TOPIC: Earned my PMP credential in first attempt with online proctored exam

Hello all,

Very happy to share that I have earned my PMP on 24th June 2020, in online proctored exam.

When I started my preparation, I wasn’t sure when will I be able to finish the exam. It was very difficult to get time for preparation as I have a one year old baby to take care which is 24 hours job. Thankfully my husband was my biggest support and he helped me in everything to achieve this certification. With little bit of dedication and hard work, I am able to achieve PMP as per my initial plan to finish it within 3 months.

Total time I took for preparation: 2 and half months
Study materials:
1. Udemy online course by Joseph Philips
2. PMBOK Guide
3. Rita’s book
4. PM prepcast simulator timed tests

I first finished Udemy course and completed all exercises given in the course. Then I read PMBOK almost 2 times to get familiar with all tools, technics , flow and PMI terms. I scanned and took cut pieces of all 49 processes and stuck them on back of the door(See attached picture) , so that I can see all 49 processes ITTO's anytime I want quickly. That helped me a lot.


Just to check my preparation status, I took few Prepcast simulator timed test (selecting 50 questions at a time), my score was around 65%, I knew my preparation is not enough and I at least need to score 75% but I was clue less what else to study? I already finished my one and half months of preparation by this time. I bought Rita’s book to learn different approaches and finished reading complete book in one week. Rita’s book has many tricks which helped me get many questions right. Now it was time to start finishing tests in simulator. I took 3 tests and scored 85%, 77.5%, 77.5% but I already knew few questions as I took timed quizzes earlier. I took 3 tests to get used to 4 hours regress test. I did not have continues 4 hours to finish all tests so I decided to finish timed quizzes. On average I scored 77%.I took my PMP test on 24th June and passed.

Exam lessons learned:
My exam started on time and everything was fine until I reached question 90 and I got prompted for my Part 1 review, I was not sure when my break will start so asked my proctor he said system will automatically prompt for break. I kept on reviewing my part 1 and waiting for break to start. I was losing my time and getting tensed until I realized that I have to press “End Review” button. As soon as I pressed End review, I got prompted for optional break. I informed proctor that I am taking break and came back in 5 mins. I lost my precious 15 mins time waiting for automatic prompt for break. So remember to press “End review” if you want to start your break.

At the end I would like to thanks all these lesson learned posts, which helped me making important decisions during my preparations.

Thanks and good luck for all future test takers.
Saumi

Congratulations, Saumi!

Congratulations, Saumi!

Excited to see that I was not the only 'crazy' one (in a good sense ) to reproduce the 49 processes on the wall - or on the back of the door, in your case. But I did find very helpful!

Gabriella

Congrats ! Thanks for your prep details.

Thank you everyone.