Hello All,
I have just done it and it feels soooo good! After all the studying we truly deserve it! - All areas above target except Monitoring and Control on Target
Preparation
I have done all the lessons of EduUbspot - Very useful and presented in a simple way to understand - I take my notes for further revision - I have done all the free tests available from Edu and I recommend it
Have done Knowledge areas PMP Exam Prep - Christopher Scordo - I felt i needed to make exams for a specific KA before proceed for the next KA
I have studied Rita Mulcahy book and have done all tests of that book - Very good, Rita is able to provide very good tips for the exam and the contents explanation is very approachable, you can get a lot from Rita's. Thank you
PM Prep Cast simulator - is CRITICAL for your preparation - Really! it trains your brain for the questions - In some occasions it drove me crazy because i could not agree with the answer but PM Cast simulator can answer so well to all the available answers that i believe is really the success key for your preparation.
Plus, the PM Prep Cast support team is a great team! They are there for You to answer to your questions and to support you when you cant get what you need. Thank you!
2 weeks before my exam date, Vue cancelled it due to Covid. I lost momentum and stop studying for 2 weeks. That was a wrong decision because if you dont study a bit every day you start loosing it day after day and to recover it was a little bit painful as I had to spent some extra time to recover everything i lost in only 2 weeks. When i felt ready again i finally booked my online exam.
I was scary with the fact I could not use paper and with rules you need to cope with to make it happen. No noise at home and someone looking to you all the time during the exam was not making me feel comfortable. I just went for it!
Day of the exam:
I was using my company laptop. Despite my previous tests where the test run well and i could launch the exam, on the day of the exam it didn't work, so i had to call my IT people to help me to remove stuff from my computer that was not allowing the launch of the exam.
First advise is do NOT use your company computer. I still dont know how i could mange this delay but i started my exam one hour later as the first time i had someone from Vue advised me to reboot my computer and re-begin the exam - Crazy! I lost one hour fighting against a computer set up.
They finally could launch the exam on my 2nd tentative. After 3 hours i was struggling to get focused, it was very difficult to manage time and the stress i had specially in the beginning of the exam.
Questions are very similar to Prep Cast. The majority are long questions so you loose time reading it all. I had one critical path question and some numeric questions but no need to use the calculator.
Whitebord is not user friendly but you can make it, count the double of the time to answer to the same question.
Questions are not difficult but i would say 70% situational. I didnt memorise ITTOs but you need to know very well the 49 processes to know how to answer to each question. I must say until the end of the exam i had no idea if i was going to pass or not. I had all formulas fresh on my mind and a good knowledge of activities sequence. Lots of questions ask what do you do next?
Critical for success - a good simulator, the revision of wrong answers and lots of reading and studying.
Last: Do not give up and fight until the end. I have finished Q200, 2 seconds time was over!
I must say PMBOK is today a guide for my professional life! Thank you and I wish you all Good Luck!