TOPIC: Passed my PMP on my first try! Took it on-line!

The PM PrepCast is a great course! It had been more than 20 years since I'd been to college and I was very nervous about starting this next step in my management career. I had a lot of doubts, but I'm so glad I kept at it! I had previewed a handful of other lessons before settling on PM Prepcast. I felt that Cornelius explained the concepts in a straight-forward manner and lessons had good on-screen visual aids to follow along with.

Having the virtual option was wonderful and since I was furloughed during Covid-19, I had plenty of time to spend 4-6 hours each day to work through the lessons. I took plenty of notes and could pause the lesson when needed. I was able to make it through the lessons in about 8-9 weeks. At around week 3, I started writing all of the processes in a grid each day along with all of the formulas, concepts and theories. I would take the lesson tests until I received an 80% or above before I moved onto the next lesson. Then at the beginning of the next lesson I would take all previous tests again to pound the information in my head even more.

I purchased the simulator and started taking 1-2 tests each week. I'll be honest, I didn't do very well on them - they are grueling. I stressed and stressed about the taking actual exam. I watched lots of other videos explaining concepts that I seemed stuck on which helped a great deal. Phill Akinwale has a number of good ones, too. I also purchased 2 workbooks that helped. One was by Aileen Ellis on the network diagram (she has workbooks on other subjects as well). Aileen also has a video on how to approach the exam questions which helped. Another one was the PMP Exam Prep workbook by Andrew Ramdayal. This one provided 600 more practice questions.

Friends and family encouraged me to just take the exam as I'd already put all this effort into it and even if I failed it I'd have a better insight on how the test would run. They were right! The simulators were much more difficult than the actual exam.
Taking the exam on-line went very well. I set a card table up in the basement (so I didn't have outside distractions) with my laptop and was able to take the exam successfully on wifi. Once I paid for the exam I was able to choose the day and time. I had 5 days to give all the topics a once over especially those that I needed a bit more guidance with. A few days before the exam I set up my laptop and ran through the required computer testing (from Pearson Vue) to make sure it was all going to work. I uploaded my the pictures of my surroundings and my license. I instructed everyone in the house not to touch anything once all was set. The day before the exam I only did a light review to rest my brain - this was a recommendation from someone else who passed the exam. This was tough as I was in constant study mode and trying to cram as much information as I could. However, I did a few reviews throughout the day, not spending more than 30-60 min at a time. I spent time with family and tried to breathe.
I arranged to have everyone out of the house the day of the exam so I didn't have any distractions. I logged in at the required 30 min prior and the proctor joined. She had me make sure nothing was on my table then noticed I was chewing gum so I had to spit that out and she had me show her my table again. She left and said another proctor would be there for the test. Once you start the exam there is a video of you at the top of the screen which was a bit distracting and it was recording. I never heard any proctor voices during the exam. After question 90 the exam prompts for a 10-minute break which I used about 7 minutes of to use the restroom (don't drink 2 cups of coffee before the exam), pace, check the time, and get back to it. I finished with about 20 minutes to spare. After I hit the submit button a screen appeared that said Congratulations on your PMP certification! I was so stunned I almost jumped out of my chair! I was shaking while taking the surveys that followed. The proctor messaged me that they were calling my computer however I never heard from them before I finished the surveys and then the screen was gone. I confirmed with Pearson that all was complete and found the link with my process group results.

My recommendations to anyone nervous or scared to take the exam it to just take it. You get 3 tries before you have to pay for it again. The PM Prepcast lessons are structured well and Cornelius explains concepts well . I
found that the exam only had a few simple formula type questions and those were the questions I was most worried about. I felt confident moving through the exam. Most were 1-2 sentences in length and I didn't feel that many of them were trying to trick me like I had read about. The simulators helped me realize that out of the 4 possible answers, 2 were obviously incorrect and then you're down to 2 to pick the best answer that the PMBOK guide would approve.

All in all it was a good experience and I'm glad I chose PM Prepcast to guide me toward passing my PMP exam on the first try!

Well done! Congratulations on passing the exam and thank you for letting us know your story.