Lessons Learned
On Wednesday 2/22/2017, I successfully passed the PMI PMP Certification Examination.
First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to
Mark Wuenscher. From the very beginning, Mark provided his immediate assistance and guidance to provide timely PMBOK related information to numerous questions in furthering my understanding on concepts. I am thankful for his advisory, and most of all, the consistent encouragement and support he had given over the last few months. All of it made a difference toward a successful outcome.
Thank you Sir!
I would like also like to courteously say
“Thank you!” to others who took the time to respond and provide their support:
Cornelius Fichtner, Lazard Toe, Michael DeCicco, Christian Winter, Jonathan Hebert, Lawrence Li, Ferenc Csizmadia, Henry ILO, and Bonnie.
Exam Day
I had ensured to take off from work a few days prior to the exam that would allow review of notes and to do any small quizzes in particular knowledge areas/process groups. I was self-covering while using time off, having to occasionally address matters at work, but was able to defer most of it.
The morning of the Exam, I did sleep in a little extra as opposed to my normal time up. Because my exam was being held a just slightly after noon, I knew that I would be going through normal lunch time, and there there was going to be a possibility of not stopping for a break once the exam started to have a snack or drink. I loaded up on a high protein breakfast to stay with me longer and ensured that I was well hydrated. Leading up to the exam in the last couple of weeks, I was doing light exercise to enhance blood flow, and researched best foods to enhance cognitive function. That morning I did just 15 minutes of exercise/cardio to feel jump started and alert.
I had to be at the exam center by 12 noon for check in as my official start was for 12:30 pm. I ended up having a 1/2 hour drive, and on my previous scout of the site, realized I would need to take extra time for a parking spot as it would be near lunch time with limited parking. I ended up arriving about 1 hour early. I used that time in the car per
Mark Wuenscher’s Lessons Learned to do a run on the brain dump, review over major ITTO, and review over final notes.
After check-in and clearing security, I was seated right by the door of the exam testing area. I instantly knew this was going to be a distraction to me. This meant in every instance, anyone going in and out would be passing directly behind me, the feel of the door swinging open, and awareness to the door closing/jarring shut vibration/clicking sound as it was a heavy door. Others were taking typing tests in the room which made it noisy. I had noise reduction/ear protection, but I wasn't able to effectively utilize that as it felt foreign as I heard myself breath, hearing my heart beat loud, and a situation of elevated tinnitus at a strong high pitch that day. I decided to ditch the hearing and told myself to just get locked in, focused, and deal with it. I would say to practice in your mock exams with such hearing protection/devices, and not wait to try them on the day of the exam. I would also raise this out of sensitivity to anyone that suffers from PTSD, you may want to communicate your needs as you may feel exposed to someone behind you. Each site layout can be different, but be sure to look into it if you can.
One thing I did learn is that Prometic allows you to do a test drive for $35 by simulating a mock exam in the environment. If I had known about it sooner, I would have taken advantage of it.
At the start of the exam, I took about 12 minutes to do a brain dump on the processes and formulae, but I didn't refer to any of it. In my mock exams, I always did the brain dump, and when not in mock testing, I used a stop watch on the phone to time myself. Someone wrote a post here recently that said you either know it or you don't by the time you take the test. Looking back, I could have used that extra 12 minutes, but it is best to prepared as you do not know how you may react and feel when taking this type of test, and when that reference could be of assistance. Your stress level will be elevated.
Through the attempt on my first 50 questions, I was trying to get settled down. I had marked probably over half of those questions to review, but as time progressed, my grouping of marks became smaller as I worked through the remaining test questions. You may instinctively know when you encounter some of those PMI “test” questions, as you will say, “What in the world is this?” because the exam prep books never raised it or presented those “one-off” scenarios.
As many have stated before, the questions are very highly situational that will contain multiple feasible answers, often tricky in their subtlety. I felt the difficulty of the questions were greater than what I experienced in simulator or exam prep books. I had just a few ITTO. I had several contract calculations, EVM calculations, and network diagrams to draw out – those took so much of my time to work through, but if you do the math, at least you can back into a sure answer and get it right. To be honest, I was taken back by the number I had on the exam compared to what others had shared. Those type of questions really broke my flow, adding a feeling of frustration (or a thought of – “You have got to be kidding me”). It was Murphy’s Law - if it can/could happen, it will happen – and it did. If I had not bought Aileen’s books on Contract, EVM, and Network Diagrams of doing those calculations and doing the network diagrams, I would have more than likely failed. Be prepared just in case to see these.
In simulator, I would usually have between 30-45 minutes remaining from each mock exam, but in this case, I had 7 minutes remaining from the official exam When I saw the "Congratulations" message, I just took a deep breath and felt weight off my shoulders instantly.
As others have said and I am saying, you can do this as we have done. Decision is an Action. Decide in your mind that you will succeed. I leave you with this:
IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME
Thank you all for allowing me to share.
Sincerely,
Steven McClaugherty
Other insights/comments should you be interested below
Starting the Process – “Roadmap & Journal”
When I had made the commitment toward PMP certification, I immediately defined a day-by-day/week-by-week roadmap that would lead to the eventual examination day. My roadmap end-to-end was a 29 week journey that consisted of taking action 7 days a week (with limited actions during special times of holidays through Thanksgiving and Christmas). Careful consideration needs to be taken regarding personal commitments, family/relationships, your job situation/demands, and potential impacts to (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual) health. Your time will be redirected as you enter into this process, testing those areas that once felt comfortable. Consider your risks and have a plan should they occur.
Along with this roadmap, I instituted the documentation of a personal roadmap journal that documented my activity and hours against the roadmap. This provided evidence that I needed to see toward the progression of the roadmap. As a “rule of thumb”, I had heard that approximately 250 – 300 hours of study could be required. I began to work toward those hours. Each individual may need less or more, but I used those numbers as a goal against the time invested toward study.
I always keep in mind that even an ant doesn’t carry the entire apple back all at once, but bits and pieces until it has the apple. They say that a goal not written is just wishful thinking. Define your goals, create the plan, work the plan, and hold yourself accountable to it. Create a roadmap to your success through consistency.
Encountering & Dealing with Mental Limitations
It had been nearly 18 years since I had done any considerable amount of study. I forgot how to study, and realized that I faced some new mental challenges. When I was younger, I could work through a 100+ deck of flash cards of word for word definitions/concepts in a couple of hours. I found myself not able to do 20 and my memory recall was not as sharp. I could read for hours and hours, but not so today. Talk about degradation. What worked in the past was not going to work for the now or in the future. This was going to require a new approach and technique. My deck of 800 note cards I created from Rita Mulcahy’s book sit in front me as I type this - didn't use them, a waste of time. This was the wrong approach for vast amounts of information. Not to mention, I think my hand was ready for fall off from writing (ha!). I would have been better served by using PM Flashcards
www.project-management-prepcast.com/pmp-exam/the-pm-flashcards
You will need to discover how you learn and you will need to discover how to learn vast amounts of information and connect it. Between the PMBOK and 2 Study Exam Guides, they came up to nearly 1500 pages. Getting ITTO down is a challenge in itself. I ended up buying the ITTO Memory Jogger which introduced me to new techniques I had not encountered before. Through this document, I learned that there are actually several ways I learn information.
www.project-management-prepcast.com/pmp-...s/itto-memory-jogger
Study Materials/Tools
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14 Week PMI PMBOK (Study Cycle Group) – offered through work to do a week by week study + Q/A on the PMBOK.
-- In parallel the PMBOK, I worked through
Rita Mulcahy’s Exam Prep Book to the corresponding chapter.
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Aileen Ellis PMP Exam Simplified – I needed to work through by Process Group rather than Knowledge Area to see it connect. After I finished Rita’s book, I started this one.
-- Aileen Ellis –
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How To Get Every Earned Value Question Right on the PMP Exam (50 prep questions & solutions)
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How To Get Every Contract Calculation Question Right on the PMP Exam (50 prep questions & solutions)
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How To Get Every Network Diagram Question Right on the PMP Exam (50 prep questions & solutions)
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BrainBok ITTO Tool
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PM PrepCast Exam Simulator – this tool was KEY to passing the PMP Examination. I was able to use it to understand my weak areas and strategies within the testing time limit. I did complete all of the exams. I had overall average of 80%. My last 4 exams averaged 88%, but I suspect that was because I was getting used to the questions which do contain quite a bit of ITTO.
Without this simulator, I am pretty sure I would have not passed the exam.
To support PrepCast exam metrics for official pass/fail:
12/11/2016 - Exam 1 - 65.5% (no brain dump, did not know ITTO or formulae)
12/18/2016 - Exam 2 - 77% (no brain dump)
12/28/2016 - Exam 3 - 79% (no brain dump)
12/31/2016 - Exam 4 - 71% (no brain dump, sick/exhausted)
01/08/2017 - Exam 1 (retake) - 81% (brain dumps going forward)
01/15/2017 - Exam 5 - 81%
01/22/2017 - Exam 6 - 85.5% (1 month mark - "Go/No Go" Decision point or to extend to March -
GREEN LIGHT - Decision to
"GO" - committed to closing on 125 extra hours of study in 30 days)
www.project-management-prepcast.com/kune...-go-for-exam-testing
01/29/2017 - Exam 9 (ITTO) - 89.5%
02/05/2017 - Exam 7 - 90%
02/12/2017 - Exam 8 - 86.5%
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PMTrainer Exam Simulator – I bought this 2 days before my exam to check my readiness against 1st attempt questions I had not seen before. I averaged 83% on the full 200 length questions.
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Oliver Lehmann 175 free questions – scored 75%
In the last few weeks up to the exam, I reviewed each exam taken to create my own analytics of a break down by process of where I missed questions in each process or ITTO, developed a new ranking, and started the process of doing a DEEP-DIVE full note write out closing on 8 Knowledge Areas. Weak areas were in Cost, Procurement, Schedule - they were priority first, good thing for the extra study as my exam focused quite a few questions there. Communication and Stakeholder were ranked best in #1 and #2 so they were not priority, though would have completed them if I had not ran out of time to do the notes. I combined and consolidated notes from PMBOK, Rita, and Aileen into a master set of study reference notes into a consolidated format resulting in 70+ pages of notes. That process closed gaps.
