Hi Folks,
I cleared my PMP exam in the first attempt with scores of 'Above Target' in each of the Process Groups
Few Pointers I'd like to share with you which may help you with your preparation are,
Overall Prep
1. It took me about 300 hours overall from scratch to seeing a congratulatory message with my name on the final test screen. These 300 hours include 35 Hrs of mandatory classroom sessions, reading, browsing internet for topics related to preparation, preparation through multiple resources, applying for the exam through PMI website, filling forms & sending audit documents - twice (as I failed my audit the first time), all preparatory mock tests, their analysis and taking the final test. Yes, I kept track of every hour I spent for Preparation!
2. How you devote these 300 hours (or more/less) depends totally upon your personal/professional engagement. But, do not start preparation if you do not have 2.5-3 months of clear runway without any major distractions in work or personal life.
3. Resources used : Rita Mulcahy, PMBOK - 6th Edition, PM PrepCast Exam Simulator, iZenBridge YouTube videos, PMP ITTO App (paid version), 3-4 Free mock tests available online
4. I read Rita Mulcahy twice properly + PMBOK 6th Once throughly + Rita Mulcahy once again cursorily & selectively in that order.
5. First read of Rita Mulcahy was the most difficult taking good length of time. Spent as much time required to understand the topic properly as needed, before moving to the next one.
6. Second pass was better in terms of comprehension of difficult topics. Took me half the time as compared to earlier read.
7. Post which I took couple of Free online Mock tests - SimpliLearn & Cert Champ. Got between 70-73 %. This was the time I took the test appointment for a date 5 weeks later.
8. I had to read Risk Management chapter from PMBOK to understand how much I didn't know in that topic. So gave PMBOK - 6th edition a thorough read spending lot of time on Risk, Quality, Procurement, Scope, Schedule and relatively lesser time on Stakeholder, communication, Resource, Cost
9. Took couple of other Free online tests (including Oliver Lehmann's which is a brilliant test) with improved scores than earlier before jumping into PM PrepCast about 2.5 weeks before the Exam.
10. The level of PM PrepCast is slightly above that of the real test. And with every mock test the knowledge gaps would become very evident, which would give me specific areas to work upon.
11. My scores in the 8 tests of PrepCast PMP Exam Simulator are - 80%, 80%, 81%, 79%, 86%, 77%, 83%, 72% (ITTO)
12. I found PrepCast PMP Exam Simulator to be slightly more difficult than the real exam. This is a very very important factor as this will put you at ease immediately during the real exam thus having a detrimental effect on your exam success. I can't stress upon the fact, what not being able to answer questions confidently in the first 15-20 minutes do to plummet your confidence. The worst situation is when one starts double-guessing every answer during the test and that usually happens when your first 15-20 minutes during the test have not gone great.
13. Therefore, the single most important factor which helped me clear PMP with the scores that I got, is PM PrepCast Exam Simulator. It is not only the quality & level of the tests, but the responsiveness of Live Feedback. I received regular and timely responses from Mr Stan Po, who is an amazing and a learned guide for PMP Preparation, on many of my doubts during the Simulator tests. The best part was, the PM PrepCast team would not try and force the reasoning of an answer down your throat, if you feel the explanation doesn't make sense, rather they would accept valid feedback and make appropriate corrections in the question/explanations to benefit future test takers.
14. Over-preparation for the first attempt is better than preparing for the second attempt. If you believe in this, do not hesitate to postpone your test appointment, even if it costs you some money and go only when you are scoring above mid 70s in any good preparatory test.
About the Test
1. I can only say that PM PrepCast Exam Simulator is a very close simulation of the actual test with slightly above difficulty level than the real Exam.
2. Saying anything else about the test might be violation of PMI code of conduct and I'd encourage other candidates to respect the same.
