TOPIC: Passed PMI-ACP - My observations

I passed my PMI-ACP earlier this week. Thought I would share some of my observations in the hope that it might be of some help to others!

Study Materials - Mike Griffith Exam Prep (2nd Edition)
Mock Exams - PM Prep Cast - ACI Simulator
Work Experience - Real time Agile experience for the last 5 years

I read through the book two times. The very first time, I read through it, I was able to follow for the most part. But reading through it the second time helped me a lot. As that's when I was more serious because it was closer to the exam .Plus I felt i was able to understand and relate to many topics during the second time. As far as the simulator exams go, I went through all four tests and my results were 65 %, 70%, 62% and 70% respectively. Obviously, none of these results met the passing requirements!
I reviewed all the questions including the ones that I had marked correctly. What i realized was there were a few questions for which my reasoning to choose a particular answer was different than what was called out in the simulator. And also, I got valuable information from reviewing why the other options were not the correct ones. For all the answers that I answered incorrectly, I read up on the concepts again from the book.

Personally I think, if you have some real world agile experience, going through Mike Griffith's book and taking the Prep case simulator exams should really suffice. I would highly recommend Mike Griffith's book as it is very structured and the concepts are explained very clearly. I do not think I would have passed the exam without the simulator exams though. I do think the simulator exams are a bit harder than the real exam itself. Some of the exam questions were very easy and some were a bit tricky. Those that were tricky, I felt I was able to rule out two options immediately and I was always stuck with two answers. It required common sense and relating those to agile concepts to come to a conclusion. I passed with 'Above Target' in the exam in spite of failing all my mock exams.

From what I remember now, some of my questions were

a few questions about Information radiators
b. situational questions about planning & estimation
c. Asked to interpret a burndown chart
d. calculate how many iterations would it take when velocity was given for a few sprints
e.couple situational questions related to retrospective and daily scrums
f. situational questions relating to Agile principles
g. questions related using emotional intelligence to deal with people in certain situations
h. questions from XP core principles
i. Refactoring
j. TDD
k. Kanban, WIP

I had no questions on the below topics
a. EVM
b. ROI, NPV or IRR
c. Leadership model
d. CFD
e.crystal

What i didn't go through until a day before the exam which I think should be done as part of exam preparation is the exam content outline listed on the PMI website. I think it makes sense to cross reference this outline after studying each domain.



Hope this helps! If I remember any other questions, I will update it.

Thanks
Sumathy

Dear Sumathy,

Congratulations on passing your exam!

Thank you for sharing your success and lessons learned. I remember your valuable inputs that you submitted through our simulator Live Feedback™ support feature. We are glad to hear that our products helped you prepare and pass your exam.

Good luck in all your future endeavors.

Thank you Stan. Also thanks to you for your immediate response to my question. Never got a chance to respond back but it made sense to me. Appreciate your timely reply.