TOPIC: CLEARED PMP !! Sharing lessons learnt.

Hi everyone,
Proud to share that I have cleared PMP certification yesterday (23 Oct 09) with following assessment

Initiation – Moderately proficient
Planning – Proficient
Executing - Moderately proficient
Monitoring and controlling - Proficient
Closing - Proficient
Professional and Social Responsibility – Proficient

I would like to extend my thanks to Cornelius Fichtner, all the forum members and various sources which I am describing below for all the guys preparing for PMP. All the lessons learnt below worked for me and may not be suitable for more intelligent aspirants

1. I relied majorly on 2 sources, Headfirst and PM Prepcast for basic and detailed study correspondingly. Headfirst certainly is one of the best for getting all concepts in a truly brain friendly manner. But relying totally on it may prepare a little lesser then required as the level of details available in PMBOK is more then it.

2. For all the guys who really want to match the detailed level of PMBOK in the easiest form, PM Prepcast is the best. I purchased it simply because it was the cheapest way to get 35 contact hours but it turned out to be a major source of information and main reason I could clear PMP. It contains everything and in some cases much more then what you actually require to know. One of the tip is to make sure that while listening to Podcast, pause it in between and take notes pretty much like when you are attending the lecture in University. I used Mindjet mindmap to take the notes. It allows you to gather too much information in a relational way by using mindmaps.

3. I used Rita mulcahy for skimming the information but solved all the prep questions at the end of each chapter. Comparatively I found the questions slightly more tricky then Headfirst and good source for better sample questions. Personally i never liked reading this book but questions are good.

4. One good thing about preparing for PMP is that majority of sources present you the information pretty much in the same structure like most of the books are indexed based on knowledge areas. So my approach was as follows.

Let’s say, if I have to study scope management, here was my approach
a. Read SM from Headfirst.
b. Listen to podcast related to SM
c. Attempt questions at the end of chapter from Headfirst in an exam like environment
d. Skim Rita mulcahy to make sure I am not missing anything
e. Attempt all the questions from RM in an exam like environment.

I followed this pattern for all the knowledge areas and was sure I am above the basic information. In case my scoring was below 80%, I preferred to follow the same cycle once again but it’s very rare that in this was you will get lesser then that. Each Knowledge area should not take more than 3 days for you but if you are busy then take a week for it.

After that, I started listening to advanced sections of Prepcast and started solving sample questions which you can get too many, online free of cost. There are some major Don’ts that I identified for myself.

- Don’t read too many sources unless you have a specific reason. I got the information from 2 sources simply as the level of details were different.

- Regarding sample questions, one can easily get the information regarding how difficult and easy are sample questions from different sources. My suggestions are once you are done with sample questions from Headfirst and Rita mulcahy. Don’t do simple questions and only attempt sample questions which are famous to be extremely tricky for example, oliver lehmann and Pmstudy are definitely going to give you a hard time. So please do them. Reason I am saying this is that when you actually give PMP, you find them like a breeze and it will be a comfortable feeling for you.

Remember, it’s very important to feel good and not getting frustrated at the time of writing PMP. Taking tricky sample questions certainly grooms you that way. I didn’t score more than 75% in both Oliver and PMstudy but that helped me to go smooth at the time of final war.

The point is that if one really understand the concepts then you don’t need too many questions apart from what is shared above.

My sincere thanks to Cornelius Fichtner for creating such a wonderful product. I owe my success to you Cornelius.

Wishing luck to all future aspirants and thanks for everything.

If I can do it, you can do it as well.


Praveen Kumar
New Delhi, India

Thanks so much. I purchased a simulator software and the questions while challenging instrudced areas that I have not heard about in either the prep cast, head first or Ritas Books. Reading this makes me feel more comfortable about my prep efforts.