Greetings all,
I just passed my PMP exam today on the first try. I got 4Ps and one MP (initiation). Thanks to all who have provided detailed lessons learned, those were really a great help. Thanks to Cornelius Fichtner and all the PM-Prepcast team for this well prepared course and exam simulator. Keep up the good work, it’s all appreciated.
Preparation period:
- Started May 4, 2017
- Ended August 13, 2017
- About 4 weeks in between were 0-study time due to other commitments
- About 2-6 hours most days, a few days 8 hours.
Study Material (books):
- Started with PMBOK, 5th ed. (1 time)
- Rita Mulcahy’s PMP Exam Prep (1 time), after completing the PMBOK guide.
Study Material (Course):
- Purchased the PM-Prepcast for the 35 contact hours.
- Watched only Module 1 and a couple others from module 0.
- Listened to all the PMP experiences podcasts during a trip to LA from SF.
Exam Application:
- Confirmed experience with previous bosses on July 9th.
- Submitted application on July 13th.
- Received acceptance from PMI on July 19th.
- Did not get audited.
- Scheduled the exam thru Prometric center website on August 10. Nearest available slot was two days after but I was not done with mock exams. So I found a couple days later (8/14)
Practice Exams (All free except PM-Prepcast simulator exams):
1. Headfirst PMP Exam-200 questions: 77%
2. PM-Precast Exam 1- 200 questions: 77%
3. PM-Precast Exam 2-200 questions: 78%
4. Oliver Lehmann 175 Prep Questions: 72.5%
5. Edwel Mock exam-75 questions:84%
6. PreparePM (28 questions): 82%
7. MyPMLLC practice exam 1 - 50 questions: 96%
8. PassionatePM- 50 questions: 84%
9. PassionatePM- 15 questions: 93.3%
10. PM-Precast Exam 3- 200 questions:84%
11. PM-Precast Exam 4- 200 questions:81.5%
12. PM-Precast Exam 5- 200 questions:82%
13. PM-Precast Exam 6- 200 questions:80%
14. PM-Precast Exam 7- 200 questions:87%
15. PM-Precast Exam 8- 200 questions: 82.5%
16. PM-Precast Exam 9(ITTO)- 200 questions: 90%
17. PM-Precast Quizzes- 30 questions:96.67%
18. PM-Precast Quizzes- 50 questions: 86%
Thoughts on studying:
- Don’t over study. Just read the PMBOK and one other high quality exam prep book.
- Make sure you do lots of (High Quality) mock exams. PM-Prepcast is great (1,800 of high quality questions) in addition to Oliver Lehmann 75q and 175q exams.
- Found ITTO excel sheet on the internet. Made some corrections and focused on the less frequent ITTOs (1, 2 and 3 times frequent). Don’t waste your time memorizing.
Thoughts on the exam:
- Exam questions are situational. Less situational that the PM Prepcast simulator, though.
- Got 2-3 questions on EVM.
- Got 1-2 questions on ITTOs.
- A number of “change” questions.
- 2-3 questions on CPM where I had to draw the network diagram.
- Lots of what to do, should PM do and what to do next questions.
- Mock exams should prepare you well for the real exam.
Good Luck.
