Hi all,
I am pleased to share that I passed the PMP exam on my first try with 4AT and 1T (Closing PG). Below my summary of the preparation for the exam and the actual exam as such.
1. Preparation
I was heading to sit the exam either in March or in April earlier this year. Then Covid-19 came, test centers were closed and PMI announced the launch of the online proctored exam. So, I decided to hit the reset button and prepare for an online exam. By that time I had purchased and read twice Rita's book and had taken her exam questions included in the book. I read a lot about the immense benefit a simulator has for a successful clearance of the exam. So I decided to purchase one and found the PMP prepcast simulator. Based on the positive reviews I purchased the simulator and the recorded lessons by Cornelius. That happened end of May. I started listening to the lessons and was progressing against my study plan. By that time I had not any idea as of when I wanted to sit the exam. Lessons learned #1: Book a date in the future, tailor your study and practice schedule according to it and have this target on your mind. Otherwise, you may tend to procrastinate because there will always be new things to repeat, reinforce, etc. Hence, I booked September 2 (end of July), knowing that I had the learning experience in the past and wanted to focus on mock exams next.
2. PMP prepcast simulator
Indeed, this was the tie breaker to me. Lessons learned #2: No matter which (and I strongly recommend using the prepcast one) simulator you select, you must go through this experience. Why? Because it actually puts you in a real exam situation and you can sense what it feels like to have 4 hours and 200 questions ahead of you. Lessons learned #3: I recommend you take the full blown tests of 200 questions each vs. smaller increments of 20-50 questions due to following reasons: 1. The smaller tests use the same question pool as the 200-question tests and 2. You have the real life experience that build your confidence, resilience and stamina. I took 6 of 7 available tests (without ITTOs) and scored between 72% and 79% on my first attempt. All passed as per the prepcast but shy of the 80% mark I was looking for. Yes, this means I spend close to 24 hours in mock exams but this was really helpful. The questions resemble the ones in the real exam.
3. Lessons learned #4: Spot your weak or weaker areas of knowledge or the ones where you were scoring lower than the rest. I did so and guess what, I got a lot of questions during the actual exam from the areas I focused on in my final preparation. This may have been a coincidence but I would rather say: prepare for the worst and see what happens during the actual exam.
4. Exam day
I opted in for an online proctored exam. 30 minutes prior to the actual start of your appointment you can log in and complete your online check-in. The check-in took me around 15 minutes. No issues whatsoever with taking pictures of the room, myself and the ID card. Few minutes later the content was loaded on to the screen. Lessons learned #5: Opt in for the tutorial. It provides you with valuable information about the navigation, review of questions, icons to keep in mind etc. And it kind of eases the transition to the actual exam that follows. Whiteboard: was OK to use for the network diagrams and the calculations. Calculator is kind of basic but you don't need to compute complex stuff anyway. Strike-through and highlight: helped a lot when selecting the answers. Caveat: you select the entire text and then select the option to strike-through or highlight from the bar above. Technical difficulties: almost none. Not a single chat with the proctor. Only once I got a popup message and the screen disappeared but within a minute at most everything was back. And then no issues whatsoever. Break was after question 89. You can opt out but I recommend: Opt in for it. Lessons learned #6: Use the break to wipe out the thoughts on the exams for 10 minutes. It helps a lot when you come back. And yes, I reviewed my flagged questions. You don't have more than a minute and something for each question.
5. Hit the submit button
I got 2 minutes to spare and said to myself: Enough flagged questions reviewed, it's time to submit. It didn't last 10 seconds and the message came that I passed. Went quickly through the surveys and that was it.
When I logged on to the test provider's platform, I was able to see under my exam reports that I was AT in all but closing (T). E-mail from PMI received shortly after I had posted my initial post. Hence the edit now.
I would like to thank the prepcast team for this journey and wish all prospective test takers lots of success!
