TOPIC: My PMP Exam preparation experiences :)

First of all, a long journey ended in a successful exam, I'm PMP certified now by the first exam attempt. I used many of the ideas and materials provided by Cornelius and team and I'm happy to share my experience on them.

I'have been planning to get PMP certified for ages, or at least 2 or 3 years from now. I've already started to consume PM-BOK Guide Fifth Edition in 2017, so I was definitely aware that this is a long story, I simply can not digest it in 2 weeks. So some structured approach needed. I've already started with the podcast and in the very first few lessons I've received many feedback about what should I do, so I've planned:

1. Checked these forums about others' experience and study approach.
   There are really a plenty of experience here, so I 've found some very close to my expectations, pace, etc., so started to adjust them to my style.
2. I've created a study plan which was really a big help, even during the finishing days (see later).
3. I've already known that in the end I have to do plenty of tests, so included test simulator activities into my plan from the very beginning.

My study plan contained 3 major parts:

1. I've scheduled the podcast lessons first and tried to estimate how long does it take to check out all the lessons. I'll explain later, but my experience was that I've made a slower progress, than my initial thoughts. Overall it took 9 weeks to finish with it, since I was not able to do my daily 2 hours everyday. Measurement was the time spent on podcast listening* and it has been compared to remaining podcast episodes.
2. I've also planned some progress with PM-BOK Guide reading. First it was planned as a parllel activity to podcast listening, then later on I've adjusted it and read the book chapters after I've finished the related podcasts. First I struggled with progress, then I've just made plenty of 20/10 sessions where I read the book very intensively for 20 minutes, then used 10 minutes to have a 1 minute workout + create some sketches + 1 minute workout**. Measurement was the number of read pages compared to the planned.
3. I've also planned tests. Initially I wanted to do all the tests from the exam simulator, but finally I had no time for that. I've started with 10 question quizzies, then switched very soon to timed exams of varied number of questions - depending how much time I had. It is very important that I've also tried the prepared exams as it give the feeling about how the 4 hours PMP exeam will look like. You have to experience prior to your exam***!!!

Hints:
* - set the podcast to 1.2x (or even faster) playback speed just as I did. This saved time for me.
** - my one minute workout was a very fast jogging, which kept me awake even late nights as well!
*** - My very first attempt with a 100 question exam was a complete fail. I've made 10 question quizzies before and I had no time to finalize my answers for all 100 questions the first time. I enabled myself with this approach with doing 20, 50 and 80 questions prior to my next attempt of 100 questions.

This was the essence of my experience with preparation, I hope this helps to many of you!

Have a great exam experience!

Balázs Balla, PMP

Great post! Thanks.

Thanks Ty!

Hi Balazs,

Congratulations on passing the PMP Exam! We are so pleased to hear about your success.

Thank you very much for sharing with us here your experiences, specifically your study plan and some tips. I'm positive many aspiring Project Management Professionals will find it helpful .

We wish you all the best on your future endeavors!

Thanks Jenikka, you're very kind!