TOPIC: How Important is to Memorize "Process Group & Knowledge Area Map" for the exam?

How Important is to Memorize "Process Group & Knowledge Area Map" for the exam & to make cheet sheet?

Hi Omer,
Memorizing them might be a step 1 in your study journey (or might not be actually). What I think though is more important here is for you to understand the logic of sequence in between the 49 processes and how to correlate them to each other in a more concrete manner. The exam is very unlikely to ask direct questions. In fact, you should expect a lot of situational questions that ends with phrases like : what do you do next/what has gone wrong/ what should have been done ..etc". One may struggle with such questions if a solid practical knowledge was not acquired. By going through lots of reading and podcast listening beside of course the legacy of your past experience, the processes are slowly but firmly implanted into your unconscious mind. Quite the opposite, I found memorizing sometimes deactivates my creative thinking and shift my focus off the subject key point.

Good Luck !

Hi Omer,

Many people refer to their cheat sheet as a "brain dump". One part of any brain dump is most certainly the PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition Matrix Chart – Process Groups and Knowledge Areas Mappings on page 25, Table 1-4.

Here's a complete guide from PrepCast about Process Groups and Knowledge Areas and why memorizing them for the exam is important:
PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition Knowledge Areas for Project Management - Process Groups and Processes - The Complete Guide

From Cornelius: A good starting point for preparing for the exam is to memorize the table. Then take some time after you started your exam session to write down your own notes – a crib sheet – before answering the first question. Investing a few minutes of your actual exam time is an excellent way to get this written down, as it allows you to dump all your revision from your brain onto paper so it’s there for you to refer to during the exam. It’s also a good way to relieve stress as you know you’ve got your notes to hand. I call it a brain dump and it should definitely include this table.

I practiced writing out my brain dump several times a week, especially on days that I took a simulated exam. I spent an average of 10-15 minutes and wrote out several formulas at the same time. Here's my Process Group and Knowledge Area matrix:

I found it was easier to identify a process if I had a visual next to me. If I could identify the process, I placed my finger on it on my brain dump as a reminder.

Sometimes this helped with an answer, though I only had a couple of questions directly ask what process I was in on the real exam. I still felt it was a huge help throughout the test and am grateful I took the time to memorize it.

I wish you the best, Omer!

Thanks Lisa

Thanks Mohammad

In my opinion, the brain dump would take too much time out of the valuable time you're given to take the exam.

Memorizing the process names is a good idea because knowing them provides a good reference point to help answer questions such as "what should you do first" or "what should you do next" (because some of the processes have a logical order).

It's also a good idea to remember a few key points for each process, especially for less than obvious ones. This can be done by breaking down the short definition paragraph from the PMBOK Guide into a few key points.

One thing that helps to memorize the names of the 49 processes is to:

1. Organize the processes by knowledge area and process group (as shown in the PMBOK Guide) in an excel worksheet.
2. Start by memorizing by Process Group or from the top down - i.e start with Initiating; 4.1 Project Charter and then 13.1 Identify Stakeholders, and then go to Planning; 4.2 Project Management Plan, 5.1 Plan Scope Management, etc. This makes memorizing them easier than going horizontally.
3. Memorize in chunks of 3-4 processes or by knowledge area.

Also playing Rita's process chart game can help

Omer,

I found that knowing Table 4.1 (see Lisa's picture) to be very helpful in the exam. I did it by creating a deck of 49 index cards with the process names on the front, and on the back the location on the table (i.e. knowledge area) and unique ITTOs associated with each process. Shuffle and sort - then repeat until you can set the cards up exactly like the table. It took me about a week of "free time" practice and I could get them sorted in about 30-45 seconds.

Good luck,

Harry