TOPIC: Simulator vs PMI practice exam

I have given 5 full exams on simulator and got 82.5%, 76.5%, 78.5%, 78.5% and 81.5% so far
Today i tried PMI site's free 200 questions exam. the details of the questions are not clear like prepcast site's. I am getting most of them wrong.
Any one have experience trying both?
I have prepared exclusively on prepcast, i felt very confident that if the questions are like prepcast i would pass. Now i am concerned.
Can anyone please shed some light?

Thanks
Lavanya

Hi Lavanya,
I understand how it can be frustrating.
But I think one of the best things to do after completing a simulator exam, as you said that you've already completed 5 of them, it is to do a review of all your answers and the comments provided.
It is essential to know why your answers were correct or no. That means, do not review only your wrong answers.
The comments provided in the simulator is the key; they will help you to know the WHY.
If you get that you should be able to do much better.
I hope this could help.

Hey Lavanya,

Ya, the Prepcast exams are great, though the questions lack the ambiguity that the sample PMI exam does. And from what others have said, we may expect the real PMP exam to be like the sample, i.e., ambiguous, lacking sufficient detail, and requiring us to infer (a ton).

I have yet to score well on the PMI sample, though I do great on the Prepcast exams, all seven.

I asked around this topic and Devin provided a good reply/suggestion here .

Hi Lavanya,

I haven't tried the PMI prep test, but I cleared my exam yesterday using only Prepcast to prep for the test. I was scoring 75%-82% so I'd say you should be good for the actual test.

The actual exam was very similar to Prepcast.

CDT

Hi I agree that the PMI exam practice is quite frustrating. I have done four of Prepcast mock exams so far. and most of it i can understand the explanation which is usually very detailed. even if i dont agree with the answer, i can at least understand how it was being arrived. The PMI exam seems to look a little different for some people. In my case, if i get it wrong, it does not highlight what is the correct answer. and the explanation is just vague and gives me no clue sometimes. And it being this unclear, and it pops out immediately to tell you if you are right or wrong immediately on submit is not helpful. because it frustrates me everytime i dont understand why my answer is wrong, the explanation is not clear, and i cannot deduce what is the right answer.

I kind of gave up on doing the PMI questions for now. I might go back to it after i have finished prepcast, if i still have time. my gut feel is, most people dont get the PMI practise exams before they launched it, so i dont think it is a dealbreaker if you dont do it

I gave my exam today and passed in 1st try.
I'd say not all actual exam questions are that vague but yes some are and a lot will make you think between 2 answer choices..so you have to select best.

I got 76% first time in PMI exam and then 84% I'm second.

What I have learned is that a solid understanding of PMBOK concepts and prep cast questions should be enough. I read RMC as well but when I started doing prepcast..i found that I liked PMBOK more..so read it 3 times (1st part only).

So..I think you should be fine . Just breath and revise your concepts and do as many as prep cast questions you can.

Good luck!

Hi Community,

Real exam language is clear enough, and I did not find a single question, where I did have problems to understand what is asked.

Wish you luck and will post my lessons learned in the separate folder.

Stay healthy and keep on!
Irena

Hey Lavanya, did you attempt the real exan yet?
I agree with your post. I have beem doing decently well in prep cast simulator and rita's practice question. But the Free PMI sample exam screwed me up.. Few questions were vague.. One example : which document would you refer to? The answer turns out to be stakeholder engagement plan..
How can a plan be a document.. Very frustrating experience.. So just wanted to know.. Is the real exam ambiguous too?

Where is the PMI sites free 200 questions exam located. I do not see it for some reason.

I did the prep cast exam 3 times (79%, 84%, 87.5%) and the PMI mock exam once (66.5%).

I think there are about 20-25% of ambiguous questions with 2 or more seemingly right answers. The rest are fairly straightforward. I would say the prepcast exams prepares you well for the straightforward questions, but what really helped in understanding the ambiguous questions was the PMI mock exam.

Would advise reviewing the PMI mock exam in detail as it prepares you for the ambiguous questions. For these ambiguous questions, you have to understand the exactly which process group you are in. And there is a difference between if the PM needs to first update issue log vs risk register vs change request vs escalating to sponsor depending on the scenario. Depending on process group and scenario, there is also a difference between updating stakeholder register vs stakeholder engagement plan vs stakeholder analysis (interview/meeting). These are minor differences but reviewing the PMI mock exam helped me understand this small differences, and makes you feel confident and in control when you face these ambiguous questions.

I will never know if I got those questions right, but at least I felt confident and in control to analyse the question and give myself a higher chance of getting the question correct. Confidence is really important to make sure you are in the right state of mind to take on the remaining questions that are more straightforward.

So both sets of questions are really important. But give yourself more time to review and understand the PMI mock exam.