TOPIC: Pass PMP exam on first attemp with 100 hour preparation

I passed PMP test yesterday on 1st try with 4 MP and 1 P, after spending about 100 hours on the prep. My experience may not be applicable to everyone, but like to let everyone know it is possible to pass PMP exam with such a short time of prep. PM PrepCast (videos + simulator) and some of my personal observations/actions, that’s all you need. You can do it. Let me show you my prep journey and then will share some specific lessons/tips.

Rough time breakdown of the total hours: 40 hours on Prepcast video watching, 30 hours on reading thru PMBOK the first time and taking my own notes, 10 hours on reviewing notes, and 10 hours on taking self assessment questions and making connections of the PMBOK content. 10 hours on 2 mock exams including reviewing answers (I have only that much time remaining…)

I started by reading posts online people talking about what PMP is about to get a general. In that a few hours, I came across Edward Chung’s webpage I highly recommend people who are new to the PMP prep read posts there. Valuable info in Edward’s website, I will get into more details later. I then started watching Prepcast videos: the sequence is all modules before 4, and then 5 to 13, lastly module 4. While watching the PrepCast, I compare it against Edward’s free notes (printed them out). Edward’s notes are pretty complete, but I still wrote down things I personally feel important. When I could not fully grasp some concepts in the video, I paused and did some googling. I took the self tests at the end of each module – scoring around 70-80. After watching all videos, I also took the 110-question pre-course sefl assessment ( I did not do that before the video watching). I scored 73 while spending about 45 sec on each question.

I then read the PMBOK guide once from beginning to the end, line by line. I made my own notes on things I feel important or still figure need to clean up in a new file while reading PMBOK guide. I then read Edward’s notes and my own notes once, and also watched the PrepCast on exam outline and ethics. Then I took my first mock exam in the simulator, I scored 77 spending ~2.5 hours. I checked answers, learned my mistakes. I then read Edward’s notes and my own notes. This time, I already grasped most content, thus highlighting only about 15% of the items for me to continue to focus on. I also conducted a few summary activities (detailed them in the tips below) to help me understand. I then took the second test, score 81.5 in 2hour 45 min. I then reviewed the exam. The 2 days before the PMP exam, I only focused on the notes (Edward’s and mine own) with occasional check to PMBOK guide.

Specific tips:
1. Watch Prepcast videos on iPad in 1.5x speed. That will save you 1/3 of the time, the video quality will not suffer. Cornelius has a nice voice and clear presentation , but given my time constraint, I really need to accelerate the pace. I also pressed the 15 sec fastforward sometimes when it is obvious what he is trying to convey.
2. The key is the first time watching the video, you need to get the idea/concept, not fully connect them. So do not try to get the whole picture the first time, just get a good understanding of the single concept first. The connection will be developed when you read the PMBOK guide, making you notes, etc.
3. Read Edward’s post on PMI-ism. Nice summary to get a general sense of how to approach PMP exam questions, since the attitude (PMI-ism) will be reflected in the questions.
4. Edward’s notes are free, but not necessarily enough. After watching the video + reading PMOBK guide, you should be able to use your language to summarize what each process does. Recommend to write them down. For example, “validate scope”, it is essentially converting verified scope to accepted scope by customer before closing. By knowing the essence of this process, you will have a much easier time answering related exam questions, including ITTO questions.
5. Talking about ITTO, a few things to help you. First, after watching the video, I start prep for the brain dump on Table 3-1, every day I do it at least once. The idea is to make sure I get the relative sequence of processes and their process group correct. It helps enormously in exam when you have to eliminate obvious answers. Secondly, I did some compare and contrast to make sure I understand input/output. For example, are project charter, risk register, stakeholder register all going to every “plan xxx “ process as input? A knowledge area vs. these three inputs table will quickly reveal the insight and help me understand and remember. Also, so many matrix tools, breakdown structures, what ‘s the difference, where they are created. A contrast table again will help me remember. In addition, I wrote down Table 3-1 along with a few input, output or tools I occasionally struggle with, e.g. requirement mgmt. plan is part of the plan scope mgmt. Lastly, try to find the connections will help you get a gut feeling of which ITTO fits to the process. After I drew a flow chart for WPA/WPI/change request/approved change request/validated change between control processes, PICC, moniotor/ctronl proj. work and direct and manage proj work processes, I never answered questions related to them wrong.
6. Contextualized questions are difficult, the key is to focus on the “BEST” answer. A few specific items: first, always pick answers cautioned towards more ethical. Secondly, read the questions carefully, if in the question, the project is stated clearly in the initiation phase, all answers related to later process group should be crossed out. Third, the last sentence is so important, is it asking you what the proj manager SHOULD have done or do NEXT? Lastly, try to get a sense of what process the question trying to related to would help clear a couple of answers.
7. Time management during mock and real exam is the key. You may experience a stretch of difficult questions, based on your gut feeling, pick one and mark them and revisit them later. About half the time, I have a fresh perspective after leaving the question for a while, occasionally even figure out answers inspired by other questions.
8. How to answer questions. First, always read the last sentence of the question, get a sense of what is question is going after (process input, what should the proj manager to next, etc). Secondly, if it is a situational question, only read the second paragraph, chances are the first paragraph is redundant info. Then you develop your answer and compare to the possible answers.
9. Try eliminate “unforced errors”. In my first exam, one of the questions I got wrong is to answer the technique of breaking proj work into smaller, more manageable components. I answered WBS! It is the pressure of the exam and my carelessness. By my own account, I could get about 20 questions correct if I simply paid more attention. Therefore, before I move on to next question, I try to verify not only I picked the correct answer, but other 3 answers are wrong (or not as good as the one I picked) as well.
10. I have many years of work experience in process control, program management, new product development, plus some basic accounting and general management. Therefore, most of the Prepcast content are not entirely new to me, but new in the sense of seeing them in the proj mgmt.. setting and how they relate to the overall process. In my exam prep, I did constant mental exercises applying the concept in my work situation and found the exercises helpful getting better understanding of the concepts.
11. On the 3, 4 days before your exam, try to experiment your daily routine to align your peak performance hours to your scheduled exam time. For me it is 1 pm exam. Therefore, I developed a plan to have a heavy breakfast at 8:30 am, then somewhat light lunch at 11:30 so that I would not feel drowsy in the early afternoon. I had some energy bar at 3:30 pm to help me perform. I also experiment my afternoon coffee consumption and decided on taking coffee at noon so that I will be sharp thru the afternoon.

Zhuowen,

Congrats on passing the PMP exam! Thank you for posting a very thorough experience and lessons learned. Impressive work. I spent more like 200 hours in preparation.

Cheers,

Mark

Congratulations