TOPIC: Passed PMP in the first attempt - Online Proctored exam!

I took my PMP Online proctored exam on Aug 6th and passed with 4ATs and 1T. Prepcast and the forum helped me prepare and here are some of my takeaways/Lessons learnt-

Preparation time - I prepared for a little less than 4 months. I am on maternity leave and this was a personal goal for me to get my PMP certification before heading back to work. Since I have a little one, I was able to study for 1.5-2 hours every night and about 4 hours on weekends. Consistency is key and being prepared on what to expect in the exam really helped me calm my nerves during the actual exam.

Study material -
I went through the Prepcast videos and PMBOK simultaneously when I started the prep. After getting my 35 hours through prepcast, I decided to go through Rita Mulachy prep and also went through the PMBOK guide for the second time. Rita helps put a few things in simple language which can be redundant if you only go through the PMBOK guide. This process overall took me 2 months to go through the content. I then went through some free mock tests online to get a feel of the questions and how prepared I was.

The Simulator by far is a must buy and the most important piece of preparation for me. The type of questions definitely were close to what I got in my actual exam. Sitting through the 4 hour mock exam helped me build stamina on what to expect on the final day. I spent a lot of time reviewing the exam - both what I got incorrect and correct in detail. The simulator gives you a % of where you are scoring low. After every exam I would go through those sections in detail in the PMBOK guide. So overall I must have gone through the guide a few more times focusing on areas I was scoring low. My mock exam (200 Qs - 4hours) were 73%, 73%, 83%, 78%, 85%, 77%, 79%. I took ITTO separately as learning quizzes.

Some videos that helped during prep and the ones I went through very often in the weeks leading up to my exam -

Ricardo Vargas Processes explained -

PMBOK Guide Mainline -

Outputs for PMP - Very helpful -

ITTO practice (he has a few videos for each process and situational questions) -

Earned value explanation -

For me personally, these videos were great to remember some of the key concepts. I could go back to these in my head while I was answering questions on the exam!

THE FINAL EXAM -

I gave the online proctored exam at home. The overall experience was very smooth. The proctor called me on my laptop and asked me to resend the picture of my ID via a link she sent me. I had no other issues throughout the exam. Timing wise I did better compared to the Simulator mock exams. I took the break after the 89th question, still had about 150 min left then. Took 5 min during that break. The 2nd half was completed 25 min before time and I was happy to see "CONGRATULATIONS" on the screen.

Type of questions - They were definitely comparable to the Simulator questions. In terms of wordiness, they were less wordy than the Simulator so that was a relief.
I had about 10 questions for calculations (straight forward) - EV, PV, CPI, Critical Path and one from Contracts. A lot of situational questions on what would you do next or what would you have done otherwise.
There were only a couple of questions from AGILE. Maybe 1 odd question that I had no idea about.
For most of the questions I had doubts between 2 answer choices and used some of the things I learnt to eliminate during my mock exams. The strike through feature on the actual exam worked fine for me. You get 10 min to review how the tools can be used before the exam starts, so I could test the calculator, strike through feature, notepad etc before the exam started.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with the online exam. No major glitches, everything went smoothly.

This forum really helped me prepare for the exam and I would be more than happy to answer any specific questions anyone who is going to take the exam in the near future has!

ALL THE BEST !

Thanks
Ritika

Thank you for you post. I have scheduled my exam on Sep 8.
I have question regarding, are we allow to use calculator, notepad, scratch pad/blank paper or we should relay on calculator/notepad tools available in the simulator ?
My exam in Online and will be giving it from my home.

Regards,
Yusef

Hi Yusef,

During your actual exam you are allowed nothing except your laptop and mouse. Your phone needs to be at an arms distance in case the proctor needs to call you for technical issues.
The exam has inbuilt tools which you can use. you get 10 min at the start to test these tools before the exam starts.
Calculator is like the windows online calculator, pretty basic
For the notepad/scratchpad it is exactly this - www.mba.com/exams/gmat-online/prepare-fo...am/online-whiteboard
I suggest you practice mock exams using this whiteboard including Critical path diagrams. I used this for my practice tests and had no issues in the actual exam

Hope that helps!

Hi Ritika,

Thank you for your suggestion. This really helped me.

Regards,
Yusef.

Hi Ritika,
Congratulations on your success and thanks for sharing your PMP experience with people like me who has the exam in a couple of
days.I've a question in this regard.After 89th question, we get a 10 min. break after which you do NOT have access to the previous
questions Am I right? Does this mean I need to use those 10 mins either for break or to review the previously answered questions?
What if i want to review and also would like to take a break? How do I manage?
Please help on this.

Thanks,
Sravanthi

Hi Sravanthi,

After question 89, you get an option to review questions - this could include the ones you have flagged or any others you would like to review. The clock is still ticking at this time. Once you are done with the review you need to press "End Review". Once you end review your break for 10 minute begins. At this time the clock stops. Post your break the clock starts again and you are at ques 90. You cannot go back and review the preview questions and can only move forward from ques 90 until the end of the exam.

Hope that clarifies. Good luck!

Thanks for the clarification, Rithika.

Regards,
Sravanthi

Congratulations! I'm in the U.S. What country did you take the exam? I'm so nervous. I'm almost done with taking another PMP training class and will spend the next following weeks to do the prepcast simulator and will sit for the exam at the end of the month.

Hi Talibah, I am in Canada!

Don't think location makes much of a difference

Yes mock exams and Simulator practice is key. I am sure once you take a few you will feel more confident !

All the best !

Hi , My two recent prep cast mock exam are 73% and I am not progressing , what was your strategy to jump from 73% to 83% on your third mock exam.

Thanks

Hi

I reviewed all the questions from the mock exams in detail. Including the ones that I got correct and read the complete explanations of why that answer is correct or wrong. As opposed to previously only reviewing what I got incorrect.

For the sections I got a lower score, I went through that section in detail from the PMBOK guide, I also went through the PMI Exam outline in detail for Initiating and Closing - specifically flow -What comes after what

Good Luck!