TOPIC: Passed PMI-ACP exam first attempt

Very relieved that I sat the exam on Monday at 9 am and passed. I used the Agile Prepcast and Mike Griffiths PMI-ACP book for the core knowledge.
Started in late May- my company paid for the Prepcast and I bought the Mike Griffiths book and developed a plan to cover the material with my manager- which all things going well I would write in Mid-September.

I then downloaded the videos on my phone and listenned to them in audio only podcast style during my commute to and from work and while walking my dog. That in conjunction with reading the Mike Griffiths book. I dedicated my weekends to studying at least 4 or 5 hours each day and was getting through it slowly and taking tons of notes in a comprehensive approach.

I completed the videos (podcasts) course, I wrote the test and got 22/25 qualifying me to write the ACP exam. Aroud this time I was suddnely let go from my job. I still had another 2 chapters of the book so I was continuing to muscle through that. Finished the first round. Did a second quick pass and wrote a practice exam as part of the PM-Prepcast package and passed, so I scheduled the real exam for the following Monday (this was Tuesday) and spent the rest of the week writing practice tests and my score getting consecutively lower and lower to the point that I failed the last 2. I was concerned, but already committed so I spent time on the knowledge area domains which I was weakest in (Adaptive Planning and Problem Detection and Resolution) and then spent Saturday doing very light review and Sunday not even looking at the book.




Monday I checked into the prison- I mean the testing center and wrote the exam and was relieved when I didn't just pass- I got Above Target in everything (except stupid adaptive planning which I got Target).

Ran out of the testing centre and immediately updated my LinkedIn profile to include the new credentials. (Then i told my dog who didn't seem to care much).

MAD: Giving up my weekends in the summer.
SAD: Really sweating the exam the days before.
GLAD: Being an Agile PM for years and learning the best practices for it was pretty cool. It also helps set me up for my next role which will be creating processes

What went well: The fact I prepared. I mean the prepcast videos (or podcasts) were great- and the book was the perfect Augment to it to let me really get deep into the Agile concepts which weren't that straight forwards.
What went poorly: I think I was over-preparing at the end which is why I didn't study at all on Saturday and Sunday, but still- If I went to a level 7 instead of 9 with my prep I still would have been okay.

Hi Mike,

Congratulations on passing the PMI-ACP Exam! Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us here in the forum