Hello Everyone,
I am very excited to share the great news with you . Hurraaaaaaaaaaaaayyy I cleared PMP exam on my first attempt and I am PMP Certified now .
First I have to thank all the Internal Key Stakeholders, My mother, my wife and daughter who supported me to achieve this certification and last but not the least external key stakeholder Cornelius Fichtner. I don’t know how I can thank him but I could not have achieved this certification without going through his material.
First I bought PM PrepCast to earn the 35 PDUS. This is the mandatory requirement before you submit the application .Every day I used to listen after my office and it was great lessons from him .It is very well covered all the knowledge areas in detail and I Strongly recommend PM PrepCast for all the beginners. It was fun to listen every day evening for two hours and mainly to hear Cornelius saying Until Next time . After completing this I earned 35 PDU’s and submitted the application . Luckily my application Approved.
Once I am in the second month and I decided to fix a date for my exam and given strong deadline for myself .Through Prometric I fixed the appointment date in San Jose Prometric center. I very much recommend this testing center for people who live in north California.
I bought PMBOK and RITA … these are only two books I studied for the PMP Exam. I started reading Rita for first month and then PMBOK. I completed both the books in 8 weeks and then started reviewing .
Started taking test exams from the day 1. This is the key point for this exam. It is not about how many number of times we read the books .It is about how many number of questions you take before you give the actual PMP exam. I would strongly recommended to take minimum 3 to 4 exams (which is of 200 questions). This will give you great confidence and mainly time management which is critical for this exam.
You need a strategy and a game plan on how you answer 200 question within the 4 hours’ time frame. First only plan after how many questions you may take break. After every break you will have to go through security scanning.
There are chances if you get tough questions you may run out of time. So better mark each and every question in your first pass and you can review once you finish all the 200 questions. Don’t leave the question incomplete.
MOST Important for my success in PMP exam is PM Exam Simulator. This has 1800 Questions . Trust me if you are able to score above 80-85% consistently I am sure you will pass the exam.
I scored 80-90% on my first try and 90-99% on my second try .
Oliver Lehmann is the toughest of all the other sample exams and you are good if you get 75% in this exam . I almost tried 3000 sample questions in the internet and this gave me a clarity and confidence once I achieved the 85% mark.
Many of us we read individual chapters and will not link it . It is not about collection..It is about connection .Most important thing in clearing this exam to link all the knowledge areas and how the information flow from one process to another).
One more key point is not to take breaks between studies till you get ITTO to your brain ( the link between all the processes). Once you are determined to take this exam then try as much as possible to not take breaks before the exam(I mean vacations)
What has changed with PMP exam;
Now there is no more dump sheet you can prepare during the 15 min tutorial. You can only use paper once the actual exam clock starts this means you can prepare dump sheet but you are losing your exam valuable time.
One more important thing which really helped me is take a test drive .you can go to the test center one day before the exam and see exam center and actually you can use the computer and some sample test( this is kind of simulation) . As you first only experience the exam environment you will not have anxiety on the main exam day and total focus can be on the exam. This will cost you 30$ but I felt it is worth the cost.
Try to get good confidence on ITTO and formulas.you need to memorize ITTO but you have to practice it everyday for 30 min to 1 hour you will automatically link it and understand all the knowledge areas.
Get some good understanding between communication & Stakeholders. This will be little confusing. Risk & procurement chapters study as much as you can as these are two toughest chapters.
I have taken the study notes while reading and also gone through questions which I answered wrong. Before the exam day I just left the books and purely became dependent on my study notes.
Eat less on the exam day and may be drink less water and you can get some food in case if you are hungry. Food you can keep outside. You will be given a locker to keep your items, but you cannot access the locker until you finish your exam. Wear some extra layers in case if it is cold it will help you.
If you pass the exam you will be given Pass certificate from Prometric test center and you will be receiving the original certificate in six weeks time .
A BIG THANKS to Mr Cornelius Fichtner. I am sure I couldn’t have achieved his certification without his course material PM PrepCast and PM Exam Simulator. Thank you and your team for helping many PMP aspirants.
Whoever are preparing for the PMP exam Wish you ALL good luck for your Exam!!!
