TOPIC: PMP first try. LESSONS LEARNED

Hello,

My name is Fabiola Toro, and this are my lessons learned from passing my PMP Exam on my first Try.

KNOWLEDGE + EXPERIENCE
First of all I must say that I have experience managing small projects (<30,000 USD) and that I graduated from a Post Grad Diploma in Toronto, ON in Project Management back in 2010. Having said this, some concepts were new to me but I had a very good idea of the type of exam I was signing up for.

DATELINE
The first thing I did was booking my test. I gave myself 2 months to study (Full time available)

SOURCES
I used my PMBOK and the best online tool I could find. After some research on google I found the PrepCast. I knew I was gonna need guidance, PrepCast and Formula guide, and a tool to practice my test, Simulator.
* PMBOK
* PREPCAST
* PMP SIMULATOR
*PMP FORMULA GUIDE

SCHEDULE
After having my end goal, date and resources in hand I went ahead and created a Schedule Monday to Sunday were I would study 3 to 4 videos + questionaire at the end of each unit.
I followed a lot of the tips given by Cornelius and added some things that made me, as a student, feel confident I was learning.
* I studied not just watch
* I wrote down as much as I could, I also drew my own charts when needed
* I created flashcards for definitions
* I had a board where I would draw the process ITTO that I was studying at the time
* I created a Spreadsheet for ITTO; I did not finish it but I did it for the Inputs and Outputs that were most common. This also helped me understand the difference between Work Performance Data and Information, and when to use Work Performance Report.
* I read my PMBOK while the class was on, PAUSED a lot (I needed 50 min to watch a 30 min video)
* I watched all the overview videos first
* I studied first and then I did 11 days of Simulators (1 exam / day, I repeated the first 2)
* I did a braindump of the Knowledge areas with its processes and the formulas everytime I took a simulator (before simulator).
* I had the schedule near me and reviewed and updated it as needed

DAY OF THE TEST
* I checked my way to the test center on google maps the day before and got there 30 min ahead of time on the day of the test.
* I took a banana and a sweet chocolate bar for when I reached 100 questions
- I realized while studying that after 100 questions I would want to finish my exam right away so I started taking a break and having banana and Chocolate bar as a snack and it helped me stay alert and focus-
* I prayed a lot (I asked for blessings since day 1)
* I spent all 4 hrs in my test, I did not have time to check my answers.

CONCLUSIONS
* PrepCast and its tools are all the guide I needed
* Effort pays off when done in an organized manner

Thank you for reading

Fabiola,

Congrats on passing the exam and thank you for taking the time to post your experience and lessons learned to the forum. All the best to you as a newly certified PMP!

Cheers,

Mark