Hey Everyone.
I'm glad to say I passed the PMP exam yesterday on my first try.
Here are the key things that helped me on this effort.
In brief: Read the PMBOK and Head First PMP, come to understand EVM, Use a study coach program, take all of the practice tests you can!! Especially the 4 hour 200 question versions.
Here are more details on why I say this:
I didn't use the rita mulcahy book, I didn't like her writing style and found her to be demeaning. I was a little concerned about this as its a popular option. I used the Head First PMP Book. Its a much better read and not discouraging. I read through it entirely along with the PMBOK. Read a chapter in PMBOK, follow up in Head First.
EVM - This is a big part of the test, but isn't hard as long as you come to understand EVM. In fact, I looked forward to these as its simple math and a "gimme" question. If you don't understand EVM, look at the Head First PMP book's explaination!! This book's explanation of EVM was KEY to my success. I haven't found a better explanation ANYWHERE. Even if you don't use this book in it entirety, at least review its explanation of EVM. EVM totally made sense after I read through this. Having said that, you will need to remember the formulas. This is easily done if you start creating your mind dump sheet a few months a head of taking the test and writing it down every day.
Study Coach - I studied for this on my own. No crash coarses. I struggled on my to create a study schedule and plan. I had already read the PMBOK and Head First Book but didn't feel prepared. I then signed up for the study coach from
www.project-management-study-coach.com/
. This was a GREAT help. Not only do they give you a schedule, but many videos and extra material. You get many emails to keep you going and on track.
Practice Tests! - I also signed up for the
exam.pm-exam-simulator.com/
. I view this as NOT an option!! A primary key to passing! This gives you 8 standard 4 hour x 200 question practice tests. And an additional ITTO only test (I didn't actually take this one). I took 2 of these tests every week leading up to the PMP test. You gotta take the full 4 hour test, THEN go back and examine everything you missed and figure out why you missed them. I screen shotted the explanations so I could study them as well. I got to where I was making 78-80% on these tests. I used other practice tests as well. There is actually a book on pmi.org with 18 50question tests you can download for free. I took a LOT of these too. If you want to feel really discouraged, try the test at
www.oliverlehmann.com
. This thing kicked my butt every time I took it. I found it MUCH harder than the actual PMP exam.
The process table - Yes, you need to memorize this thing. Its sounds bad, but it isn't really. I installed an app on my iPad called PMSheet. Its sort of a game that lets you fill in the blanks of the process chart. Using this, I learned the chart within a week or two.
I didn't memorize all of the ITTOs, but I studied them quite a bit and tried to understand what was going where and why. There are several questions on these. These too where sneaky. A few times they don't use the phrase "what is the input" or "what is the output", but stepping back and looking at what they were really asking, they were ITTO questions. I'm sure I got some right and some wrong.
The exam itself - I would just say read the questions carefully. They give you some EVM details and you have to understand what's going on. For example they may say there is 25% of the work to complete. You need to be able to translate that into what you really need to know, which is this means 75% of the work was done (calculating EV). So read every question, and read every answer.
The nicest thing about the test that you should know is you can Highlight words in the question in yellow. This helps you focus on what you think is important.
That's it, that's how I passed!!
