TOPIC: CAPM: a route to score above target in all domains

I allowed myself 2 to 3 months to pass the CAPM and I quickly realized that digesting the PMBOK Guide is a much tedious task also for me Reading & learning the Guide would take much more time than I'd have hoped for. So I subscribed to the CAPM Prepcast. After passing the exam in 3 months time, scoring above target in all domains, it's a no brainer, that was the key decision for me to pass. I'm really greateful to the CAPM Prepcast & Cornelius' team for your work, that added incredible value to me.

I chose the following approach:

1.) I took the pre-assessment quiz. Scored ~65%. Then I watched the overview lessons only (a step I should have skipped - not necessary)

2.) I watched all videos allowing myself twice the duration of the video. Necessary to pause, go back, understand, take comprehensive notes. So that's about 130h in total.
@Cornelius' team: is there a function to jump back/forward 10 sec in the player? That would have helped a great deal.

3.) I reviewed all chapters one by one by in 3 days iterations.
1st pass, day 1 => read / learn all notes, review the chapter in the PMBOK Guide, make mind mappings for all ITTOs, flows of input/outputs, etc.
2nd pass, day 2 => consolidate learning, review memory gaps as well as common patterns in ITTOs, etc. Start 1st pass on another chapter.
3rd pass, day 3 => quick review, made sure everything is understood, fill last gaps in memory. 2nd pass on the chapter started the day before, 1st pass on a new chapter
and so on...

4.) At the end of all chapters I still had in mind the core of the 1st chapters, but was not confident that would be enough for passing. So to test myself
I took the 3 practice exams scoring 75%, 77%, and 80%. Quick review of mistakes, most of them because I would not review the questions I found tricky, but also some voids in memories and a few misunderstandings of concepts. I allowed myself 3 days to clear that and scheduled the proctored exam.

5.) Before the exam I reviewed all questions wrongly answered chapter by chapter, made an overview pass on each chapter and read the PMBOK chapter again to refresh the memory.

6.) On exam day, I felt ready. Prepared for the proctored exam, cleared the desk, set aside my ID, tested the system.

7.) During the exam I focused on understanding the question and possible answers, flagged the 20 ones I had doubts about and reviewed them at the end.
I had decided to take it at night in order not to be disturbed. At the end of test, having ~1h time left to review was great to overcome the effect of fatigue.
After pressing the button to submit one immediatly gets the info if one passes, so I was able to celebrate right away.
Note also, I experienced a bloqued popup on the screen that hide part of long questions. I couldn't do anything about it and wasn't prepared for that.
My advice : don't hesitate to ask the chat for help. It cost about ~5 min to solve incl. discussions to explain the trouble. They simply restarted my session.


My takeaways:
- one doesn't need to konw everything by heart to pass. I feel my strategy was good to learn deeply, which was my goal. Tailor if you just need the diploma.
- The CAPM Prepcast offers a 1st filter on the PMBOK Guide, reveals its structure (greatly necessary for learning) as well as patterns in ITTOs.
- Explanations in the practice exams are worth the reading, as it gives another angle at concepts.
- One doesn't need anything but the CAPM Prepcast and the PMBOK Guide to pass the CAPM with lots of margin. I recommend investing in it, it's worth the money.


I hope this strategy of mine will help you who start the process. Best of luck to you!

@Cornelius and your team:
if by any chance you review this lesson learned of mine, thank you again ! Now, I wonder. Targeting next the PMP, do you recommend purchasing
the PM Prepcast or simply take the CAPM Prepcast lessons which are not mandatory for the CAPM on top?

G'day Francois,

Congratulations on your success, well earned!
Thank you very much for sharing such a detailed account of your journey, to help others.

Francois,

Congratulations on passing your exam!

Thank you for sharing your success and lessons learned. We are glad to hear that our products helped you prepare for and pass your exam.

Regarding your question about preparing for the PMP exam: I have responded to you personally via our Zendesk support email. Please check your Spam folder in case you don't see my response.

Congratulations again, and best of luck in your future endeavors!