TOPIC: Cleared PMP with Proficient in all process groups

Study Material

1. Rita -> 1 time
2. PMBOK 5th Edition -> 2 times
3. PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct -> 2 times
4. Rajesh Nair Notes located at pmzilla.com/comprehensive-pmp-notes -> Very useful for quick review
5. www.deepfriedbrainproject.com/2011/03/co...ncepts-pmp-capm.html -> Make sure you understand the differences of the closely related words/concepts
6. www.pmpnotes.com/ -> Review the Knowledge areas (not mandatory but useful for quick review)

7. Printouts
Took the printouts of Table 3-1 and ITTO's of each Knowledge Area from PMBOK 5th Edition and reviewed them frequently during the preparation. If possible try to remember all the 47 processes in the Table 3-1. This will help you in gaining the expertise on the Process Framework, and rememembering input-output flow from one process to other. It is not mandatory to remember all the ITTO's but have a good understanding of the usage of tools & techniques

8. Study Notes
Maintained a list of topics with which I was not comfortable/ didn't understand completely while reading/ answered incorrectly during the exams. Reviewed the PMBOK again specifically for these topics and general resources in the internet to gain deeper understanding


Practice tests

I took several practice tests on internet. Below are my scores which will help you in setting your baseline. It is necessary to spend enough time to review the mistakes and the understand those concepts in detail in order to increase your score in subsequent tests. Also, I noticed that my scores increased significantly once I was able to remember most of the ITTO's. Please note that HeadFirst and PMStudy are the last exams that I took before the final exam.

Edwel programs -> 76%
Oliver Lehman -> 77%
PM Prepcast (paid) -> 75-80%
HeadFirst -> 83%
PMstudy -> 88%


During the exam:

1. Listed down the 47 process grouping mapping and all the formulae (PMBOK pg: 224, PERT calculations, PTA) in first 7 mins. I could remember all of them in my head but wrote it down on the paper to avoid making mistakes under stress

2. Answered first 20 questions really carefully reading each question twice. I wanted to gauge the complexity of the exam and see if there are trying to trick me in choosing the wrong answer. But noticed that most of the questions were straightforward and only few were tricky

3. Completed first 100 questions in 2 Hours and then took a 7 minute break. It is important to refresh yourself during the break. I had my favorite protein drink during the break

4. Decided to increase my speed as I felt comfortable with the question patterns. My goal was to review all the questions and avoid timeout situation. I have blindly marked any question that is lengthy and would require me to spend more than a minute to answer it. With this strategy I was able to complete next 95 questions in 100 minutes. I had spare time of 20 minutes to answer the 5 left over questions and review few questions that I marked for further review

5. Finally ended the exam with around 10 minutes available. I was confident that I would pass the test, but was eager to see the proficiency levels. After a quick Prometric survey I saw that I scored Proficient in all the process groups

6. I found that few topics where tested repeatedly with various scenarios. Don't be afraid to choose the same answer multiple times (8 in my case) if you are confident that it is the correct answer. My recommendation is don't skip any topics during your preparation. If you are unlucky the same topic can repeat multiple times which might result in low score or even failure



I would like to thank all the people who have shared their experience earlier which helped me a lot in setting up my strategy for the exam. Finally, I would like to thank my dearest wife and 2 year old daughter for sacrificing their family time and allowing me to focus on the exam preparation.

Hope that the above information is useful to you and wish you the very success for your PMP certification!


Best Regards,
Manoj Aerroju

Congratulations Manoj! Thanks for sharing the experience.

Congrats Manoj,