TOPIC: Looking for a study partner for 2021 Exam

Looking for a study partner for the 2021 exam. I plan to take the exam in March.

Hi Sharon,

I am planning to take the exam in February and would like to join your study group.

Thank you!

That sounds great! I just started the study group. So far it's just the two of us. I plan on taking the exam in March. Full disclosure I took the exam on 28 Dec after studying only 21 days and, of course, did not pass. I've learned a lot oof what I did wrong and what I should have done after talking to my friends who did pass. I plan go through my lessons learned so that we can develop a study plan. That is one of the things I did wrong-not develop a study plan. When would you like to start collaborating?

Sharon I'm just curious, did you take your exam at home on the 28th? I went to a test center, and of course I failed as well. The questions was really long and I couldn't gather my thoughts once I got to the end to select an answer. Some of the short questions I felt like they wasn't giving me enough information to select an answer. To sum it all up, it was a very hard test and I still was really close when I took a look at my analysis on where I fell overall. What were your marks? I had above target on initiating & monitoring & controlling. Below target on planning & closing. Needs improvement on the biggest one, executing. I take it that you're not going to attempt the 2020 exam in the next day or so? Have you read the Agile book? I didn't look at it yet, but I have it. I know that's going to be included on the 2021 exam

Sharon, I am new to this portal and not sure how to touch base with you outside this forum.
I bought the Prepcast exam simulator 2021 but did not activate it yet. I have the PMBOK 6 and Agile. I initially thought I will be ready to take the test by end of December but due to work pressure only got 6-7 days and that was not enough for preparation so rescheduled the date to end of February. This week I am off work and would like to setup some study plan. I have read Crosswind by Tony and randomly referred PMBOK. I understand I need to finish PMBOK before trying to take the Prepcast quizzes. I kind of memorized 49 processes using Vargas video but when I see different questions where you are or something I feel I mess it up. Let me know how I connect with you. If you want I can share my email address. Thank You

Hi Sharon ,
I plan to take the exam in March too . Let me know how we can collaborate .

Hello,
My scores were T for Executing and Controlling/Monitoring and BT for Initiating, Planning and Closing. I used the Prepcast simulator 2020 and since I bought and activated it in Dec, I will get a free upgrade in Jan to the 2021 Prepcast simulator. I read most of the PM BOK ed 6 but did not finish it and ran out of time. I actually took a class back in May but did not study until Dec (after my boss told me that I needed to get it done before the end of the year) so I signed up for the test and then started studying which is backwards. I bought the Agile book but haven't even opened it. I've watched the Vargas video on the 49 processes which is excellent but I can't say that I memorized it. From what I saw on my online proctored test, it is beyond memorization. It's all scenario questions that says xyz happened. What would you do next? Then they give you 4 choices that are very vague. The simulator is an excellent tool and it gives you more details so that you can make a decision. On the exam they don't give enough details of the situation so its hard to make a decision. Most of mine were only 2-3 sentences long. I won't take the test this year. I wish I started this back in July or so so that I could have tried again. Next year's exam will be harder just by the way they have the test as fill in the blanks and it will have 50% new material (agile). But I have to stay positive knowing other people are going to take the same exam and passing. I talked to 3 of my friends who took the exam; 2 too k it in Dec. All of them studied for over 3 months. One person took this approach: she read the PM BOK all the way through, read the PM BOK a second time, took a refresher course, did many practice tests and then took the exam and passed. The other one took the Udemy class, used the PM BOK as reference as she did practice exams, used the study guides from Udemy, did independent study and more practice exams for 3 weeks and then took the exam. This all took about 3 months or so. The third person took about 7 months to prepare. He read the Rita M book, took all the practice exams in the book repeatedly, purchased the Rita M disk of practice exams, took 61 exams, memorized the 49 processes then took the exam in Dec. All three passed on their first try. I on the other studied for 21 days and failed. It's no surprise. One thing that I learned from them was it will take at least 3 months at a minimum to prepare for the exam. All three of them worked full time while preparing for the exam. The first two have other certificates (Security + and some other certs like CISM); one of them has her Masters. The third person didn't have the same background and needed more time to study but passed with 7+ months of studying. At the earliest, I'm re-taking the exam in 3 months after I really study. Less than one month of studying wasn't enough. I also didn't have a day-to-day study plan. Having a study plan be the roadmap will help meet the goals. Another friend told me to take practice exams until I score an 80. Then he said sign up for the test. Lots of people I know who took the CISM exam which was also scenario =based took many many practice exams since the test is based on scenarios rather than theory. The books will give the overall understanding but the exams apply the theory and that's what we're tested on.



Sharon

Hi Sas,

That sounds great! There are three of us now. We can collaborate either here or via email. What time zone are you in? I'm in PST (California).

Sharon

Sharon it doesn't sound like you were too far off from knocking out the big 3 (Planning, monitoring & controlling & executing). As I explained in one of my post, I felt like the exam questions were long and the short questions that I did get almost seem like they were very vague where they didn't provide enough information for me to successfully answer the question. I've been on this PMP journey since January of this year. I started out with the headfirst PMP prep book in January. I took a boot camp by Reed Integration in March and they provided me with Rita's exam prep book 9th edition, the PMBOK Guide, and the Agile book. They also had their own book as well . I utilized all those resources including an exam simulator by Kaplan that they offered that ended up expiring in July. I totally ignored reading the PMBOK. I was just using it as reference and reading sections at a time. I started watching Youtube videos and someone mentioned using the Prepcast Simulator as a tool for success so I finally decided to purchase it in November and it was then that I knew that I was in trouble because of the amount of information that I thought I knew, but has know idea because I was not taking advantage of the PMBOK Guide. The exam outline is also a good tool as well. Have you guys downloaded the new exam outline for 2021 from PMI website?

I may jump onboard this study group as well. Not sure how it will work though, I'm in EST (Virginia). I wanted to give it another shot at taking the exam this year, but I'm hearing that there is nothing available so I'm not going to waste my $275 to pay for the retake just yet. Therefore, my target date will be March-April timeframe as well. That gives me enough fluff to where I'm not stressing over getting enough time in to prepare. PMI has a class in mid January that is supposed to help folks bridge the gap with the current content in new content. Did you see that on there website? I had to RSVP and I guess they will notify everyone via email when its available

Yes, I saw the new class being offered and have reviewed the outline. I think one of the biggest benefits for this test will be the prepcast simulator 2021. Using the simulator and the PM BOK helped me tie together what I read in the Rita M book and the PM BOK. I think the study group can work especially if we got together on weekends. We can do conference calls so that we'll talk real time. Prior to the telecon we can exchange study material via email so that we'd all have it before we met. We'd schedule our meetings with the time difference in mind. For starters I am putting together a test plan with dates . Then for each meeting we could discuss/present to each other our understanding of the section. This discussion would be followed by a Q&A session from the group. We would all learn from each other's questions and the person answering the questions would re-enforce their knowledge by being challenged by the group's questions. This is what we did in college and it helped all of us understand the material better. What are your thoughts?

It looks like that I'm the only one on EST as of now? Your plan doesn't sound bad. It also sounds like we have the same study material. I have Rita M book, PMBOK 6th edition and the Agile book along with the simulator. Being as though I purchase my simulator in early November, it expires on January 31st but I'm going to renew it. What kind of phones do you guys have? IPHONE or ANDROID? I crossed over to IPHONE last year. It would be cool if we could all solve questions together. For example, we all had the same bank of questions on the screen and we read the question independently and before selecting an answer in learning mode, we go around the table or take a vote over the phone for whatever answer get the most votes and make the selection. If we all are not on the same page before selecting answer, we have a discussion to convince each other and learn from each other by understanding their approach towards the question. Since the new exam is broken up into just 3 processes, People, Processes & Business, I'm wondering where do you start. I listen to one of Cornelius videos and he mentioned that about 85% of the current exam will be part of the new exam and the processes still apply, but don't memorize them, just understand the flow. With that being said, so you start with initiating tackling one process at a time until closing? Based on my research I discovered that people make the misconception that the exam is based on the PMBOK Guide, but that is not totally true. It is based on the exam outline, so for the new exam it will be understanding the domains, task, and enablers. I think everyone will have a clear picture on how the current content ties into the new format and the new outline when PMI present their training next month.

Yes, I am looking for a study partner I plan to take in March

There is another person also on the east coast. I have an android phone.

I am trying to map each of the tasks to a process or processes. This is what I came up with. Welcoming all comments to make this more complete. Once we identify the areas to focus on, we can develop a study schedule.

Looking at the list of tasks and associated chapters, it covers all PMBOK chapters 4-13. We can study based on the order of the tasks in each domain or we can study in the order of the table 1-4 of the PM BOK in the order of process group; not by chapter. So in others words we'd study 4.1 Develop Project Charter, then 13.1 Identify Stakeholders . Then we'd do the planning process 4.2, 5.1, etc.

Domain 1
Tasks 1, 2, 3 ....PMBOK ch 9
Task 4, 5.... ch 9, 13
Task 6 .... ch 9
Task 7
Task 8... ch 12
Task 9 ch13
Task 10
Task 11 ch9
Task 12 ch 9
Task 13 ch 13
Task 14 ch 9

Domain II Process
Task 1 ch 4
Task 2 ch 10
Task 3 ch 11
Task 4 ch 13
Task 5 ch 7, 9
Task 6 ch 6
Task 7 ch 8
Task 8 ch 5
Task 9 ch 4
Task 10 ch4
Task 11 ch 12
Task 12 ch 5
Task 13 ch 2, 3, and APG
Task 14
Task 15 ch 11
Task 16
Task 17 ch 4 closing

Domain III
Task 1 ch 8
Task 2 ch 4
Task 3
Task 4

If we want to study using table 1-4 as a guide and study in the order of process group, here is a proposed 12-week schedule from start to finish

Using Table 1-4 as a guide
Week 1 Agile
PM BOK Ch 2, Agile Ch 2,3
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter
50 Question Quiz on topic
Take additional quizzes independently and bring any questions you want to discuss to the group

Week 2 Agile
PM BOK Ch3, Agile Ch 6
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter
50 Quiz on topic
Take additional quizzes independently and bring any questions you want to discuss to the group

Week 3
Domain: Initiating
4.1 Develop Project Charter
13.1 Identify Stakeholders
Domain: Planning
4.2 Develop Project Management
Project Scope Management
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 4
Project Schedule Management
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 5
Project Cost Management
7.1
7.2
7.3
Project Quality Management
8.1
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 6
Project Resource Management
9.1
9.2
Project Communications Management
10.1
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 7
Project Risk Management
11.1
11.2
11.3
11.4
11.5
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 8
Project Procurement Management
12.1
Project Stakeholder Management
13.2
Domain: Executing
Project Integration Management
4.3
4.4
Project Quality Management
8.2
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 9
Project Resource Management
9.3
9.4
9.5
Project Communications Management
10.2
Project Risk Management
11.6
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 10
Project Procurement Management
12.2
Project Stakeholder Management
13.3
Domain: Monitoring and Control
Project Integration Management
4.5
4.6
Project Scope Management
5.5
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 11
Project Scope Management
5.6
Project Schedule Management
6.6
Project Cost Management
7.4
Project Quality Management
8.3
Project Resource Management
9.6
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

Week 12
Project Communications Management
10.3
Project Risk Management
11.7
Project Procurement Management
12.3
Project Stakeholder Management
13.4
Domain: Closing
Project Integration Management
4.7
Create Process Match up table for Integration (See Rita's process game Ch3)
Create flash cards of definitions for this chapter

I like the approach far as studying by the task in the outline, but I know it will be extremely hard to match the task to a process or chapter in the current PMBOK. I discovered the attached file on Prazion.com where Phil broke down the task for 6th edition outline. It would be awesome if an subject matter expert can do the same for the new 2021 outline. It sounds like you're doing something similar.

Either approach, I think your outline looks great! When do you plan to get started with your studies? Or when is this group going to start down a particular path towards success?

I'd like to get started next week. Regarding the study plan, I think we will still be accountable for knowing which process came first, which is the output or input into which process. That being the case, it would seem important that we study in order (initiating, planning, executing, etc). I was thinking we can start studying in order of Table 1-4, then as we finish a process we would look at which tasks were correlated with that process and discuss those tasks.

I would like us to review my initial stab at mapping the tasks to the process. These tasks could relate to multiple processes and not just the ones that are listed. My mapping might be off so please review the mapping of the tasks to the PM BOK and make changes as needed.

I will take a look between now and this weekend at your initial stab of mapping the processes to the new outline and provide my feedback. My job offers this program that used to be called Skillsoft, but they changed the name to Percipio. They have a ton of PMP information including recorded boot camps for the 2021 PMP Exam. I am in the middle of my first 3HR session. I'm going to snoop around and see if I can find something on how this all ties together. As we go through table 1-4 as you suggested, I'm sure we will get this narrowed down! Depending on your journey, this may be the 3rd or 4th like myself, but I think I was rushing it and missing some key information obviously... As stated, we read a process and figure out where it falls within the domains and task is a great idea, and I agree that a process may fall into more than one task.

So I was watching one of the virtual bootcamps for the 2021 exam content on Skillsoft and the instructor mentioned the new exam is still going to be based on the current PMBOK, which basically means the 6th edition is still good to use. They also stated that the 7th edition of the PMBOK will possibly be out later in the first quarter, but one student asked a question about Rita Mulcahy's exam prep book and the instructor stated not to use it because it's the 9th edition, which confused me because that aligns with the PMBOK 6th edition. I did a google search and I see that Rita Mulcahy's 10th edition is out now on sale for $79.00. Are you going to purchase the 10th edition of her book?

When I took a class they used the Rita M book and that's why I have it. I then purchased the PM BOK which made me realize how much the Rita M book did not cover. My experience with the Rita M book is that the book did not cover everything that we are supposed to know. That was my personal experience after reading both books (I didn't finish the Rita M book though). I read comments from others and some people liked it as a supplement while others also thought it was incomplete. It does align with PM BOK 6th edition, but it doesn't fully cover the subject matter. I don't plan on getting the 10th edition of her book. I plan to use primarily the PM BOK 6th edition and the APG. I'll use the Rita M book for practice exercises such as the process matching game. The Vargas and PMP with Ray are good videos to watch on YouTube.

Hi Everyone,
Please let me know how I can also join as a study partner.
My Name is Sandip Nath (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and I am from Bangalore, India.
I understand that I am in totally different time zone but I still participate in discussions.
I had a failed attempt 2 days back and got "Need Improvement) .
I have started my preparation from Nov, 1st, 2020 and go through only PMBOK6. Tried Simulator only 3 exams. I think i need lots of improvement but I may not be able to identify my week area alone and need support from you all.
Please let me know how I can able to join this group.

Welcome Sandip! You can join in the discussion any time. What we've done so far is look at the Exam Content Outline for 2021. We are reviewing the tasks and mapping it to processes. The earlier chat you can see our initial results of the mapping of tasks to processes. If you could, please review the tasks from the Exam Content Outline and see if the processes and tasks need changes/corrections. We plan to start meeting next week in telecons. For now we are collaborating via this discussion board. Once we all feel comfortable with the mapping, we can start our weekly study sessions. This will be a 12-week study session with the plan of taking the test in end of Mar/Apr time frame.

My experience is totally different. I feel only PMBOK6 is not enough to pass the exam. I have gone through Rita'a 9th edition few initial chapter which my friend suggested my 10days before the exam. Though I haven't ready that book fully, but i feel Rita's book or any other source we need to understand PMBOK fully. There are many thing in PMBOK6 which are NOT explain in detail for exam Role of Different stakeholders.
So we may need some supporting materiel and main point we need to map the new Exam contain outline with the PMBOK6.

I got lots of questions from Communications, stakeholders, Team management and change request.

Thanks Sharon. I will surely go through all the post mentioned in this group. I have 2 attempts pending by 18th April. The time we are targeting is feasible to achieve.
Lets study together and pass this exam.

I agree. I have read that more so in the 2021 exam they will be using even more resources beyond the PM BOK. As I did quizzes in the prepcast 2020 I noticed that they referenced sources that were not the PM BOK for the correct answers. I watched other people who posted that they passed and took a mental note of their resources besides the PM BOK. Several people on various sites said they used Andy Crowe. That was a very popular reference. Another were the Vargas videos and the PMP with Ray videos. People also took an Udemy and used the study material provided by them. The common source was using a test bank. Many, many people who wrote in on many sites said that a test bank made all the difference. I personally found the prepcast test bank the most helpful because it took what we learned and applied it. I think as we do quizzes and we need to do at least 2000 questions by exam day, we need to look up the other references that the correct answer lists as a source. That's one thing that I did not do. The study method that we're supposed to do from Corneilious is study a topic, take a quiz, review the right and wrong answers. Then build up and take an exam even if we didn't cover all the topics. Then repeat the process (study a topic, take a quiz, review the right and wrong answers). We should aim for studying 3-4 hours each week day and 5 hours on each day of the
weekend. Not that we'd be in a group study all those hours. Some of those hours we will be in a group study. During my exam in Dec I thought it was unfair that questions talked about things that people do not normally know. Take for instance they referenced CMMI in a question. Had I not previously been a quality engineer I would not have known that and would not have known that the answer was quantitative analysis as opposed to qualitative. I think our best bet at trying to cover the material is to look up the references that they provide in their prepcast responses, use the PMP with Ray videos since he is updating his videos to the 2021 exam, and within our study group share any other references that we may independently have. Cornielious is giving a booster class for those who took his online PMP 2020 class. At least that's my understanding. I'm looking forward to that booster class and see what's new.

Thanks for your comment about Rita's book. The boot camp that I took back in March with Reed Integration swear that Rita's book is the best exam prep book to use to supplement the PMBOK and prepare for taking the exam, but I to discovered that it is missing a ton of information when I started using the prepcast simulator. I was totally ignoring the PMBOK up until about November and when I starting taking mock exams I would review my wrong answers and the pages referenced within the explanation, it was then I knew that my approach was wrong and I knew that I needed to read the PMBOK. I thought that I had an awesome strategy to pass the exam, but I think that nerves just got the best of me and I tried to take on too much at one time and didn't really take the time to slow down and try to understand what the questions were truly asking me. I took a total of 4 mock exams, but on my first attempt I was only able to get between 55%-60% on the first attempt. I then went back and did a thorough review on every exam and did them all again and I was able to get between 85%-90%. I made flash cards for all the wrong answers and questions that I didn't understand. I have them stored in sandwich bags labeled Exam #1, Exam #2, Exam # 3, Exam # 4. It was taking me more time to review the mock exams then it did to take the exam. Almost triple the time because it was so much that I was missing inside the PMBOK, so I took the time to read up on the things that I didn't understand. I felt like I was racing the clock. In my mind, I had to get as many mock exams as possible completed in order to pass the exam. I've been watching some videos by Scott Payne, he is awesome as well. He stated that you can pass the exam by just taking one mock exam, 200 questions. It is the quality of the questions and taking the time to understand the questions. So, if I could do it all over, I would slow down and not focus on big chunks of info at a time like trying to understand a full mock exam at a time. I would read a little, test my knowledge on what I read by doing quizzes on that topic and move on when it's locked in. When I think about it, that's more of an Agile approach LOL. If you guys are not going to buy Rita M new book, I won't waste my time buying it either for I find it hard to follow as well and missing some key information. I have Headfirst PMP as well and I like that one better than Rita's book, but I realized that I have an old edition of the Headfirst book. As I mentioned, there is a program called Skillsoft that has a ton of content related to the 2021 exam that could be helpful, but this was something provided my employer. I'm not sure how to go about getting it.

Sandip, Be sure to get a copy of the Agile Practice Guide. We will be using that in our study group.

I am also interested in taking the PMP exam in 2021 but I would wait at least until May/June for the following reasons:
- New PMBOK 7th edition is coming in late March which means PMP training materials, PM Prepcast Exam simulator etc. will need to be updated.
- PM Prepcast is considered a gold standard for PMP exam preparation. Prepcast has earned this reputation over several years/decades so in order for their exam simulator (for the new PMP exam) to have
same reputation, we need to wait and see the response of the folks who are going to use it and pass the exam.

Good luck with your preparations!!

Yes Sharon.. Last time I didn't study that book, Though I didn't get many questions from Agile. I got 2-3 questions from agile practice like Agile planning, retro meeting.. but still who knows what will happen in the next exam..
I also feel the same as Duon said, its not only the giving practice exam.. but more is to check if our understanding is the same as others. and we need to be both precise and accurate.
I am trying to make a list of what we have to refer till now as Study Material:
1. PMBOK 6 +  AGILE PRACTICE GUIDE + The Standard for Project Management
2. Rita M (If we all agree)
3. Ray's Video
3. Andy Crowe (I don't have much information on this)
4. Prep cast 2021 Practice and Lesson Learned.
5. Ricardo Vargas Video
6. Anything we feel to add in the list..
I don't know why it's always hunting me that I am NOT studying as per exam content outline. I am also not sure if PMI asked questions as per  exam content outline or not.
@PMP Aspirant, I really don't have time to wait till May.. I am already running behind my time.. I have 2 attempts till mid April 2021. So I am planning my 2nd attempt by March end max.  

PMP Aspirant, You can join our study group even though you plan to take the exam in May. What we will be studying will be on the exam. Corneilus said that a few of their moderators were allowed to take the new exam to see what's in it and they reported back. That's how they were able to update the prepcast to cover new material. They are currently upgrading all current prepcast 2020 users to the new prepcast 2021. I don't know if they will be changing their prepcast 2021 after they release it between 01 Jan-10 Jan. Corneilus is also providing a booster class for those who have his 2020 class which will cover all the new material. Personally, I wouldn't delay starting to study especially if you plan to take the test in May. I've read that people need a minimum of 3 months to prepare. Even that may not be enough. Whichever way you choose, you are always welcomed to join in at any time.

Sandip,
I agree, we need to do really understand the material. The new exam has 50% agile. The APG will give us the concept but we need to know how it applies to all the processes and that's not in a book. This is where our group discussions will really be beneficial. We need to see if the Andy Crowe book is getting updated to cover the 2021 exam. BTW we can rent some of these books at 3 months at a time through Amazon. That may work since we plan to take the exam in 3 months.

We would be studying to the exam content. If we all agree on the mapping of each task to a process, we will know that we've studied to the exam content.

You'll notice that Domain I tasks are covered in Ch 9, 12, 13
Domain 1
Tasks 1, 2, 3 ....PMBOK ch 9
Task 4, 5.... ch 9, 13
Task 6 .... ch 9
Task 7
Task 8... ch 12
Task 9 ch13
Task 10
Task 11 ch9
Task 12 ch 9
Task 13 ch 13

Domain II tasks are covered in Ch 2, 3, APG, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Domain II
Task 1 ch 4
Task 2 ch 10
Task 3 ch 11
Task 4 ch 13
Task 5 ch 7, 9
Task 6 ch 6
Task 7 ch 8
Task 8 ch 5
Task 9 ch 4
Task 10 ch4
Task 11 ch 12
Task 12 ch 5
Task 13 ch 2, 3, and APG
Task 14
Task 15 ch 11
Task 16
Task 17 ch 4 closing

Domain III tasks are covered in ch 4, 8
Domain III
Task 1 ch 8
Task 2 ch 4
Task 3
Task 4

In summary, we are covering the entire PM BOK.

We will still be responsible for knowing the order of the tasks and the ITTOs because that will be the other 50% (or 85%).

This is why it's important that the mapping of a task to a chapter is accurate.

For each of these tasks, we need to understand the basic principles (ITTOs) and then how to apply it using agile.

What are your thoughts?

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

The breakdown looks great and I would prefer to go by the study plan that you listed by week.
The tasks will get covered in the Agile Practice Guide (AGP ):
Domain I:: Task 7, Task 10
Domain II:: Task 14, Task 16
Domain III:: Task 3, Task4

As I plan to take the exam by end of February will follow your suggestion and combine 2 weeks plan in one week.
I am located in New Jersey and for preparation last year joined Rutgers PMP Prep Bootcamp. We followed Crosswind book by Tony Johnson and it was pretty easy to understand.
I do have Rita's book (9th Edition) and referred it only few times when I needed to understand something or needed additional examples.
But seriously speaking, I did not understand Rita's Process Game. I found that the process names are not completely aligned with what was there in PMBOK but I might be wrong as I did not pay too much attention.
For Process flow understanding I just followed Vargas video. As I have less time compared to all of you I would start with AGP and whenever you guys want to touch base or meet up for discussion will join.
I have until Oct 2021 to clear this exam but am not sure as the year progresses if the exam will get harder or easier.
I did not try any quizzes or the exam in PrepCast 2021 Exam simulator yet but as I progress according to the plan will start taking those quizzes.

Thank You Everyone!!

Hi Sharon,
I would definitely join your study group once I have got the momentum going for the prep. I would recommend you guys to look over this list of recommended books by PMI for the new PMP exam:

www.pmi.org/certifications/project-manag...n/pmp-reference-list

Sharon,
I think you done an excellent job with your initial stab at mapping the new outline to the PMBOK 6th edition. I really didn't have to much to add. I noted my additions below to what you already have, but I'm no expert. I was mainly looking into how the new outline applies to the Agile Practice Guide, which I have started reading a little:
Domain 1 People:
Tasks 1, 2, 3 ....PMBOK ch3 leadership styles, ch 9, ch 13
Task 6 ....ch4 (4.4manage project knowledge, ch 9)
Task 10 APG ch 5 (5.2.1 Retrospectives)

Domain 2 Process:
Task 1 ch 4, APG ch 5
Task 2 ch 10, ch 13
Task 6 ch 6, APG ch 5
Task 10 ch4, APG ch 6
Task 11 ch 12, APG ch 6

Domain III Business Environment:
Task 1 ch 8, APG ch 2
Task 2 ch 4, APG ch 5
Task 3 APG ch 5
Task 4 APG ch 6

I am originally from New Jersey, South Jersey to be exact . I'm located in VA now, but majority of my family is still up in the NJ & Philadelphia area so I'm up that way quite often. It's good to hear that someone is on the EST that is [art of this group. Honestly, I never looked into Rita's process game, but I did try to understand her process chart and I don't get it. I also have 2 more attempts left and until October 2021 to clear this exam. I want to clear this exam on my next attempt so I plan to lock in and focus on the game plan to get us there. I started reading the Agile practice guide just because I had some extra time on my hands during this holiday break since I'm no longer focusing on 2020 content anymore and ignored the guide the first time around because the exam focused on predicative (waterfall) questions in lieu of Agile questions.

I am planning to have the exam in Feb, can I join the study group ?

Hi Duon,
I am located at North Jersey and am glad that both of us are on EST zone.
The Agile Practice Guide does not look intimidating and I started studying this book today. But I am not sure will this be enough or we will need to do anything extra.
I also have subscription of Joseph Philips course "PMP Exam Prep Seminar - Pass the PMP on Your First Attempt" in Udemy and he added Agile sections (Section 22 through Section Section 32)
Lets finish reading the books according to the plan and then we all can discuss our problem areas.
And obviously we need to practice as many questions as possible. I am very hopeful that we all will get through this.
My company paid for the initial bootcamp course but everything else (PrepCast Simulator , Udemy) I am paying out of my pocket. I just want to clear this as soon as possible.

Yes, I just purchased Udemy PMP class given by Joseph today. It's a really good resource. I are going over the agile portion of his course.

Team:
Are we all on board with using the study plan outlined for 12-week period? I understand that some may need to speed up the schedule.

How would you like to get together? We can have a conference call at a time that works for all time zones.

Sharon

Thank you for this list. This is extremely helpful. I will check for these books on Amazon.

Yes, everyone is welcomed to join

What day and time would you like to start meeting to discuss what we've read and clear up any problem areas?

I took a quick look at the list of books listed in the PMI site (url provided by PMP aspirant). It is a very long list of books. I don't know if I'd be able to absorb all that material in the limited time to prepare for this exam. What are your thoughts?

As of now, I have the PM BOK 6th, APG and the PMP class from Udemy for resources.

What day and time would you like to start meeting to go over what we've read and our problem areas?

I to want to put this behind me as soon as possible so that I can continue with my normal life. For the last few months it's been all about PMP. I've been kind of neglecting everything to ensure that I had a understanding of what I needed to pass the exam. My job paid for a bootcamp for me back in March, and anything additional will be on me as well. How do you like the exam prep with Joseph Phillps thus far? It seem like it's fairly inexpensive compared to these other prep courses out there. I think we will definitely learn from each other by going through the lesson plan. I believe the real learning will come when we start to take focus quizzes on what we have read. This prepcast simulator will be excellent for testing our knowledge. It would be cool if after each assignment for the week if we all could test our knowledge using the same bank of questions and then bring the questions to the table to discuss as a group on why the particular question gave us a problem and try to understand that particular topic.

Sharon, if possible, I would also like to join your study group. I haven't taken the PMP exam yet and need to put together a study guide. I'm in NC (EST) and can meet on the weekend.

That's sounds good. I plan to meet also on weekends. Keep up with these posts and we will post what time and days we will meet. In an earlier post I posted a study plan. Your input is welcomed.

Team,
Which study plan do you want to use? Based on the posts, it sounds like we are going to use the study plan based on chapters. As we read the chapters and APG, let's see about answering the tasks related to these chapters and APG. Then when we meet we can discuss our answers together. (we would be answering the tasks after reading the APG and associated chapters).

Sharon

I'm flexible....Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I don't plan on doing any traveling until this test is behind me. My work schedule is 7am-3:30PM EST through the week and I typically have weekends off. Also, I'm normally up pretty late on Fridays & Saturdays. Through the week I normally take it down about 11:00PM-11:30PM EST.

I'm aware of the 10 reference books listed by PMI, but based on my research I don't think we will have to cover every book on the list. I think we just need to be consistent and focus on the books that we all have which is the PMBOK 6th edition, & Agile Practice Guide. I think it's still to early to tell honestly. I don't think we can go wrong with following the study plan though and I believe as we start using the simulator, which is one of the best out there if it's not the best, we will know if we need to grab another book from the reference list. I'm interested to see what kind of information that PMI is going to put out there with this class that they are offering for free later this month. Starting Monday, everyday counts towards our path to success to defeat this exam.

I am going to purchase Joseph course as well since it's inexpensive...Thanks

I just want to be clear on what the focus is for week 1 starting Jan 4th? We are reading Chapter 2 in the PMBOK Guide and chapter 2 & chapter 3 in the Agile Practice guide, right?

My work schedule 0600-3PM PST and I don't work weekends. Mondays and Fridays I have to drive into work but on T, W, and Th I work from home so I can meet any time after 3pm PST (6pm EST). On Mondays and Frdays, I can meet after 4PM PST (7pm EST) and any time on weekends. We can exchange phone numbers. Then have a conference call for the meetings.

Sharon