Hello everyone,
Hope you all are staying safe and healthy .
Well, I just passed my exam day before yesterday via proctored/online exam mode with an "Above Target" overall score. This, undoubtedly, is a great relief after a non uninterrupted preparation of 4-5 months. I would like to briefly share my experience of PMP journey in phases.
PMP Application:
- I completed my 35 contact hours with the online course offered by Sandra M Mitchell on LinkedIn Learning. As I had the luxury of using my corporate account to access LinkedIn Learning, I did it for free. Though this course is highly rated and recommended by industry professionals on many forums for exam preparation, I personally used it just for the sake of completing my contact hours and completing the application requirements
- After having submitted my application, I instantly got an email that my application has been selected for audit as PMI has the policy of auditing random applications. I completed the audit requirements, which in my case was to provide proof of academic education, proof of completed contact hours and verified experience details with a signed declaration by my Project Supervisors/Directors
- My application was accepted within a week of submitting the required documentation.
PMP Prepartion:
- Since, I didn't sign up with any classroom/online exam preparation course, I had to purchase some of the study material online and borrowed the rest from my friend. I used Rita Mulcahy 9th edition and PMBOK 6th edition primarily for my preparation. I started with Rita and went through it thoroughly even trying to attempt the example exercises within the chapters. Afterwards, I read PMBOK, though not as thoroughly as Rita, but more than what most people do in order to relate the concepts I had learned in Rita. Finally, I read Rita once again, but this time, it was more of a rapid read than before.
- I went through a couple of free practice tests in order to gauge my preparedness. These are free and can be accessed at following links. I scored 70-75% in these tests
www.certchamp.com/pmp-sample-questions.jsp
www.project-management-prepcast.com/pmp-...uestions-sample-test
- I scheduled my center based exam for 22nd April 2020, which was 25 days in advance. Finally, I read Rita once again, but this time, it was more of a rapid read than before and attempted following practice tests
www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/100-free-questions.htm
(Scored 80% - Below the test questions, there are some links to free and paid practice tests)
Rita Mulcahy Practice Exam at the end of each chapter( Scored 75% overall score. Scored 60-65% in a 2-3 knowledge areas)
PM Exam Simulator
www.pm-exam-simulator.com/
( Attempted 1432 timed questions out of 1610. Scored 83% of the questions correct in the first attempt)
PMP Exam:
- As my exam date was amidst the restrictions and lockdown, I was worried about my exam getting cancelled. Luckily 8 days before the exam date, PMI launched online exam which was a huge relief. I cancelled my existing booking and rescheduled the exam to online mode on the same day.
- I had tested my system and had setup my workspace as was required in order to avoid any interruption in the exam. The exam started on time, but, after 40 minutes into the exam, the proctor called me through the on-screen chat and complained that my live video was no more available and he was unable to proctor me, though I could see myself in the webcam. After having relaunched the exam two times without getting the issue resolved, the proctor told me that the exam will have to be revoked and the technical team will look into the problem and will notify. Hence, I got a big shock and my exam was terminated. For all natural reasons, I was utterly disappointed and frustrated with PMI and Pearson team for the quality of exam delivery.
- The same day, Pearson team sent me an email apologizing for what happened and provided me with case ID to follow up. A couple of days later, PMI sent me an email with exam report declaring me 'Failed' in the exam. My attempt was counted and on my PMI account dashboard, I could see submit payment for exam option, which was essentially for the rescheduling.
- It took them 7 days to resolve the issue and I finally got the email from PMI notifying that my attempt counter was reset to zero as the attempt was not counted due to a technical issue.
- Lastly, I booked my exam for 5th May and this time it all went smooth ending up with my certification!
- Honestly speaking, the exam gave me tough time as I could not find more than 20% questions being straightforward. The questions were mostly situational and test the candidate' s understanding to full. The options listed rarely had the ideal answer for that scenario and it was about choosing best among the 4 options listed. In most of the questions, 2 of the options could be easily eliminated but the rest 2 were quite close to being the right answer. The exam content and delivery quality was beyond my expectations and big Kudos to PMI for it. I also used the whiteboard to draw the network diagram as there was only question about it. PM Exam Simulator was a big force in driving me towards success. There were not too many direct questions on ITTOs but understanding of ITTOs played big part in understanding the scenario given. There was a break after 120 minutes and I had only completed 90 questions by then. However, I completed my exam with 4 minutes to spare and there was only one question that I had flagged to be reviewed. I scored "Above Target" in all domains except Closing where I performed "Below Target"
At last I would give a very simple advice to all PMP aspirants, "Study hard, be confident and don't give up. You can do it!"
