I took the PMI-ACP examination this weekend and passed (first attempt)!
To be honest, after the PMP exam that I took last year, I didn't think I would attempt another certification anytime so soon. But the agile transformation in my current organization pushed me to finally take it. Anyway, below are my thoughts regarding the exam and how I prepared for it.
My references:
* PMI-ACP Exam PREP by mike Griffiths - this is the only book I used and is more than enough. I did not anymore bother reading other materials aside from this one.
* Prepcast Agile 2 course
* For the paid mock exams, I used two: 1) rmcls cloud platform; 2) Prepcast PMI-ACP mock exams
Between Prepcast and RMCLS, I must admit that RMCLS is closer to the real exam. However, the Prepcast mock exams are a bit more difficult which really prepared me well enough for the real thing. I think it's because the Prepcast questions are a bit "wordier" / longer, which forced students to really think about the questions. What the mock exams helped me is to really choose and think about the correct answers since in the actual exam, you'll be forced to choose between 2-3 (almost) correct answers.
RMCLS mock exam results - 69%, 80%, 81%
Prepcast: 76.7%, 78.3%, 75.8%, 80.8%
I did not retake the exams but instead thoroughly reviewed my wrong answers and took quizzes instead. I realized that my main mistake during the mock exams is that i interpreted the questions incorrectly. I KNOW the answers but there are certain keywords in the options and questions that easily disrupted me from selecting the correct answers. Watch out for absolute words such as "never", "always", "all", etc.
Prior to the real exam, i was actually not confident given my mock exam grades. When I took the PMP exam last year, I never had a score below 80% in my mock exams. But I think if you're scoring 75% and above in all your mocks, you're good.
Preparation:
around 4months - although I was only able to allot around 1 hr max each day. Given how busy I am in my work, it was a surprise that I was able to squeeze this in.
My experience with Onvue:
the proctors are a great help. This is my second time taking a certification exam using onvue and just like the 1st one, i had technical issues. the app crashed twice and on the second crash, it took the proctor at least 5 mins to resume the exam. Thankfully i did not panic at all and was able to get back on track once it resumed.
My exam results: Above Target for all domains.
Notes regarding the real exam:
- there are PMP exam questions which raised my eyebrows during the exam. Not much - around 2-3 questions, i think. There are PMP tools and techniques listed in the some of the options as well.
- the methodology in the questions are not directly specified. You really have to deduce the framework based on clues
- If there are questions / options that totally disarmed you, go back to Agile Manifesto's 4 values and 12 principles.
- read the questions first and focus on what's being asked. there are times wherein the previous sentences are mere noise / will mislead you to the correct answers.
