Dear Friends,
Happy to share that I have cleared my PMP exam on 28th Dec 2012.
Applied for PM Prep Cast course way back in Apr 2011. Due to some personal reasons could not prepare.
Restarted my preparation in Oct 2012. Took the 35 hr certificate exam.
It took lot of time for me to prepare the application, as most of my colleagues/seniors/supervisors whom I had referred were out of touch.Luckily, got organized everything in time. Submitted my application, it was not audited. Hence Immediately slotted my exam as I wanted to complete it once for all.
Exam Preparation:
Studied for about 2 hrs daily from Oct to Mid Dec 12. Once my Prometric date was confirmed, had about 10 days time to prepare.
In the week prior to the exam, took leave from office and had to put in close to 8-10 hrs daily.
Study Material used.
1. PM Prep Cast - Good material with lots of explanation. But since I prefer more of reading than to listening, I had to keep it aside after one reading. Probably the highest value for the dollars spent as compared to other products in the market ( along with the 35 hr certificate)
2. PMBOK 4th edition : very detailed, but very dry. The tables on ITTOS was very useful, took printout of all the ITTO tables in the book and kept reading whenever there was free time on my Galaxy Note 2.
3. How To Pass PMP On Your First Try by Andy Crowe - Excellent Book. 60-70% of my preparation was from this book. Easy to understand language, lots of examples. Focused more on the basic terms, had to refer to other books for more complex concepts.
Practice: This is probably the main lesson anyone has to heed to in order to clear PMP successfully. My suggestion is read through PMBOK once you complete listening to all the episodes of PM Prep Cast, and then try to practice as many questions as possible. Success rate can be as low as 50% also, which is good. As it would give an opportunity to understand the concept with the scenario based questions which are given in the practice tests. Once some practice is done , started with "Andy Crowe Book" through which I was able to understand the concepts more lucidly.
I used PMP Exam Prep by Christopher Scordo which had about 1000+ practice questions.
apart from this, practiced the tests available in the following tests.
b.
www.oliverlehmann.com/pmp-self-test/75-free-questions.htm
c.
www.oliverlehmann.com/contents/free-down...Sample_Questions.pdf
4.
www.free-pm-exam-questions.com/
d.
www.headfirstlabs.com/PMP/free_exam/
e.
www.examcentral.net
f.
www.simplilearn.com/slportal/login/login.do
.
My the time Exam day approached my success rate in the practice tests was still at 70-75% only as against 80-85% as advised by most of the preparatory sites available.
Exam Day:
On my Exam day 28th Dec 2012. Reached the test center 1 hr in advance of the allotted time. Since there was a slot available was allowed to take the exam before my scheduled time. My bag and other paraphernalia went in to a locker including Hand Kerchief, wallet, pen, analog watch ( food and water are stored separately). My passport and the locker key were the only things allowed inside.
Was nervous looking at the setup at Prometric Institute. The entire thing was being video recorded and it looked a bit uneasy. But with in the first 10 min , got used to it. Marked about 18 questions for review in my first 50 questions, bit tensed. Continued with the exam ,Took about 60 min to answer the first 100 questions. Took a break for 10 min for nature call , had some snacks ( which I brought from Home). Upon entering, again the security check asking me to empty my pockets. Came back and completed the balance questions in another 75 min. Total questions marked for review was 60 ( i think).
Started rechecking the "marked" questions, now bit more confident. The thing I observed was I maintained the same answer which I marked initially based on Gut feeling. Looks like most of them turned out to be correct. Once you complete the exam , there is a feedback session while the results are being calculated. There is nothing much to do but wait ( seems like eternity) and complete the feedback for Prometric location.
Finally message displayed across screen saying I PASSED the Exam. Big relief. once you come out of the testing room. You are given a printout regarding your result.
This is my journey onto becoming a PMP
Rgds
Bommu Sampath Kumar
