Greetings All,
I passed the PMP this past Tuesday 11-JUN-13 with 4-P 1-MP. My lessons learned is as follows:
1. I planned for 2.5 months of study and scheduled my exam date accordingly.
2. Utilized the PM PrepCast for my 35 Contact Hours. Best value out there!
3. I purchased and read Rita 7th edition (twice) along with Fastrack software (EXPENSIVE!) I did the exercises for Time, Cost, and Procurement. The end of chapter tests are in the Fastrack software if you get that...otherwise do them them to gauge knowledge retention early on.
4. I read through PMBOK 4th edition twice (this is important as the exam prep materials do not cover all terminology and concepts!)
5. The key for me was using the PM PrepCast and Rita 7th editions as my educational foundation. I kept notes on 4x6 spiral bound note cards by knowledge area. This was key! You tend to remember what you write! Once I got through Rita and PM Prepcast, I went through the PMBOK and added the gap terminology and concepts to my notes.
5. Formulas - memorize and do the brain dump on the exam. It helped to have the reference just to save time.
6. Process Chart - re-create the chart for the brain dump...use the PMBOK and not Rita. Again, it will help you save time when you can visualize what process you are in for a given question. You can possibly eliminate 2 or 3 wrong answers with this.
7. ITTOs - many say do not memorize...I say memorize what you can. You have to know what tools to use, how they are used, and when to use them. You can really only do that if you KNOW the whats, the hows, and whens. I had a lot of ITTO questions on my exam.
8. Use the ExamCentral website test questions to solidify your knowledge foundation. The questions are easy, but they have value in that they reinforce your knowledge of the concepts. It will help you find gaps...same with the RMC Fastrack software if you can afford it. The PMI website has an ebook available that has like 17 - 50 question tests. (I think the author name is Scordio) I suggest you do those exams up to set 13. After that, the remaining sets get way too wordy. I felt that the actual PMP exam was pretty straight forward and did not try to overwhelm you with bogus info.
9. I paid for the PMSTUDY 4 tests. They were similar to the actual PMP exam. Most importantly, those tests provide you feedback on knowledge gaps. Make sure you review the questions you got wrong to understand why you got them wrong.
10. Knowledge gaps - When I identified gaps, I went back to my note cards, specific PM PrepCast videos, and PMBOK to close them out.
11. Don't be afraid to mark questions for later review. I marked about 10 and only changed 1 later. Later questions might actually help you answer ones that you previously marked!
12. I had a ton of procurement questions for some reason. Make sure you spend a fair amount of time on the different contracts and closing procedures.
13. Take several cleansing breaths before you start answering the questions. This will help calm your anxiety and slow down your heartbeat. Mine was pumping like crazy!
I hope this helps other aspirants!
JW
