Given exam at center on May 22, due to untrustworthy internet connections and laptop.
Background
I took PDUs from simplilearn around1.5 years ago in (August 2019), i didn't set the target date so it was delayed for so long. I forgot the major part of PMP i.e. PLANNING in my strategy. My PMP membership was about to expire in May end so i set the date for May 22 in Mar and gave myself 1.5 months. I was reading the material on and off but not focused. My strong advise would be to schedule the exam even if it is 6 months down the line. It will give you a target and motivate you to work towards it. I am certified scrum master so agile portion was a manageable and Agile practice guide helped as well
About the exam:
1) 85% Agile questions
2) Focusing on what project manager should do in different situation
3) Utilize the 10 mins break, as other said earlier it helps to concentrate and calm your nerves
4) Use highlight option to mark keywords, good thing in practicing with prepcast without highlighter is that your eyes are already searching for that keyword
5) drag and drop, 1 fill in the blank, charts, most questions asking what project manager should do, around 15% what PM should do first or next. 80-85% agile.
Preparation
1) Read Rita Mulcahy as Novel rather than as a textbook. I had the 6th edition not the latest one. This helped me to go through each chapter, i didn't have any set plan but made sure to make a target of completing 2-3 chapters in 1 sitting. It may vary person to person.
2) Read PMBOK once to understand the concepts. I would suggest to go through it once as u might clear the exam with help of other material but it is good to know what the standards are from PMI.
3) My friend suggested to take prepcast simulator and it is a best investment. Simulator helped in understanding the exam questions and the reasoning behind the right or wrong answer.
4) Go through Agile Practice guide even the appendix as prepcast simulation have some questions from those chapters as well
How did i use Prepcast?
1) I gave small quiz of 50 questions to gauge where i stand. Then i reviewed the chapter of quality, risk, and stakeholder as i was lacking on those.
2) I gave my 1st PMP exam and scored 70%, was happy as didn't practice much before the exam.
3) My 2nd and 3rd attempt was 67% and 68% respectively. I was little upset as the areas were same which were lagging. I took PMI studyhall as it was just $15, gone through the lessons where i was lagging prepared by PMI for each area within People, Process and Business environment. It is a good resource at low price for now.
4) Used the stats and area to improve and gave another short quiz of 60 questions 2 days prior to exam and got 80% on that.
5) If you are getting consistent score of 66% above and confident on your study, you don't have to worry. Even though my score was not above 70% I was confident in Agile and other situations.
Before exam day:
1) Didn't study, just went through quality chapter as that was my pain point
2) Went for a walk in park for 2-3 hours (i am not a fan of walking), it helped me to relax and not to worry about exam
3) Slept early, had mix kind of sleep as i get butterflies before the exam. Everyone is different, strongly suggest not to go through study material or taking simulator exam a day prior, it will demoralize you if u didn't score good.
On Exam Day
1) Reached the place 45 mins before scheduled thinking it will be busy, I was the only one there for PMP rest 3 were for other exam.
2) Did check in and system was assigned, they give you the choice to select the system if there is availability. Each system is separated by wall like cubicles.
3) My system hanged when 116 mins were left and they had to restart the computer, i was scared that the test will be lost but it started from exact same mins when it was stuck.
4) Took 6-7 min break off 10 mins break, went outside then came back after few mins.
5) Flagged some questions, as other mentioned cannot review the previous 60 questions once you start the break.
6) Submitted last questions, within 2 seconds, it shows 'Congratulations', ahhh what a relief. I wanted to shout YES but couldn't. LOL
7) Collected print out and straight outta there.
Prepcast has helped a lot in analyzing areas where i was lacking. I utilized the stats section where it shows which domain i am lagging and how many questions i answered correctly in 1st attempt. These are helpful. Suggest to add few more drag and drop questions, i had around 8 drag and drop questions, 4 graphs/chart, no calculations but earned value concept. Thank you for this simulator.
