Wow! I passed the exam on October 2, 2020. I scored 4 above target and one at target.
The road to becoming a PMP was a journey with lots of ups and downs that took me over one year. I started the process in July 2019 with the plan to complete my PMP in 2020. I first signed up for PMI membership in July 2019 and started my application. This process took some time as need to detail work experience and complete the contact hours requirements. I signed up for the PM PrepCast for the contact hours with completion in early March 2020. This year of 2020 added the global pandemic to life and seemed to put things on hold for a while. I submitted my PMI application in May 2020. I was not sure of what to do for a while. In July, the exam was available online and I needed to set a new plan. I signed up for a four week PMP Exam Prep Course from early August to early September. I was planning on taking the exam online, but after reviewing the requirements, I decided to take the test at the test center. The rest is now history..
My Tools:
PM PrepCast, PM Exam Simulator, PM Formula Guide, PMP Summary Success Sheet
I would provide three tips to those in process of getting their PMP.
1) Study: Study the PMBOK® Guide until you know the material well. This will take much discipline and effort. Study the definitions until you know the difference. Use examples to make things clearer. Know the exact process names. Understand how each of the knowledge areas interact. I would highly recommend the PM PrepCast as a great tool that brought the PMBOK® Guide to life. The first time I went through the PM PrepCast and the PMBOK® Guide for the contact hours was like learning a foreign language with lots of new terminology. However, the 2nd time the material will start making more sense. It really will. I would suggest taking a preparation class. This motivated me to go through the materials again. This requires many hours of studying each day, for many weeks. Try to spend three to six hours per day studying. I found going through the videos and the PMBOK® Guide together assisted in learning the materials. I also created about 200 notecards on key items or definitions to go back and review. Have a plan on when will take the exam. I needed to adjust my plan but got in back on track with the preparation class, then taking the simulation exams. I really focused on studying the materials for two-and a half months. I signed up in September for the exam at the test center for October 2.
2) Simulation Exams: Taking practice exams is a critical step for preparing for the actual exam. Take as many PMP practice exams as possible. I highly recommend the PM PrepCast Exam Simulator. I took the 7 exams or 1400 questions to help prepare. I was ready for the simulation exams by after 5 weeks of studying or around the end of the 4 weeks preparation class. This will help you enforce what you know and also teach you what you don’t know. After taking the exam, it is very important to go through all the questions that were answered incorrectly and even correctly. This is where much of my deeper learning took place. There were many questions with two answers that seemed correct. Read the questions carefully and eliminate incorrect name choices when asking for process name. Going through the answers helped to clarify the material, really highlighting the true correct answer. I recommend going through the incorrect questions first reviewing the pages in the PMBOK® Guide referenced. Also, go quickly through the questions answered correctly as some may have been guesses. Going through the exam will take as long or longer than the actual four-hour exam, but the evidence will be shown on your next exam scores. Work on meeting the exam timing to answer 200 questions in 4 hours. Each question should take on average of 72 seconds. Check after the 1st hour should have reached 50 questions, the 2nd hour to 100 questions, 3rd hour to 150 questions and the 4th hour completing 200 questions). Check these milestones times during the simulation exams and keep moving quickly through the questions. With simulation exam scores in the 70-80% range, I was ready for the exam.
3) Have a Positive Attitude and Believe in Yourself: Becoming PMP certified is a long process and there will be many challenges to achieving your goal. There may be many obstacles, such as work, family or even a pandemic. I would suggest on completing and submitting the application process before truly focusing on your studies. There are a lot of new terms, processes and definitions to go through. I felt self-doubt at times, when I failed simulation exam #2, but learned that I needed to study more to be ready to take the real exam. I continued studying, learning and taking more practice exams. I reviewed the all the simulation exam questions and my learning and test scores continued to increase. I can say I was still nervous about the exam on exam day and continued to study each day until the exam. Have a positive attitude and believe in yourself. You can achieve your goal and you will!
