TOPIC: Cornelius - Need some advice

Hi Cornelius,

I am almost a week away from my exam and I am extremely nervous! I put so much into this and don't want to fail. I have consistently scored around 78% on 3 exams on the simulator. I know that the simulator is not a "guarantee that I will pass, but in your experience what is the pass rate with my scores? Also, although I scored 78% I usually only get two MP and BP in the rest , making me even more nervous because this is obviously not enough to pass the PMP exam. Its difficult to determine my results in comparison of actual pass/fail rate of the PMP.

At this point, should I take learning lesson exams for each knowledge area or attempt to take as many 200q exams as possible?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank in advance

With a week out, and you have done all the recommend learning (Read the PMBOK twice, completed the videos, read an outside book) and took different test, you should be ready. I took a free test the night before my test (not recommend) and scored a 50%. Was not feeling good going into the test, during the test and after. However, I passed. Review your flash cards and write and rewrite your cheat sheets. It will help your recall test day. Best wishes!

Dear Harry,

Cornelius is out of the office for a week or so, so let me reply to your post on top what John has already said.

First of all, there is no a universal recipe for preparation. Each person is different so are the preparation methods. However, based on what you say, you have taken only three simulated exams. There are eight exams in total (plus one ITTO). So you have five more to go. When I was preparing for my "real" exam, I practiced all of the simulated exams. I took one exam per day which usually took me about 3.5 hours to complete and the rest of the day I was spending analyzing my results. So it took me 4 weeks for practicing the exams (I practiced on weekends only) not including 2 months of reading PMBOK Guide, listening to the PrepCast, and reading one of the exam prep books. After completing each simulated exam, I was reviewing not only the incorrectly answered questions but also those that I answered correctly to make sure that I selected the correct answer "intelligently" rather than by a guess. Topics of the questions that I incorrectly answered or guessed, I studied more. Then I moved to the next exam hoping that its results will be better (which indeed were). Then, I moved to the next exam, and so on, until I reached the last one, exam #8, where I scored close to 90%. When I started, my 1st exam score was around 60%. I passed my real one with 4P and 1MP. So my system worked for me. Hopefully, you will find the one that works for you.

Hope it helps. Good luck with the rest of your preparations and definitely with your exam! Don't forget to post your lessons learned once you pass (and I'm sure you will)!