Hi All,
I am glad to let you know that I cleared PMP exam today. Got
Proficient, Proficient, Proficient, Moderately Proficient, &
Moderately Proficient in all the respective process areas. Below are
my LL -
**Exam Preparation: I started preparation from November with 3-4 hours
of daily study and around 10 hrs on weekends. This exam does require
a lot of sacrifices in terms of personal and professional lives.
I studied PMBOK guide twice, Rita and Andy Crowe's books once. I
started with PMBOK guide and didn't understand few processes well.
Shifted to Andy Crowe and understood all the processes quite well.
Then thought of going through Rita's book so that I can cover any
missing topics and to my surprise there are few of them which I got
clarity more than before. Then while the exam date was approaching
glanced PMBOK once again - this time only those areas which I
highlighted in the first reading. This time I enjoyed quite a lot
reading PMBOK and then started attempting practice exams online.
**PDUs: I wanted to save money to get the required 35 PDUs and I chose
PM Prepcast for this. I would say that PM Prepcast is the best in the PMP preparation and getting the 35 PDUs. Also I wanted to invest more in sample tests. While filling up the application, mine was selected for Audit. I was so disappointed that this would derail my preparations because of delay
and it was indeed the case. There was a delay of nearly one month
before I can choose the exam date. I would say that PMI is
very very professional in performing next steps after receiving
completed forms & certificates. They exactly took 3 days to complete
the process and asked me to take exam date.
**Sample tests: I might have practised nearly 4500 questions scoring
nearly 75% on average. The sample tests include - Head first, Exam
Central, Oliver Lehmann's 75 & 175 Questions, Farndale, PM Study, PM
Perfect, PM Exam Simulator & Rita's Fast track. No need to practise
these many questions, but I was having fun solving these questions
which had varying degree of difficulty. To tell you the fact, I found
actual exam to be very difficult than these sample tests. Among the
sample tests I liked Farndale, PM Study (all 4 tests), PM Exam
Simulator, Rita's, and PM Perfect in that order.
**Exam day: My exam was scheduled at 8 AM and luckily I found the
Prometric center near to my house. Reached the center at 7.50 AM and
started to glancing the 15 mins guidelines. I used this time to jot
down important formulas in the scratch paper. Then got the first
question. The first question made me to scratch my head because it
was very difficult. The questions were so wordy that I hardly got
around 20 to 25 questions which are one and two liners. I was
exhausted after 50 questions which took me more than an hour. I knew
that I made several mistakes in this hour. Then took a deep breath
for about two mins and started to concentrate on the exam. Thereafter
I picked up my speed and solved the remaining questions at exactly 2
hours and 55 mins. I need to attend to nature call because I didn't
take a single break till 3 hours. After about 3 mins I returned and
started to reviewing all the questions. This time I started from all
the marked questions, then started to review from first. Surprisingly
I had to change answers to most of the first 50 questions (since I was
in full exam flow by this time). This probably saved me from failing
and I was able to review more than 100 questions in the last hour.
Then I ended my exam and after a few tense moments I got the wonderful
message that I passed the exam.
Finally I would like to say those aspirants whose applications were
selected for audit. You need to inform your respective managers
beforehand (before filling your forms) and be truthful to whatever you
are claiming in the application. This would help last minute
surprises you may encounter.
I would like to thank you all in the forum which helped me a lot
during preparation. Please let me know if I can be of any help to the
future aspirants in this forum.
Wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year 2012.
Ravi Raj Rasaputra PMP®
