Hello,
This is my short lessons learned from the exam I prepared for and tool today.
My study plan:
1. Watch the ACP Prepcast. This takes dedication, there are a lot of hours in the prepcast, much more than I remember for the PMP exam I took in 2011
2. Read PMI-ACP Exam Prep by Mike Griffiths after the Prepcast
a. I read each chapter and did the quizzes on the first read
b. I completed a second set of quizzes and reviewed missed questions
c. I went through the book and highlighted key topics (lots of highlights)
d. The week before the exam I read only the highlights
3. Completed the 50 question sample exam included Prepcast Study Guide
4. Read the exam tips in the student guide and inputs from others in the back
5. I bought a dry erase board and use to memorize key terms for. For each I made up a word or series of letters that meant something to me and could be used to recall phrases. below are mine, you should make your own.
a. Agile Manifesto Values and Principles (IWCR, Jan-Dec)
b. Declaration of Interdependence (FEEGUI)
c. Scrum Pillars and User Story (AIT, INVEST)
d. Values of XP(FCCRS)
e. Principles of Lean (DEEBODA)
6. Review the SCRUMDAN guide (google and you will find)
7. Read Code of Ethics
The day of the exam
1. Reviewed my dry erase board items above (also brain dumped this at the exam)
2. Review Roles for each AGILE method
My takeaway is that there seemed to be much more to learn or prepare for the PMP exam possibly due to a lack of an ACP PMBOK. So you have to read information from several sources and study more methods than probably are needed.
It took me about 1hr and 15min to do the exam. I used my brain dump often during that exam, sometimes they were directly useful and other times it helped with those questions structured like …”which one is the best…..”.
I was not feeling confident with the first 10 questions so I marked and moved on, I then got into a groove and came back to marked questions later…this helped.
