Hello all,
I passed the PMP exam today on my first try after studying for a little over three months. I went into the exam expecting it to be very similar to the PM PrepCast Exam Simulator and in fact, it actually was! Thinking about it, I would argue that the exam was actually probably a little less rigorous than the PrepCast Exam Simulator with a few notable exceptions that I can't detail here for ethics reasons. Overall, I scored Proficient in four categories (Initiating, Executing, M&C, and Closing) and Moderately Proficient in Planning. Here's how I did it:
1. I joined the PMI last January and committed myself to learning the materials required to pass the exam. However, life happened and I didn't end up revisiting PMP until about late November 2016. However, my membership was still valid so I was still able to apply the discount to my exam. Highly recommend joining PMI for this alone, not to mention all of the other great perks of membership.
2. I bought a hardcopy version of the PMBOK Guide and read it cover to cover while highlighting the material I thought would be testable. For my brain, this worked a lot better than trying to read my e-book version on the computer. I did use my electronic version on occasion.
3. I bought Aileen Ellis' PMP Exam Simplified book along with her three small "How to get X question right on the PMP Exam" series. I did the same highlighting in those books (and worked all of the questions multiple times).
4. I used the PM Prepcast podcasts whenever I could get a chance, mostly when driving to work but also while flying in an airplane, on work breaks, etc. Cornelius does a fine job laying out the basics for each process and his podcast greatly helped to fill in the gaps from the two books I had read and worked through. I also began taking exams and quizzes in the companion PM Prepcast Exam Simulator. I ended up taking 6 exams (passing 5) and numerous quizzes. Overall, I answered about 1500 questions from the simulator and every question from the podcast's knowledge area self-assessments.
5. Finally, I used the Rita Mulcahy "PMP Exam Prep version 8" prep book to round out the last missing pieces of my knowledge. Her process chart was very helpful on the exam and her end-of-chapter questions were definitely more difficult than the real thing (I usually wrote them out on the back of my PrepCast self-assessments)
My overall lesson learned is that while brute force study persistence is required and certainly pays off, it is imperative that prospective PMPs gain a fundamental understanding of the PMBOK processes and how they all fit together. Understanding the flow of processes was incredibly useful for the Big Three (planning, executing, M&C) and knowing how they interact through Project Integration was critical. I took Cornelius's advice to not rote memorize every ITTO and that paid off as well: I didn't encounter any more questions than he said would be on there. I am very happy with my results and look forward to keeping up my studies through the PDU program. Thanks again, Cornelius!
-Steven
Thanks for taking the time to post your experience and lessons learned to the forum. It will be of help to others in their studies. Best of luck to you as a new PMP.
