exam preparation.

Engr. Md. Moktar Hossain MCIPS, PMP