TOPIC: How I passed the PMP (on 1st try) on May 6, 2014!!

Hi Cornelius and friends,

I passed the PMP exam yesterday!! These are my proficiencies:

Initiation - MP
Planning - P
Executing - P
M&C - MP
Closing - P

Here are the materials I used:

1. Parallel Project Training Podcasts (This was what dymystified PMBOK Guide for me and I moved to PM Prepcast)
2. PM Prepcast
3. Rita Mulcahy PMP Exam Prep 8th Edition
4. Pmlessonslearned.com Podcasts
5. PM Exam Simulator (Answered all 1800 questions)
6. PM FASTrack PMP v8 (Answered all 1600 questions)
7. PMBOK Guide


PM FASTrack PMP v8 (Rita Mulcahy)

Exam 1 Failed the Exam (59.5%) - This was like a pre-test, I just wanted to have a feel of the exam.
Exam 2 Need More Practice (66.3%)
Exam 3 Need More Practice (70%)
Exam 4 Great Work! (77%)
Exam 5 Great Work! (79%)
Exam 6 Need More Practice (73%)
Exam 7 Great Work! (80%)
Exam 8 Great Work! (85.5%)


PMP Exam Simulator (Cornelius Fichtner)

Exam 1 Pass (81%)
Exam 2 Pass (85%)
Exam 3 Pass (84%)
Exam 4 Pass (82%)
Exam 5 Pass (85%)
Exam 6 Fail (78%)
Exam 7 Pass (84%)
Exam 8 Fail (77%)
Exam 9 (ITTO Questions only) Pass (94%)

My Story

I started studying January 1, 2014 (Getting the PMP was my new year resolution:) ). I got my 35 contact hours from PM prepcast. I had 23/25 in my final assessment test. I joined the PMI and I submitted my application and got an email after 3 days to "Continue with my Application". This required me to pay PMP Exam fee. As soon as I submitted the payment, I just saw "Your PMP application is being Audited". Here comes the dreaded application audit!

I had told my boss about my application (He is a PMP) and also helped review it before I submitted it. The audit went very smooth. I mailed out the audit package on Monday (around noon) and it was delivered to them by USPS on Wednesday morning. By noon I got an email that I had passed the audit. I immediately scheduled my test.

On the test day, I did some workout on the elliptical to reduce some stress . I got to the test center one hour early and I was allowed to start immediately. I made sure I answered each question as I progressed (selected an option even if I was not sure) and marked the ones I was not sure of.

I had about 30 minutes left when I eventually went through all 200 questions. I started my review and I noticed I had marked 40 questions! This meant I had less than a minute to review each one. I was on 38th or 39th review question when the time ran out. I was pretty confident I was going to pass.

Then came the survey...I was too eager to see the much awaited "Congratulations..." and opted out of the survey (Yes you can - you don't have to get stressed out for another 15 minutes answering survey questions ).

One word of advice - Please know Risk, Time and Cost management like the back of your hand. You will see a lot of questions on these Knowledge areas - and you have to be prepared for them. Also the answers aren't as straight forward as in exam simulators. You really need to know how the processes interact to figure out the right answer.

That's my story folks. I am now a PMP!

BR/Ayo O

Good Job!

Congrats