Hey all,
I passed my PMP exam about 60 days after signing up for PM PrepCast. I am looking for a job in IT management and was seeing a lot of IT Project Manager positions. I researched PM and realized I had been doing it for 15 years, but didn't have the PMP certification. Typically, I don't put much stock in certifications as a sign of competence, but the PMP certificate seems to really have a value in job applications.
As the year end job hunt is typically slow, I immediately signed up for PM PrepCast and the Exam Simulator, bought a copy of the PMBOK guide, and began to study the standards as set forth by PMI. I quickly understood the terminology, and began to understand the knowledge area flow and 5 process groups. With an understanding of the terminology, process groups and a general understanding of knowledge area ITTO's (understanding, not memorization), and A brain dump of the formulas and Knowledge Area/Process Group table, I was able to pass first try.
The day of the test I arrived early and sat and went over my practice brain dumps to make sure I was going to get everything on the paper that I thought I needed. I went in and spent 30 minutes processing into the center (putting belongings into locker, showing pockets were empty, being wanded, not wearing a watch, etc) and sat down to take the test. Took a bio break after 2 hours and went through the whole pocket check and wanding thing again, then finished at about the 3 hour mark. The downside to the brain dump thing is the testing center i used gives you two plastic coated sheets and a permanent marker. it was hard to do a precise brain dump with a fat tipped marker, but I prevailed. At least it wasn't dry erase and smearing every time I looked at it.
For sure, the 30 seconds to a minute it takes to come up with the results seemed like at least 5 minutes.
I had been scoring 80% or so in the practice exams, and was expecting some MP's in my final test results and was actually a bit worried about passing (the week leading up to the test had been busy, and I had not done nearly as much prep as I had wanted) so I was quite floored to see passed with 5 proficients.Turns out prepping for the brain dump had hammered the information in, I actually rarely looked at it and even then mostly to double check a formula, but would definitely recommend doing one.
I will certainly recommend PM Prep Cast to anyone I talk to about PMP Certification. Now to learn about Agile!
-Tom
