Hi everyone! I passed my PMP exam today!!!!
The exam was much easier than I had anticipated.
I did 7 of the PrepCast simulator exams (plus the one out of Andy Crowe's book) and scoring consistently around 80% or above.
For me, the simulator exams were more difficult than the actual exam - thanks PrepCast staff!
Thanks to the PrepCast staff for being so prompt and thorough in the live feedback option of the simulator exams.
Lessons Learned (echoing a lot of the advice here on this forum):
1) The PrepCast in and of itself (as Cornelius also advised) is NOT ENOUGH to prepare you for the test! You need at least one or two other prep books. I personally used Andy Crowe's book. I was worried when everybody else was using Rita's book and that Head First book and I wasn't. But it turned out OK.
2) You DON'T need to read the PMBOK cover to cover. Reference it like you would a dictionary and skim it for topics that you might not have seen before.
3) The test does have a lot of situational questions as people on this forum have said! Everybody was right when they advised to focus on understanding the ITTO's and how they interrelate more than memorization. Memorization does actually help - I wouldn't villainize it as much as people here have done. I would say memorization comes second to understanding the way the processes work. If you have time to memorize, it does actually really help.
4) Do lots of simulator tests! This is definitely the way I found gaps in my knowledge. Like everyone says, review the ones you got wrong AND review the ones that you weren't sure of but got right by chance! Keep a written record of the notes you write on these and review these!
It also builds up your endurance. A 4-hour test with lots of situational questions requires a LOT of concentration and is physically and mentally draining. Prep for this helps! I finished all my questions in 3 hours and spent the last hour reviewing marked questions.
5) Don't postpone setting an exam date! People are right - you gotta set a date before you get in the zone for studying. Commit to a study plan! When you've had a chance to review all the chapter material at least once and feel like you're starting to get the hang of it, go ahead and schedule that exam!
6) The test really didn't have a lot of formula question - maybe a handful? There was some network diagram stuff which was time consuming - but not bad.
7) **** CREATE YOUR OWN EXCEL SHEET OF ITTO'S!!! I'd emphasize doing it on your own! Reading someone else's chart of excel sheet - you don't pay as much attention. Like a lot of people mentioned - doing the CTRL + F function to find how things relate to each other is really helpful! Like understanding the issue log is made from Manage Stakeholder engagement and used as an input to Control Stakeholder Engagement, Manage Project Team and Control Communiction. Or knowing that quality control measurements is an output of Control Quality but it cycles back into Perform Quality Assurance. Or knowing that Approved Change Requests are an output of Perform Integrated Change Control, but are an input to Direct and Manage Project Work AND Control Quality. There's SO many of these little relationships to understand.
There's probably some more, but these are the things off the top of my head!
Grateful to this community for all the awesome tips (that I took to heart and really worked for me!).
I'm now off to celebrate!
Thanks again and good luck to those studying!
- Pete
