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Lu Bai
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Glad that I passed the exam yesterday. Thanks to everyone here who’s contributed and shared their experience. Even for the people who never posted, your views make me know there are so many people working on this goal together.
Two things I think are the most important in my study -
First, internalize the 49 processes and all outputs. You need to be very very familiar with the intertwined and interactive relationships among them. I didn’t take a course but only watched videos on Youtube and got the visualization idea of the processes from a very good channel. I immediately got it. The following three lines pretty much cover the most essential content:
- Work performance data—info -- report – to 4 processes
- Deliverables – Verified (by project team) – Accepted (by customer) -- Final
- Change request -- Approved Change Request – to 3 processes
Also, understand that many terms are built in pair or group. E.g. Project Schedule defines when and where a resource is needed, while Resource Calendar defines when this resource is available. They are built from the need and availability perspectives, two sides of a coin, similar but not equal. Pull these terms out and put them together to analyze. Don’t let the same thing confuse you twice.
Second, decipher the question pattern. My 5 PMPrep mock scores almost didn’t change (1st attempt, 72%, 76%, 76%, 77%, 78%) but I was making clear improvement with each mock:
Filled in knowledge gaps. This will continue to the end because PMPrep does a good job of covering all hard-to-notice knowledge in PMBOK. With each mock, I discovered sth new. And I would read the PMBOK Guide for that knowledge. In this way, I read through the book.
Then learned how to translate the question language into PMBOK language. You need to be able to react fast to each scenario, including which process I am at, what should have been accomplished, and what is to finish. Have a picture of the 49 processes in mind and quickly locate your node in that network.
Next, drilled in the frequently tested tough topics like handling a change or a risk. I put similar questions in groups and wrote down the skeleton of each Q. It wouldn’t take more than ten Qs before you find the pattern.
At last, there was always a group of questions that I could have got correct but did wrong because I overlooked some keyword or info. Then I realized that the words/info that I skipped over are the ultimate hints to the right answer. That was the moment that I knew I was ready to write the exam.
Mock exams –
PM Prep Mock – Finished 5x200 and 50 in ITTO. I reviewed each mock, the ones I got wrong or flagged, at least 4 times. You will get a sense of the correct/wrong answer pattern. PM Prep also does a thorough explanation for each Q. Great job.
PMI PMP Mock – Same, reviewed many times. Because one, it is the only official thing from PMI. Two, to keep sharp to different written styles.
I took my last mock ten days before the exam. Then I only did reviews and combing through.
Real Exam -
The first 20 questions were wordy and tough. I hardly knew what they were talking about. I thought I may not be able to pass. After question 50, questions became shorter and more familiar. How close is it to the mocks? For my case, I’d say, 70%-80% of the Qs are similar to either the PMPrep mock or PMI PMP mock. 20%-30% are quite different and challenging. I had 25min for review.
If you need further discussion, I’d be very glad to help. I know we all are working to get it done by end of this year. I understand the time pressure. You are already halfway. Just give it a final push! And better not to schedule your exam for the last week because things could happen…..
The following user(s) said Thank You: LACOLE GAY, Anita Quashie-Sam, Berger Girl
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