Hello, I passed the PMP exam today on my 1st attempt - AT/AT/AT/AT/NI.
My study plan-
- August- Reading through the PMBOK 6th edition guide in August, using the Ricardo Vargas pdf as a template. This template was a life saver and helped align the concepts. I made notes diligently, and this allowed me to quickly refer if I had a doubt.
- Spent most of September going through the Prepcast videos and lessons for the different modules. Started doing the mock exams (1 per week) towards mid-Sept.
- October was spent completing all the mock exams, going through weak areas (from the statistics), revising PMBOK.
My goal was to finish the exam in October, since I'm pregnant and expecting in November. So I viewed this as a 1-time effort for the foreseeable future and gave it atleast 2-3hr after work on weekdays and longer on weekends.
Prepcast scores- 70%, 74.5%, 75%, 79%, 79.5% and 82.5% (first time without having done any quizzes based on the exams, never repeated any full length exams). I did not do the ITTO exam. The first exam I finished with 30min to spare, and only while reviewing answers, I realized that I had missed many tricks to eliminating options, and needed to spend more time on reading the question. After adopting to this approach of eliminating answer options, I found it quite challenging to finish within 4hr, and hardly had 5min to spare for all remaining exams. I also took the Oliver Lehmann exam (between Prepcast 2 and 3), and found this much easier than Prepcast.
Overall, I found the PMP exam very simple and easier than the PrepCast simulation exam. I finished with an hour to spare and was a little concerned that I missed something serious. I had 5 formulae questions, 3 critical path type questions and 0 "what is the least likely option" questions. Majority of the questions were very straightforward. I did not create a brain dump before starting the exam, since I thought I would run out of time. I took the exam in a center, since I thought I would be very distracted from home. The proctors were very accommodating and even gave me a box to raise my feet.
Differences between PM simulator and actual exam
- Format of timer (mm:ss vs. in hh:mm:ss in Prepcast). This is easier in the real exam.
- Right click in real exam does nothing. You will need to select the sentence/ works in the option and click on a button for strikethrough. It is more time consuming.
- The interface of the actual exam leaves a lot of room for improvement. It is quite primitive, and Prepcast has a cleaner look.
- The calculator tool reminds me of Windows 95
One suggestion to the Prepcast team - I loved the statistics breakdown and the ability to identify weak/strong areas. However, I was unable to export the table to Excel, to understand if I was spending too much or too little time on questions I got wrong, how I spent the 4hours (i.e., did I slow down in-between), was I improving between exams. I tried this from Mac and Windows machine, Firefox, Chrome, etc. and nothing worked. It would be great if you included this feature.
Hopefully this posts helps others who are preparing for their exam! Good luck!
