I am very happy to inform you all that I became a certified PMP on 14th Nov, below is the study plan that worked for me…
o Started reading PMBOK 4th edition, after finishing first two chapters I immediately realized that I’ll be able to absorb more if I can use some audio/video combination, that’s when I came across PMPrep Cast by Cornelius Fichtner, I have no qualms in endorsing this product and I can say this is what helped me to understand and appreciate the material presented in PMBOK.
o Went through all the episodes in prep cast and started reading Andy Crowe along the way, also took chapter end questions.
o After finishing the first round, I was still unsure about my preparation and decided to go through the process again , but this time I stared listening to 2-3 episodes at a time and read Andy, PMBOK and Rita(Ignored negative remarks) at the same time along with chapter end questions.
o After the 2 round I started taking sample exams, below are my results , I simulated the actual Prometric center experience and realized that 4 hrs will be an exhausting experience without practice
o Andy Crowe – 92%
o Head First – 87%
o PMStudy1 – 83%
o Oliver 75- 69%
o PMRoad Trip - 82%
o Simplilearn – 73%
o Oliver 175 – 88% ( 1 week before the exam and I was at the peak of my preparation)
o PMZilla 25 Tough - 60% ( in between my preparation)
A week before the exam I still had to take Oliver 175 and Edwel and I took Oliver 175 and got 88% correct, then just to have a higher confidence level for the exam I decided not to take Edwel and concentrate on ITTOs for last week
Exam Review
o Not too difficult , not too easy, had many questions on ITTOs( You can easily deduce the answer if you know what the process in question does)
o Difficulty I faced in scenario based questions is selecting among two options after eliminating the other two, some of them look very similar and makes you scratch your head
o There were scenarios where I didn’t know answers for 10-15 questions at a stretch.
o After first 100 questions I wasn’t really sure about the outcome , later test got kind of easier and I completed last 60-70 questions within an hour duration
o I didn’t take any breaks as I took lot of time answering first 100 questions.
o I marked around ~40 questions with in first 100 and when I reviewed it I changed only around 2-3, so my advice would be to trust your intuition
o Mixture of Wordy questions vs on liners(50:50)
o Calculation questions were straight forward.
Overall a great experience and happy to close this project and glad get back my evenings and weekends back ..
Don’t forget to celebrate after the exam
