TOPIC: Just passed PMP exam on first try, AT at all domains, 2 weeks crash prep

Hi everyone,

I just passed my PMP exam today on my first try and would like to share some of my experience here and hope it's useful for other fellow exam takers.





Preparation:

I took my PMP certification course 8 months ago and only manage to get my exam ticket approved recently and set my exam for 18th Dec to force myself to not procrastinate any further. I forgot most of what I picked up from the course and had to go back to studying from scratch.

For that, I went with Rita Mulcahys PMP Exam Prep 10th Edition and went through briefly on all the chapters over the course of 7 days, going through an average of 2 chapters per day after work. I did the test questions after every chapter and did pretty average, from 60%-80% range. This was from 3rd Dec - 10th Dec.

I then started using PrepCast to test my knowledge from 11th Dec to 17th Dec, and I managed to do 650 questions with an average time of 36 secs per question, getting 486 questions correct which gave me a score of 72.37%. I did not attempt any learning quizzes and went straight to timed quizzes as I was really close to my exam date already.

I also took all 4 full exam simulations, and scored as below:
Exam Name Date Duration Questions Per Q Correct Correct %
PMP Exam 1 14/12/2021 14:46 2:47:54 180 0:00:56 130 72.20%
PMP Exam 2 15/12/2021 15:04 2:21:24 180 0:00:47 139 77.20%
PMP Exam 3 16/12/2021 15:39 2:31:50 180 0:00:51 144 80.00%
PMP Exam 4 17/12/2021 14:54 2:26:42 180 0:00:49 144 80.00%

I reviewed all marked questions and wrongly answer questions after I was done, making sure I understood why I got the question wrong and what was wrong with my thought processes.

Exam Day:

I slept earlier and continued reviewing exam 4 on the day of the exam. As I did not have any more time to do more revision, I just wrote down some formulas to memorize and jumped straight to taking the exam.

I took a proctored exam from home, and I was initially scared as I read some of the other's experience was less than pleasant. You will need to check in about 30 mins early as it takes about 15-20 mins to setup and complete all the checks. You will need to take 4 photos of the front, back and sides of your table setup as well as your ID.

However I was happy that my check in went smoothly and the proctor even wished me all the best before I started! On the whole I took the exam in peace with nary a peep from the proctors, although they claimed my webcam was down and restarted my exam session twice (don't worry, you will resume from where they closed, the time won't be counted against you) even though I could see myself in the recording all the way through.

I timed myself to limit myself to 75 mins for the first two 60 question sets, and 80 mins for the last 60 question set. If you looked at my trial exam timings, you will noticed I blitzed through those questions but I honestly felt that the questions were longer in the actual exam as compared to the trial exam questions. I did spend an average of 15-20 mins going through questions I flagged and a couple of questions I intentionally left blank to return to after.

The whole exam session will be 230 mins + 20 mins set aside for 2 10 mins break in between set 1 - set 2 and set 2 - set 3. You will have a whiteboard to write formulas or some notes, and also be able to flag questions, highlight or even strikethrough words during the exam.

My experience has been that the questions from PrepCast were more straight forward than the ones I got in the exam, but thankfully because I had already trained myself to think about the question as a whole (please read both the questions and even the answers carefully as a single word can make a huge difference between it being the correct answer and one that's supposed to trick you). It's usually easy to eliminate 2 answers but the remaining 2 will require some thinking. Something that helped me a lot is to always relate the answer back to what the question is asking and to always understand what the question is asking. For example, if it's asking something in relation to risks, eliminate any answers that do not relate to risk.

Overall the exam felt tougher than the ones from PrepCast but I am glad that I managed to clear it. Do take the preparation seriously and if I had more time I would definitely aim to complete all the questions in this exam bank to have felt better prepared.

You will immediately see a message congratulating you once you have submitted the exam in if you have passed. You should also receive an email giving you a link to check your score report to see how well you did almost instantly after finishing the exam. Congratulations if you have passed! Definitely not an easy exam.

I wish everyone all the best and good luck!

Congratulations on passing the exam. Your details will be very helpful to others in terms of preparation and planning. It's very important to plan out the process as you did and ensure you allot sufficient time block (and contingency time for any hiccups) as you prepare to take the exam. Double check internet connections and make sure gamers are off the network during your exam so you are able to use full bandwidth etc, depending on your location.

Congratulations Pei Ling, PMP!

Thank you for sharing your Lessons Learned. They are very helpful.

When you are ready to start earning PDU’s for PMP recertification, check out the PM PrepCast’s offerings, The PM Podcast and the The PDU Podcast which will help you keep up with PMI’s Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR’s) and maintain your new certification.