I still can't believe I passed the exam 2 days back. I want to thank Cornelius Fichtner, the project management prepcast team and Prepcast forum. You guys rock. Without you guys and my very supportive family, I would not have passed.
I used the following study plan and aids:
PMBOK guide.
The Prepcast podcast and
PM Exam simulator.
I started out by doing the introduction or overview podcasts of all knowledge areas first. Then I covered the podcast videos by the process groups. I would listen to the podcasts on my way to the office and come home in the evening and prepare my own notes based on what I understood. Early December, I wrote the 25 question exam got the contact hours and applied for my exam.
While I waited for the application review to be complete, I wrote my first PM exam simulators and I got 78.5. After the test I actually came up with a very different strategy than most for exam. I had scored 86 in MC and 83 in EX groups. My plan was to ace
1. Closing
2. Earned value
3. Network diagram
4. Questions related to change requests
5. Initiation
I wrote 4 more simulator exams and scored 83.5,77.5, 80.5 and 83. I could not do the last 3 tests and was able to review only the wrong questions. Thanks to prepcast forum, I read about the Vargas video and aileen ellis's outputs video on youtube. I think these made me very comfortable with the "what would you do next" questions.
I wanted to work on the PMI mock exam on the day before the exam and do some reviews on it. However, I had internet issues at home the day before the exam and could not even look at it. Infact my internet did not work on the day of exam. I actually wrote the exam from a friend's house.
I wrote the third simulator exam at home while my wife had to attend a virtual christmas party for her work. While reviewing the work I realized all that noise did not affect the score much. I made mistakes because I did not know a few things well. So, when I had to arrange the table and do the system test at my friends place, I knew I just needed to setup a nice clean table and have a good network connection.
Since there was no internet the day before the exam, all I could read were my notes, PMBOK and the downloaded podcasts.
In the exam the close button in the drawing board tool did not work. When I told this to the online proctor, he relaunched the exam and the screen did not come back for 20 minutes. Right after it came back I went to a 10 minute break. I was on question 90 and only 127 minutes were left. The break did not help me. I thought it broke my focus and I could not answer the last 3 questions. I was taking the entire 240 minutes to answer 200 questions in the prepcast simulators. So, I had planned to end the break quickly.
Some questions were VERY difficult and confusing and some were too easy. Some questions were vague. There were a lot of questions on developing / managing virtual teams. I had 4-5 earned value questions 3-4 network diagrams and I think I did my closing section very well. The initiation questions were tough. I was actually shaking and mad at myself for not answering the last 3 questions. Then I saw the Congratulations message and I sunk in my chair. I took a picture with my phone sent it to my phone and kept seeing it all of yesterday. I got the digital certificate from PMI on Christmas eve. I keep telling my wife, mom and even my 2 year old (basically anyone who will hear) Its real Its official. I am a PMP.
I found prepcast through a google search. Thank God you had the videos in a podcast. I could download and listen to those on my way to work and back. The agile chapter, special chapter on earned value are so simple yet powerful. Thanks for those simulators and the analysis. Thank you to your tech team that is constantly supporting many many learners like me. So many things had to go right for this and they did and I feel blessed.
If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer.
. I am preparing for PMP almost for last 3 months , but my application is not approved yet. Hope I get approval soon to appear before new PMP cut-off starting on 01/02/2021. How much was the weightage for EVM problems, Any mathematical problems in exam you could not cover in stipulated time ?