TOPIC: Do not overstudy for the PMP Exam.

I passed my PMP yesterday with three AT and two T.

When I looked at the lessons learned section here and on other sides just before the exam, I was really afraid. A lot of people were making an enormous effort for this exam. Multiple reading of many different books, countless different courses and simulators. I, on the other hand "only" read the Rita book once, read individual sections of the Pmbok and did the 1'400 questions of the PM Simulator. Don't get me wrong. Of course you still have to invest a lot of time. I took 3 months for the preparation and invested maybe 50-80 hours in total.

The Exam Simulator was the best source for me to test and expand my knowledge.
But even the questions are partly similar to the real exam, the real exam is quite different. I would describe the questions as more difficult than in the simulator. The questions on the real exam are much more open and partly unclearly formulated. You will often ask yourself during the exam why an important part of the question is missing. In most cases the solution is hidden in the answers themselves. You must be able to deal with these kinds of questions. Develop strategies such as striking out wrong answers until only 1 or 2 answers are left. Also deals with strategies if you are not able to answer a question so quickly. I left out the question, came back at the end and had enough time to think about the answers. I think this are some of the reasons why people fail despite a lot of knowledge, long preparation and good simulator results.

In the end, it should be said that everyone should do what gives them the most confidence for the exam. But don't let yourself be unsettled by people who are learning extremely much. The exam can also be passed with less effort. But make sure that you understand the key concepts and can handle the type of exam questions.

All the best,
Lukas

Well done Lukas, thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Thanks for sharing your experience. What study material did you use. I am getting anxious for the exam and haveny tried any simulators yet.

Hi Geeta,

• Pmbok Guide
• Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep Book
• 1'400 Questions from the PMP Exam Simulator

Approach: Read Rita's book. Skip the exercises. After each chapter, check the PMBok to see if there are other things or more detailed explanations. Look at the inputs, tools and outputs/updates. If you don't understand and remember everything at the beginning, don't worry, it will be easier later when you see the big picture. Do Rita's quizzes at the end of each chapter. Work your way through the whole book this way.

Then do all 1'400 of the simulator. Look closely at the ones you did wrong. You don't need to take a full exam. 10-100 question blocks will do just fine. When you have gone through the 1'400 questions and you are slowly moving towards the exam, do the questions you got wrong again and see if you do better.
Approach the exam in a relaxed manner. Accept that you will receive many questions where you are not sure of the answer. Try to get the right answer by using the exclusion procedure. Make use of the strikethrough and highlight method. Search for small hints in the questions and answers. And if you can't decide quickly on a question, mark and skip it and come back later.

This was my method, which worked great for me. Good luck!

Thanks so much Lukas. These tips are so helpful. I have studies RMC and PMBOK already so will do RMC quizzes now. 2 simulators done and got 72% and 78%. Just wondering if I need to do more questions other than these. Otherwise I feel ok. Thanks!

I had similar grades on my first few exams but didn't feel like I was mastering the material. So I read the PMBOK and took notes and the remaining few exams I got high 80s. I then retook the earlier exams and scored in the 90s (it had been about a month since I took them). My goal was to consistently score in the 90s so that I felt I had at least mastered the rote material. That being said, the exam is really about thinking your way to the solution. Most questions on the exam are vague and simply knowing the material only helps so much, you have to be able to eliminate questions and get down to a couple of potential answers.

I just took the exam and I remember a question that was a paragraph long and I had no clue what they were talking about, however I could look at the answers and eliminate the do nothing answer (which takes no special skill) and the extreme answer (which seemed outside the authority of the PM), for the remaining answers just tried to put my PM hat on and see which was the PMBOK was leaning.

Keep plugging away!