WHY DID I DO THE PMP EXAM ?
I decided after many years working in the project management environment and running my own engineering business that it was high time to formalize my skills into some kind of qualification / certification. The ubiquitous PMP Certificate became the obvious route.
DAUNTING !
Despite having a solid working knowledge of project management techniques, I must admit I was a wee bit concerned about the study effort likely to be needed to get through the 4 hour exam process.
I did some research on-line as to what was available in terms of on-line courses and realized that there were really no short-cuts available to getting through the exam. Whilst the real exam questions are not too difficult if you've already got a background in project management (as gauged from the various free samples available online) it quickly became obvious that the questions are so written that unless you understand the concepts as described in PMBOK, chances are your answer will not necessarily be totally incorrect and you could miss the "most correct" answer.
PREP-CAST
Based on my online research, I decided to take the plunge and opted for Cornelius's PREP-CAST series. I also took the optional Exam Simulation package.
THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
The PREP-CAST is set up in logical modules corresponding with the PMBOK chapters complete with easy to understand PowerPoint type presentations of each chapter, concepts within and of course the ever-present ITTO's ! All narrated by Cornelius.
I have to say that the pace of the presentations were a tad slow and the content by it's nature is very dry but this was easily overcome by adjusting the playback speed. Not quite the Chipmunks narrating the PMBOK but if I ever met Cornelius in the flesh, I'd probably need to dial in his "real" voice against the one I became familiar with !
Each module also contains tips and dummy exam questions which were most useful.
Once each module is complete, there is a self-test module which helped me measure my own assimilation of the concepts. (Note.....stop sneaking a peek at your PMBOK to double check yourself in these self tests ! Put the book away and rather cross-check afterwards. The answers provided give you a thorough description of why the answer is what it is and also provides the PMBOK page number or the online link if not in the PMBOK book if you really need to get into the detail)
PREP-CAST EXAM SIMULATOR
There are quite a number of free exam questions online but this package was what I became happy with. The integrity of other available exam questions and answers were I felt, somewhat wanting and the answers provided were in most cases not adequately explained. Not the sort of thing when you want to building up exam confidence !
The PREP-CAST EXAM SIMULATOR provided detailed answers to all the questions which was very useful.
I only completed about half of the exams available and became really comfortable about what to expect in the real exam
THE TEST
Easy Peasy ! There were no surprises thanks to the work I'd done ahead of the test.
SO HOW LONG DID IT TAKE ME ?
From pulling the trigger of commencing the online course through to passing the exam took me two months. The actual level of effort I put in was obviously much less than this as I have a day-job as well !
I'd strongly suggest you book your test with a two month lag...no more....you won't need it if you buckle down.
Good luck to all those who come after me......and thanks to Cornelius and his online course.
