Took my exam the other day and passed! The advice posted here was truly a help and great sanity check. For my experience, I attended a bootcamp provided by PMtraining.com and utilized their mock exams and quizzes. They were excellent (though the grammar in the mock exam questions needed some serious checking). I also read both the PMBOK and the Agile Practice Guide cover to cover**.** For me, that was more valuable than the bootcamp - but I am a hands on learner so having a book to highlight, etc. works better for me than auditory. Rita Mulcahey's book was good too as it includes exercises designed to make you THINK about the concepts and how to properly apply them. The 2021 exam is a big shift from previous years as that is the intent - to test true understanding of the concepts and their appropriate application. It is NOT about memorization anymore and you need to understand that going into your preparation. Honestly, that works for me because of how I think. I am not good at memorization, but I do grasp to understand concepts (hence being a hands on learner).
I did invest in the Prepcast practice exams as MANY in this string have recommended - I was not as enthused about it as others, but again, the practice exams are really critical. So suggest you look at both PMtraining.com and Prepcast. I did both. Between the two I must have taken over 50 practice tests and quizzes. Totally worthwhile. What I like about the Prepcast tests, was that after the "grading" it provided explanations for each possible answer as to why each option was correct or incorrect. REALLY helpful because the exam questions are SO subtle and the answers can all sound correct.
With that - you should NOT rush during the exam. You need to closely scrutinize EVERY word and think about the scenario, what is relevant information versus noise, and then make sure you understand WHAT is being asked! Read the last statement in the question multiple times.
As for calculations, it is not necessarily about knowing the math. It is about UNDERSTANDING what they are used for and how to interpret the results. The old exam was about memorizing the forumlas. Knock yourself out, but do you understand what the results mean, and if you have a question with all the results provided, would you be able to advise on the status of the project, what action was best? That is really what it is all about. Just picture yourself giving an update on a multi-million dollar project to the board of a company comprised mostly of CFO's. Would you be able to explain the health of the project? You better!
Bottomline:
- Read the Agile Guide cover to cover, then read it again and absorb the concepts and philosophy.
- Review the PMBOK or Rita Mulcahy's book to ensure you understand the processes, the business environment, conflict management, risk management, procurement, etc.. You can at least reference them if you find those are areas of weakness when you do practice tests. Rita's book does have helpful exercises and is just as thick as the PMBOK.
- Practice, Practice, Practice until you consistently hit 80% on the mock exams.
I personally found the test to be easier than the practice exams, though I did use every ounce of time allotted. I paced myself by watching the clock to ensure I had time to go back and review at the end of each section. It really kept the stress down.
You've got this. If I can do it, you can do it. Hope this helped!
