I passed PMP on February 20. I took my training in the old format from a local in person provider but used Prepcast booster course and simulator. Here are the review materials that I used:
- PMBOOK 6th edition
- Agile Practice Guide
- Notebook provided by my trainer- essentially taken from PMBOOK 6th- but was easier to navigate
- Prepcast booster course
- Prepcast simulator
-Listening to many videos during my morning walk almost daily for an hour for a month or so. I found Izenbridge and Amer Ali very helpful.
I took my training in the fall of 2018 and studied selected pages of the PMBOOK at that time. I could not take the test at that time for various reasons. In early december I realized the test format is going to change and tried to schedule the test in old format. Booked the only available testing slot - that was online proctor assisted- on December 31 starting at 11:30 pm pacific time (Seattle, WA). One hour into my test the proctor stopped my testing window without telling me anything and there was no way for me to find out or communicate with the proctor. I stayed through the early hours of the new year until morning trying to communicate with Pearson Vue and PMI. Just to know what happened and if I can still do the test knowing that January 1st was the last date to take the test format. Perason Vue got back to me after 5 days and told me that my lips were moving and I raise my hand above my shoulder. They thought I was talking to someone. They were completely wrong- I was in a closed room with no one within 50 feet from me. It was the new year and there could be some noise of celebration across from the house. Any ways -I was very disappointed the way Perason Vue handled the issue and how PMI was not helpful at all. I felt that Pearson Vue is hiring proctor who does not have the right level of education and training to proctor tests that is typically taken by seasoned professionals. I will never take another online proctor assisted test in my life- do not want to give the power to someone to deny my testing right by someone across the world with no idea of what they are doing or what is the consequence of their decision. I am well into my career and it is not easy to come up with two weeks of time to study with job, family, and children let alone doing new materials due to no fault of my part.
I rescheduled my test on Feb 20 at a testing center. I studied two weeks in December and again two weeks in February in between work. Studies about 4 hours a day with last two days taking off from work.
I did never read the PMBOOK cover to cover- I found it very boring and repeating many things again and again. However - I read the important sections and looked at the PMBOOK if I could not solve practice questions. I did read the agile practice guide.
What helped me a lot and gave me confidence is the prepcast simulator and the booster course- both are well done and very helpful. As a side note- I will request Cornelius to tape the agile videos again since the current videos are probably from 2012 time frame. I took 7 simulator tests in the old format (1400 questions) in the old format and 4 tests in the 2021 simulator. Although the questions in the real test are different but I found the simulator tests very helpful. I think Prepcast did a great job of explaining the answers to the questions- I reviewed not only the questions I missed but also the questions I got correct. Prepcast refers each answer to reference materails. They have done a great job with the simulator.
I could never complete the simulator test on time. I could complete about 180 questions in the old format and about 160 questions in the new format. I could solve 80% of the questions correctly that I was able attempt.
I was able to complete about 170 questions in the PMP actual test. My sense is I was able to answer about the same percentage correctly.
Another factor helped me is my real life experience in managing projects and people. Although we need to wear the PMI hat, but I found that hat is not very different from what the PMs need to do in managing real life projects.
