Glad to share my happy news with you guys. I passed the PMP exam on the 3rd of July, 2019 with scores:
INITIATING - Above Target
PLANNING - Target
EXECUTING - Above Target
M & C - Below Target
CLOSING - Above Target
I had 12 weeks of studying, full time studying in the last 4 weeks. I have to say, this simulator is a great investment, it really helped boost my understanding of the reading materials through its situational questions. I attempted all the exams and also the ITTO exams.
My study materials:
5-day Uni of Houston class for 35pdus
PMBOK Guide - read about 60-70% of it mostly concentrating on cost, quality, resources, risk, procurement.
RITA Mulachy 9th - Read everything once, and did most of the practice tests
Edward Designer . com - blog posts were really helpful
Aileen Ellis - Formula-based Q&A books
John Phillips Udemy course - Watched all 35hours to refresh my memory
Ricardo Vargas Process Elaboration video on youtube - watched about 3 times
ZenBridge Consultancy Pvt on youtube - videos on everything cost management, highly recommend.
Pocket Prep App - for on-the-go quizzes (not very situational but it helped)
My Simulator 1st Attempt Scores:
Exam 1 - 59.5%
Exam 2 - 69%
Exam 3 - 68%
Exam 4 - 66%
Exam 5 - 69%
Exam 6 - 66%
Exam 7 - 70%
Exam 8 (ITTO) - 75%
Oliver Lehmann 200 Qs - 65%
MY PEARSON VUE EXPERIENCE.
It was different from the experiences I read about prometrics. Have an ID for check-in, you can start earlier than your appointed time, they give you a small whiteboard smaller than an A4 for calculations, etc, they DO NOT give sheets of paper. If you finish the whiteboard and request another, they WILL swap it out. So if you plan to do a brain dump, make sure you write in small letters as you have very limited space. There was no instruction as to whether you can do the brain dump before starting the timer on the computer, so it might be at your own discretion. I only had about 4 very easy calculation questions, didn't even need the formulas. Virtually 80% situational questions, a lot of questions on change management, maybe 1 or 2 agile, highly recommend learning the PMI code of conduct, and the exam outline in the right order. I would say the simulator is harder than the actual exam, but the exam had confusing closely related answer options. I marked about 50 questions for review. Finished in 3:20 minutes, took a 10-minute bathroom break, then used the remaining 30 minutes to review my marked questions, I probably changed about 20 answers. In the end, the screen brought up the congratulations page, I was ECSTATIC!
My advice to anyone taking the exam soon is to put in the hard work in studying and believe in your ability to pass the exam. Don't get discouraged by your practice exam scores, keep practicing repeatedly. I practiced the time's quizzes a lot choosing only the questions I got wrong and doing them again. I also used the quizzes based on each KA and PG. This tactic helped me tremendously in identifying my problem areas and studying more in my weak areas which were cost, risk, and stakeholders. I read a lot of forums as well, but every experience is different, just believe in yourself and keep moving forward. It is worth it!
