TOPIC: Passed PMP first try

Hi All,

I passed my PMP exm yesterday in first try.

I had read Rita's book once and PMBOK 5th Edition twice.

I joined PMP Prepcast exam simulator 3 weeks before exam confident I am prepared, but the first four results showed failed.

Gave mock test with PMZest.com scored 64% then tried Oliver Lehmann 175 questions and score was 68%, confidence dropped further.

It was an eye opener so understood just merely reading doesnt help and you need to prepare smartly and efficiently.

So read through PMBOK again made notes and kept rehearsing them before giving Prepcast simulator exams. I passed the next four tests with Simulator a week before the final exam and confidence level grew.

The day before the exam the anxiety level went up and had a torrid time getting good sleep the night before the exam. I must have hardly slept for 3 to 4 hours which is not good for a 4 hour exam like PMP. Fortunately my exam was in the afternoon so decided to take rest and sleep until 10 AM was not able to sleep though. Now my concern was staying alert during the exam owing to lack of sleep, coudnt help but had one red bull one hour before the exam.

Once the exam started I was nervous, perhaps that made me focus harder. Decided to take a break after every 50 questions freshen up have water, sometimes 100 plus , wash my face and then continue.

The exams questions to my surprise had very few calculations and were more on the PM experience and situational questions. Some of the questions I felt more than 1 correct answer, this is where the highlight feature and strikethrough really helps to get the right answer. I feel Prepcast Simulator should try to incorporate highlight and strike through feature it really helps to eliminate and focus on the question.

Finally got through all the 200 questions after taking about 3 breaks, I had 20 mins left so decided to review the questions I had marked. I had marked 15 to 20 questions corrected some as I felt my first choice was wrong, these are for questions I felt had more than one correct answer and finally decided to submit with 4 mins left.

I felt the exam overall went well and the breaks helped me focus better. Every break took me about 4 mins which is not bad for a 4 hour exam to kill stress and stay focussed. Finally submitted was confident I will get through gave the review and finally the result came on the screen.

Initiation: Above Target
Planning: Above Target
Executing: Target
Monitoring & Controlling: Target
Closing: Above Target

Overall: Above Target.

It was unbelievable and all the hardwork paid off.

My learning from this whole lessons learned: -
1) Make notes while reading PMBOK / Rita or whichever you are reading and keep rehearsing them.
2) Have to remember page 61 of PMBOK and able to tell all the processes, process groups and knowledge area even if someone asks you in sleep.
3) Keep practicing more and more questions, doesnt matter how much you score more important to learn the pattern in which questions are set, also make sure why you got the answer wrong and investigate more on the answer. PM Exam Simulator was of great help for this.
4) Relax while giving the final exam, take breaks freshen up if you are not able to focus.

The journey to acheive the certification was rocking but staisfying. It brought back memories of the college and school exam days.

Most important to believe in yourself that you can do it.

All the best to the future aspirants of PMP.

Regards,
Girish, PMP

Dear Girish,

Congratulations on passing your exam!

Thank you for sharing your success and lessons learned. We are glad to hear that our products helped you prepare for and pass your exam.

We are also grateful to you for suggesting the new features, such as highlight and strikethrough. Actually, we already have the strikethrough feature available from a long time ago. I hope you were able to take advantage of it during your preparations.

As far as the highlighting functionality is concerned, would you mind providing some more details on how this feature helps in selecting the correct answer? Valuable feedback like yours helps us in our efforts to continuously improve our products for all our customers.

Thanks again for your feedback and good luck in all your future endeavors.

Hi Stan,

Highlighing feature helps in highlighting the keywords in the question, like first thing to do, except, best thing to do etc etc.

So while selecting the answer we know which one is the keyword in question so it is easy to select the right answer.

Thanks,
Girish

Thank you, Girish, appreciate your input. We will consider this feature for future product releases.

Have a great week.

Hi,

Please could you help advise on how the highlight and Strikethrough features work, I've tried applying it on a simulation exam that I'm practicing with but it just highlights everything I applied it to and not disregarding any part of the entire question so that I can concentrate on what's relevant to answer the question (as that's my understanding of what the features are for). Could you please through more light on how to use. Your response will be appreciated.

Thanks