Dears,
On 21/07 I have passed my PMP exam with first trail, and below are my lessons learned:
1- Study time:
a. I have done 3 months (1-2) hours a day (I have done my membership in PMI in the beginning of this 3 months)
b. Break for 5-6 months (mandatory break – try to avoid it please)
c. Another 3 months, at the first 2 months (2-3) hours a day and increased to (4-5) hours a day in the last month (I scheduled my exam in the beginning of this 3 months)
d. Increased study hours to (8-10) hours in the last 5 days to do trial exams, however, the last 2 days I have done only 2 hours a day (to release my tension as I was not able to sleep well)
2- Study materials:
a. Rita book
b. PMBOK guide (for reference only, and I have used it a lot, and printed a couple of pages out of it)
c. List of ITTO`s
d. Pmzilla
e. My own notes
f. The internet in general
g. Trial exams
3- Strategy:
a. I Read Rita book in total 3 times through my study, and it was my only complete and comprehensive source
b. Since my first study of Rita book I have started taking my notes on a separate copybook with my hand writing which make it nice and fun
c. As I read through Rita book for 2nd and 3rd time I was reducing my notes as most of them will become later as second nature and you do not need all of them, so I have moved the reduced notes to another copybook (they become less), and in the last day I have reduced them to only one page which was easy to be studied in half an hour, and I will you tell now that your notes are the best for you and you do not need to use the others notes.
d. Always the PMBOK was in my hand to cross reference with Rita book and to understand any unclear points
e. Always Pmzilla was presented in my study to ask and get feedback and to search for unclear things (Thank you)
f. Trial exams started with Scordo book and I would say that this book have bridged a lot of gaps in my study as I did not read the PMBOK, as basically Scordo book is very concentrating on PMBOK language, and he gave me the trust to proceed with only Rita book
g. I have done also “Preparepm” trial exams
h. My most important source of questions was the “exam.pm-exam-simulator”, the best questions I have done and the best support ever, I was asking and getting my answers after couple of hours (highly recommended).
i. Lehman exams: I have done them the last thing in my study and found them very difficult (and they make me feel that I am not well prepared, but learned from them a couple of very important subjects)
4- Trial Exam materials:
a. All Rita book questions
b. Scordo examination book (1,000+)
c. Exam simulator premium (I have done 6 full exams= 1,200 Questions out of 1,800 questions available)
d. Preparepm (75 Questions)
e. Preparepm Exam 1 (75 Questions)
f. Preparepm Exam 2 (28 Questions)
g. Lehman (75 Questions)
h. Lehman (175 Questions)
5- Trial Exam Results:
All were done in the last few days of my study except for Rita questions as I was doing them through my study after each chapter, and I have done them as I have written down from b to h consequently:
a. All Rita book questions: results are not important as I was building my knowledge
b. Scordo examination book (1,000+) (Average 76%)
c. Preparepm (75 Questions) (75%)
d. Preparepm Exam 1 (75 Questions) (86%)
e. Preparepm Exam 2 (28 Questions) (86%)
f. Exam simulator premium (I have done 6 full exams= 1,200 Questions) (Average 84%)
g. Lehman (75 Questions) (65%)
h. Lehman (175 Questions) (72%)
6- Important notes:
a. Rita book doesn’t emphasize the ITTO and you have to study them for sure from another source (no doubt, other source for ITTO is vital if you study only from Rita book)
b. You will keep having new terms if you study from Rita book only and do not read the PMBOK guide (in every trial exam I was getting new terms and new definitions which was annoying, so read the PMBOK once at least if you have time, you will gain further trust in yourself)
c. Do as many as you can trial exams
d. No ITTO memorization in general. However, I find it good to memorize a couple of important ITTO like (work performance data, information, reports: from where they come and where they go), (Change requests: from where they come and where they go) etc…..
7- Trial exams strategy:
a. Mark all the questions that you were not 100% sure of them when you answer your exam
b. When correcting your answers get the explanations of all your wrong answers and take notes and deep study them
c. Very important: Concentrate on the questions that you were 100% sure they are correct, but they were actually wrong when you correct your answers, study them also and take notes (I was very afraid of these more than the questions I marked to review)
d. Restudy all the marked questions in your exams even if you answer them correctly
e. Most of the full exams I have taken took less than 3 hours to finish them
8- Actual Exam Day:
a. I have visited the exam center 15 days before the exam just to know the place and get a grip on it
b. I was very well prepared stopped the heavy study 2 days before the exam as I mentioned before, and just did about 2 hours in each day
c. Slept well the night before (about 9 hours, I woke up early the day before the exam so I can sleep early)
d. Woke up, have breakfast and some cookies then head to the center
e. No study at all in the exam day
f. Sit down for 15 Minutes in the waiting area in the exam center, no study and no trials to remember anything from my head regarding the exam, only deep breathing
g. Got my seat
h. Done the exam tutorial in about 5 minutes (Very important, please do it)
i. No brain dump sheet done (I do not like it)
j. Took some deep breaths and then started the exam
k. I have gone through the questions feeling very comfortable
l. I have reduced my answering pace (speed) to reduce the mistakes in questions I know them well but because going fast in the trail exams I was answering them wrong
m. When crossing the 150 questions I started to feel afraid as I feel myself started to be not sure of many questions I am answering
n. Have used a lot the elimination technique of the wrong answers until I reach the only balance correct answer
o. Marked only 8 -10 questions for review
p. Finished with 25 minutes balance with me (no breaks were taken at all)
q. I have reviewed my marked questions
r. In the last (15-20) minutes I reread randomly about 30 – 35 questions as review and have changed about 3 answers during this random step
s. When done, I have filled the questionnaire about the center
t. As soon as I clicked finish the questionnaire I was surprised with the result immediately in front of my face “Congratulations”
u. Packed my things and got out of the center with a smile from ear to ear
Wish you all the best; please let me know if you have any comments,
