I submitted my application last September after successfully completing the PM Prepcast videos. My application was selected for audit which was not a complicated process. I revert to the videos from Cornelius on how to complete your audit. I received a confirmation of the audited result in October after which I decided to get ready for the exam. I decided not to schedule the exam until I’m satisfied with the level of preparation and feel comfortable to take it. However I found out that this is not the best strategy since I wasn’t able to meet my self imposed deadline of December 2018 for taking the exam.
For the exam preparation, in addition to the PMBOK guide, I used four additional learning materials which are PM Prepcast videos, Rita, the exam simulator offered from this site, and the fourth I will talk about later. I decided to use PM precast as my main study material based on the research I did and after founding out how comprehensive the study materials are. I went through Cornelius videos twice, once for the application and the second time for the exam preparation. When I was watching the videos for the first time, I made notes and complete the end of chapter quizzes and for the second time I review the notes and follow along in the PMBOK guide. I also read Rita book twice and complete the end of chapter quizzes during my first read. Granted that my method was very time consuming, but I wanted to have a complete understanding of the contents.
The fourth method I used to prepare is agile training. In the midst of my study, I signed up for a scrum master training which I completed in one weekend and the pre-requisite is that you attend a 16 hours training and complete the test. The great thing about this is that it helps me to fully understand Agile concepts and I got to add another certification (CSM) to my name at the end of this course. The concepts I learned in this course were more than enough for the PMP so I didn’t need to study PMP agile materials.
For ITTO, I used Jack Ferguson tool who asked that I share it will my peers. It’s a free interactive tool that helps me navigate the ITTO and I found that it was really helpful to me to get a overall understanding of ITTO. By using it I was able to develop a flow chart that helps me link all the processes together especially how the change process related to other process. This is very important for the exam. You can find this tool here: (
pmtrainingtoday.com/pc/view-by-process-pmpbook-6/
I scheduled my exam with just one week lead time after which I activated the exam simulator with the intention of completing all 8 practice exams witin that week. As this goal was too lofty, I had only manage to complete five practice exams (from Monday January 13 – Friday Jan 17) with my score ranging from 71 – 75%. These practice exams were very helpful and instrumental for me to pass the exam where it helped with my time management, questions formulation, and debugging/understanding what is being asked.
I sat the exam on Jan 18 and came out with 5 ATs. Needless to say that I found the exam way much easier than the Cornelius exam simulator and as they’ve stated, if you are averaging 75 in this tool, you have a good shot at the exam.
So at the end of my PMP exam preparation journey, I am now a certified scrum master in addition to the PMP certification. Good luck to you all and I do hope there is something you can take from this. Thanks Cornelius and your team for a great overall PMP exam preparation program.
