My plan was initially to read the PMBOK guide and start going through as many questions as I can. I went through the Oliver L. free question banks. After I ran out of free questions that I thought to be quality questions, I purchased a phone app that came with 1200 question bank. After I was finished with the 1200 questions, I set out to find an exam simulator.
After researching and reading reviews, I bought the exam simulator and started taking short quizzes during the workday and took full simulated exam questions on weekends. After about three months, I realized that I was scoring ok on the quizzes and the exams, but the results were not consistent. I then realized that I still had some knowledge gaps. I rescheduled my exam to give me more time to close those knowledge gaps.
I purchased the Rita’s book and the PM PrepCast. In the following two months I read the Rita’s book cover to cover and went through the PM PrepCast lessons on my long commute to work.
My exam was scheduled for Thursday, JUN 30th, so I used my PTO to take the prior three days off. I had 4 untouched exams left in the simulator, so I took an exam every day for three days and went through the questions that I marked wrong and read through the answers and explanations. I was scoring around high 70’s, low 80’s near the end. I went through +4k questions in total since I started this venture.
I called the test center about a week before and got all my questions answered regarding their facility. On the day of the exam I was nervous but also confident at the same time. After I was done with the second pass, I was emotionally tired and exhausted. As I was staring at the screen with mixed emotions, waiting for the result to pop up…There was a big sigh of relief as I saw the word ‘‘Congratulations’’ pop.
Although I used the first 15 intro minutes to write down the processes table and all the formulas, I didn’t even refer to them during the exam. But I think it would be a good practice/confidence gainer to just write them down even though if you don’t refer to them. Good luck.
