Passed PMP in my First attempt in Seven Weeks.
Glad to announce here that I aced PMP on 23rd Sep at Westlake village CA. seeing the word “Congratulation is a lifetime experience that popped up within a fraction of a second right after I hit “submit”. It was a daunting task to handle 200 questions with moderate to severe degree of vague scenarios. Pattern of questions were simple 2 lines for majority of the questions (90%). Questions look simply but they were challenging and very similar to Prepcast Simulators.
I feel like I should share my experience as every single post rendered that I have gone through here and at other platform rendered its contribution towards attaining the success that I have in my lap today so sharing my experience and few words of suggestions that aspirants will definitely find useful & beneficial .
EXAM GOAL SET
I started my prequalification 35hrs PDU on 10th of July 2020 ,completed in 10 days than it took me around 3-4 days to prepare a perfect draft that suits to my satisfaction , submitted and received my approval on 4th day from the date of submittal . with approval in my hand I was fully determined to focus and streamline my studies. I set my goal upfront so within next two days I planned exactly what would be my date of exam after surfing around the Pearson vue available location. I got only spot on 23rd Sep at Westlake Village that was 2 hr. drive from my home here in CA, so I decided to rent a hotel the day before for night stay (i.e. 22nd Sep).
Note: when you set a goal, you have to make it without any exception. This was the baseline that I was following.
Study material and Hours:
7 Weeks of consistent studies plus 5 hrs. and 10-11 hrs. on weekend. (changes study place three times suggestion. please double check which corner of you house will fit best. I had zero distraction but the comfort level and scenic view from window prompted me to change my desk that frequently.
Another suggestion is the hard copy of PMBOK guide that I would strongly recommend. I only received on 3rd Sep when I was hardly 20 day out from my scheduled exam.
Rita Book
PMBOK Guide (both soft and hard copy)
PMExams Training and study material
PM prepcast Simulators only I guess I paid around $150
Lot of notes including Excel and power BI tools to filter out ITTO as needed.
You tube Video by Saket Bansal (Izenbridge)
You tube video by Varun Anand (Eduhub spot)
Ricardo Vargas Process chart (I took print out and sticked on my desk)
Oliver Lehmann 200 question (not in real time scale)
Excellent tutorial on Risk management
pmbasics101.com/really-best-risk-response-strategy/
Ethics & Code of conduct, Exam content outline
Math is my favorite subject so hardly browsed the formulae’s EVM and critical path Float were the easiest part that I hardly could work upon nor got chance because of tight timeline.
I practiced most of my incorrect answers and took notes reviewed notes to analyze what made me think the way I should not think. where was the gap what approach should I use? each day I was doing 100 question and reviewing wrong and right answers. I roughly practiced around 3800- 3900 questions.
I concluded that a perfect mix of understanding and cramming is the result towards success. As understanding only is no enough as you swing will understand everything but in exam or after few days everything will be wiped out unless you have crammed that naturally so that you can recall as and when you want without stressing your mind.it might differ but this is my experience .
ISSCQRCRPS=10 KA
7664363734=49 Processes
This was my secret formulae that I used all the time to take full grasp on the process groups.
I had ITTO chart for all knowledge areas that was basis of my studies to corelate different process
I started attempting Simulator from Mid Aug and till 20th Sep that was my last day to study per my plan.
Initially I was scored 66 percent that I improved to 85 to 92 percent in the last 10 days of my preparation.
Unlike one sitting of 4 hrs. I used to mirror the current pattern of exam that has 10 min break after 89question.so I used to wrap up my face with mask with my glass on used mobile timer and attempted all my simulator exam . just keep reviewing both right and wrong answers naturally develop an approach one needs to follow during the exam.
Exam Day
Breakfast :2 banana +2 boiled Eggs+ ¾ Dairy Milk Chocolate. I woke up early in the morning (4:30 AM) took some water stopped water consumption after 6:00 AM onwards
As I stated earlier, I did everything by 20thSep and then just light brush up on 21st even sung few songs to take the stress out of my head. Please make sure that you are in light and relaxing mood so as to combat the examination stress with your full energy.
Note: I started getting up early in the morning (from 11th Sep onwards) that way I could adapt exactly the way my body should behave on the Exam day 23rd Sep.
You have to wear mask full time so please make sure that your mask is very light and good quality as you will need oxygen to keep your mind healthy and. My glasses were getting foggy when I was wearing the mask and breathing so I practiced the cheat by lowering it barely to cover my nose.
On the exam day I was there at Centre at 7:15AM while I was supposed to reach at 7:30for my 8:00 o clock start time.
Ok the tip of the day : “A “Never ever give up just think you are being chased by 10 Alsatian dogs or in other words “Bayou are driving on Golden gate bridge and how imp is for you to hold your steering tight when you are driving for the very first time. You will face lot of trough and crest during exam as its really challenging and hard so (perfect combination of cramming and understanding will work with the utmost pressure and time clock ticking on your head you won’t have enough time to research in depth analysis. Rather your gut feeling inspired by tons of experience that you have mastered with practice exams will deliver the right response.
I knew I was lagging too much in first half, so I decided not to waste time on one of the math questions I marked rather I opted to take break after 89th question. I took a bite, had sip of water, used restroom and just used 5 min thinking that I will take rest for balance 5 min but instructor did not allow and asked me to hit “Resume” so I lost that break time as I came back to my desk. Also, she replaced my Dry board after the break.
I really knew that I had to increase my pace in second half luckily, I could manage to finish my exam with 4 min remaining wherein I reviewed couple of marked question and then hit submit. To my surprise that was the happiest and unique experience when I saw the word” Congratulations” and that was it all my hard work paid off. Indeed, it was a lifetime achievement.
Key to success: Hard work, Focus, consistency and maintaining uniform energy level throughout your study plan , Streamlined approach ,
Key to success on exam day: Fresh and healthy body, decent and light food, keep your self light and constantly follow principle A & B as stated above.
Good luck I hope my experience would help all aspirant to line up their plan and utilize some lesson learned for securing their success.
