TOPIC: Just passed my exam yesterday. First Attempt

I have just passed my PMP exam in the first attempt on 25 April 2017! I would like to share my exam preparation strategy and tips with other PMP students.

Exam Preparation Strategy:
1. I subscribed an online PMP prep course about two months ago. I didn't know about PrepCast back then but it was quite good though. Not sure if I can mention the name of the provide though.
2. After I completed the training video, I proceed with Andy Crowe’s “PMP Exam – How to Pass on Your First Try”. The book is written in simple and plain English without trying to demotivate you with too much details and exercise. Completing all the quiz at the end of each chapters helps to reinforce your memory. I also went through all the training video's section wrap again after I completed the book to identify if there was any knowledge gaps.
3. On the week before my exam, I signed up for the PM Exam Simulator. I made it a point to complete one full-length exam each day. The exam simulator is very important for a few reasons. The simulator’s questions are worded in a very similar way to the actual exam, with some redundant details. Secondly, you need to gauge your exam answering pace and have a feel of how it is like to sit for a 4-hour exam. Lastly, it helps to build up my confidence. I completed 5 simulated exams with an average score of 86%. Based on the statistic of the web site, 94% of student with average score in the range of 80-90% passed the exam in the first attempt.

Other useful tips:
1. Study plan. Create a study plan and stick to it. Follow through your plan like you are running an actual project.
2. Plan to pass. Study to pass the exam. My goal is to pass the exam and not trying to aim for high score. It’s good to know as much as you can but don’t try to kill yourself in the process of doing it.
3. I print out all the ITTO tables on A4 size paper. The table took up roughly 50% of the page so that there are empty space for me to write down additional notes. As I go through the video, book, and exam simulator, I wrote down the important points on the printed sheets. It’s very handy for me when I am doing revision or for quick reference.
4. Create ITTO spreadsheet. Group them in knowledge area and process group. Use some highlights if it helps. The spreadsheet is very helpful for me to identify the relationships of different process and their ITTO. It also helps me to identify some patterns. E.g. All “Plan <knowledge area> Management” use “Meeting” as one of the Tools & Techniques. Is it one of the reason it’s “Communication Planning” and not “Plan Communication Management”?
5. Draw out the relationship diagrams of closely related processes. The ITTO spreadsheet above helps me to identify the flow of input/output inter-knowledge area and intra knowledge area.
6. Mark and review all the question in the exam simulator if you have doubts on the chosen answer. At the end of the simulated exam, review all the marked questions regardless of whether you got it right. Read through the comment to make sure you understand the reason the answer is being chosen. It comes with hints and clear explanation which would guide you in your thinking process to tackle PMP questions in the PMI way (PMI-isms).
7. When in doubt, always refer to the PMBOK. Not only it helps to clear my doubts, I also make it a point to read the adjacent/related paragraphs to fill up my knowledge gap.

During the actual exam:
1. At the beginning of the exam, I drew out the table with the 47 processes and the EVM formula. It eats up my exam time at the beginning but ROI materialize very quickly as you answer the questions.
2. Read the question CAREFULLY. A lot of question comes with redundant details. You need to know what is the “theme” of the question. Pay attention to words such as Next, First, what should the PM have done, etc. Also, some questions require you to know exactly which process or process group you are in. You may use the highlight feature to make sure you are not being misled.
3. Sometimes the question or answer will not use the exact name for the tools and technique as stated in the ITTO table. For example, it may mention about luncheon meetings and trade conferences and you need to know that it’s part of networking and it’s a technique for “Plan HR Management”. <- not actual question.

I hope the above points help

Congratulations and thank you for sharing your advice and strategy!
My only addition to other readers is to make sure you plan your time accordingly, and do it during your exam simulators. Keep in mind that the new exam does not allow you to brain dump before the clock starts, so you may be losing precious time. Find out how much time you have to spend in the beginning and adjust accordingly.

Good luck to all!
Eric Bartlett, PMP
Community Moderator