TOPIC: Passed PMP exam on 20th Dec - 1st try - An Amazing journey made memorable with your support - THANK YOU!!!

Hello Everyone ,

This is Sindhu from Bengaluru , India.
I am happy to share that I passed PMP with today (4 Above Target and 1 Target , which was Closing )- What a journey it was !!
Also It couldnt have been this way without the support of so many of you .. All the experiences shared and all the knowledge flowing here is helping so many people!!!

Cornelius fichtner , Yazmine Darcy, Stan Po , Thank you so very much for the wonderful contribution you are doing.. helping so many aspirants world-wide !
I am Deeply Greatful to have got your support which was pivotal for me to confidentally clear the exam.

About the exam:
The questions are very situational , not very lengthy however require a deep understanding of all the processes.
No need to memorize the ITTOs however please take every effort to understand , why you need an input , why and How a particular T&T is used etc.
Prepcast is a Perfect tool for this

Also my personal tip to Learn faster & better :
I made 47 hand-written flashcards (post card size) for each process with Inputs , T&T and Output & had them stuck on my wall on the room with a scotch tape
This is like a zoomed out version of Page-61 , exact format but in much detail.
Each time i passed by i would quiz myself on WHY i needed that input / o/p / T&T
As its not permanently stuck , it also gave me the freedom to pick one of those cards which i was having difficulty to understand.
Whenever i wanted to better understand some process like for eg "Identify Risk" , i would just pick the card from the wall and take it along with me for a walk in the garden - to further focus.Then after a round of deep thinking , i stuck that back again on the wall
This REALLY helped CEMENTING the understanding.
This technique is very helpful for the kinesthetic learners like me . When you know that all of what you need to learn is written on small pieces of paper and put up in front of you - visual learning kicks in - the brain submits to believe that the Big mountain of learning is actually not that Big/Difficult to climb I can almost Bet on the fact that the impact of this activity exponentially improves the learning.


References & Lessons Learnt :
1. PMBOK ( this was my MAIN reference ALL through !!.I can see people say they read PMBOK with low prio ;
however in my case i think i read and read and read this book and each time i appreciated it more .
I felt many sections in the book are much better than any other book ; eg : Close project or Phase , Planning Risk Response, Earned Value .. however maybe this is
my opinion
2. Rita Mulcahy's Exam Prep ( I read this book to understand "Procurement" , "Framework" mainly ; However its a very good to refer.)
3. Headfirst PMP ( very interesting explanation on many topics put in artistic and humorous ways.
I found the explanations for "Risk" chapter really good in this one. - it really helps one understand the concepts well )
4. Prepcast - i bought the Prepcast only 2 weeks ago and didnt get enough time to hear all the videos ,
However I felt this REALLY helped me to gain more confidence as i could relate to not only the concepts explained but also the Way it is presented ;
its the BEST investment for anyone who wants to be sure that they understand the concepts and the way the processes really relate )
5. PM-Exam Simulator ; First Took a lot of 15 , 30, 50 questions quizzes in PM-Exam Simulator - These helped a great deal to not only BOOST CONFIDENCE but ALSO really
UNCOVER the gaps !!!
2 weeks ago took 4 Full Length(200 questions) PM-exam simulator exams and was scoring between 80-87%. I wish i could take more.. however i ran out of time.
Honestly what really matters is HOW we cover the gaps ! Highlighted via the questions answered incorrectly.
PM-exam Simulator is a great tool to understand this and then all it matters is how well we can cover those gaps.
Like for me, i realized i had many many gaps in chapters like "Stakeholder", "Communication" and "Integration" which i had "felt" were easy.
6. Christopher Scordos Test on PMTraining.com - I took all the 22+ Lite Tests. Watch out here there are some tests having tricky questions and you may not score too
much ; for some i just scored 70%. However again i learnt that its not about the score , but about covering the gaps.

I really would suggest to any exam takers to not get demotivated by low scores in the Mock exams ; Please ONLY focus on how to fill the gaps
Please try to space each successive exam with a few days of revision+deep learning BASED on the gaps highlighted by the incorrect answers.
Thats it , after that If the scores dont improve it only means a new process/knowledge area has specific gaps
So to all exam takers , the preparation for PMP is all about covering the gaps.
While The explanations for each incorrect answer is so very well explained via the Simulator ; The Prepcast is a great tool for covering the gaps and it helped me
a lot.
Please dont get disheartened if you score low .
Persist on putting up a plan on covering the gaps and taking up as many full-length mock exams as possible.

My best wishes to All the exam takers

PS: My lovely family has sacrificed a lot to allow me to get into this zone of deep learning , so now its time for me to give back the love i received through the Rock solid support. Going to celebrate with them !


Signing off with this quote .. Or maybe as we hear so many times in the Precast videos , Until next time!!

~ All power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in that - Swami Vivekananda ~

Best Regards
Sindhu

Sindhu, this was a great lessons learned write-up! thank you so much for sharing your experiences. and congrats on your passing the exam and getting your PMP certification. Have fun with your family as y'all celebrate.

Dear Jada , Thank You so much ! It was a pleasure to share my experience. I learnt a lot in this forum and i am really happy to help in a small way that i can

Wish you All Merry Xmas and Happy New year

Best Regards
Sindhu