TOPIC: PM PrepCast vs Ritas study guide questions

Im enjoying the prepcast so far...

Ive viewed 90% of the lessons and have a question. Mr Fichtner has repeated several times that the PMI does not try to trick you on the exam. However, Ive taken several practice exams in Ritas PMP study guide and I would consider some of the questions very tricky.

Just wondering if Ritas questions are on the Tricky side or if I do not fully understand the material. Im averaging 70 - 80% on each practice test.
I have not taken the PrepCast Exams yet..

Walter - I started out with PrepCast first and used the Rita M book as a supplemental tool. I don't remember ever thinking that any one set of questions was more difficult or trickier than the others. It is good to compare and contract these two tools together in your exam preparation as the more types of questions you are exposed to the better you will be prepared for the exam. Are you using the PrepCast Exam Simulator? I did use it in my prep and found it to be very close to the type of questions you will be exposed to on the exam. I hope this helps answer your question.

Good Luck

Kevin

Hi Walter,

I, too, used "Rita's book" when studying and I took the practice tests from the book. I do not recall them having been "tricky" in the sense of intentionally misleading. However, the PMP exam questions do require a solid understanding of the terms and usage as laid out in the PMBoK and as presented in the training materials (e.g., PM PrepCast, etc.). As Cornelius states time and again, one must learn to read the questions quite carefully in order to assure clear understanding before attempting to answer. This includes questions that, at times, present some superfluous information that is best ignored when answering - which, I suppose, is sort of "tricky" while still not being unfair. After all, a PM has to wade through droves of irrelevant information on a daily basis.

When I first started studying, I quickly found that most of the time when I missed a question it was because I didn't read thoroughly and then pause to think a moment. I had to make a concerted effort to slow myself down a bit and engage my brain. For others that I got wrong, I delved into the answer to make sure that I understood WHY the correct answers was, indeed, correct.

I would encourage you to really dig into the questions you thought were tricky and see if you can tease out the reason that it seemed so to you. It may help you in progressing in your studies.

Best of luck!

Tracy

Thank you both for your responses. I think Im just over analyzing the questions and making assumptions to each situation.
I am planning to complete all of ritas 14 practice exams, PrepCast Self assessments, then focus on the Exam Simulator the last 2 weeks prior to my exam.

Walter - I agree with both of my colleagues all of the study tools were of benefit, depends on how you learn. For me the PM PrepCast was of the biggest benefit because I could listen as I traveled. If you are making 70% + and have reviewed all the material, you are ready!
Best Wishes
jfw

I also try to follow Rita’s book and strategy described in the book and then take pm prep cast simulator.
What I wanted to ask is : is it credible to follow the strategy described in Rita’s book, aka not cramming the ITTOs, but understanding them? When reading the book, I feel understanding the material quite well as it make sense but I am not sure how much effort one needs to apply to really be able to reproduce all ITTOs . Is it worth spending time on it?

Hi Lina,

when I first went through the PMBOK Guide I thought there would have been no other way for me than to memorise ITTOs, and that worried me a lot because I know I am not good at it at all.
However, as I kept studying and practicing questions through the PMPrepCast Exam Simulator, I realized that—as many recommended—there was no need to memorise them once you are able to understand their role in each process.
I was pretty sure I would have performed very bad on Test Exam #8; instead, to my surprise, I scored 77% on my first attempt!

My recommendation is to just focus on the processes, their goal and outputs, and try to understand what you need to get to those outputs (inputs) and how they need to be processed (tools and techniques) to derive the corresponding outputs.

Hope this helps,

Gabriella