TOPIC: Passed PMP Exam in 1st try despite the technical issues

Hi all,

I would like to share my PMP Study Experience and the journey on the Exam Day.

I enrolled for Mr Saket Bansal's iZenBridge self paced learning program in March 2020. The videos provided by IzenBridge are actually as close as what one could get with regards to classroom training sitting in the confines of one's own house. I made it a point to take notes after each video of a chapter. And then post this, I read that particular chapter of the PMBOK. This helped me reinforce my learning.

I finished studying and revising the notes around June 2020. I had revised the prepared notes about twice and post that I began writing the mock exams.

I wrote about 11 full length mock exams. To be honest, it all depends when you are confident as I know a lot of people have just written 4-5 exams before going on to write the PMP exam. The exams I did were -

iZenBridge 2 Mock Exams - I did very badly here as I felt the questions were too wordy. I couldn't even finish both the exams for want of time.
Oliver Lehmann Free Exam - I found certain concepts here which weren't in PMBOK
Head First Free Exam
Simplilearn Free Exam
Prepcast 3 Mock Exams
Rita Fast Track v9 3 Mock Exams

After each exam, I made it a point to write down where I went wrong and where I was right. I also went back and studied those concepts which I felt I wasn't doing well in. And finally I scheduled the exam once I scored 80% or more in my last 4 exams (2 Prepcast and 2 Rita).

I must say I found Prepcast and Rita to be the closest to what the actual exam was!

I also did the questions after each chapter from Rita 9th edition book and tests from Christopher Scordo's PMP Exam Prep.

Exam Day

While I began the exam in full earnest, the issues began when I reached Q18. When I tried to navigate to the next question, the page kept loading and then to my horror I landed on "The page cannot be navigated to" kind of message. It was really stressful at first as I clicked on the 'Chat' option but I had to wait for about 8-10 minutes or so before I got help.

The Pearson VUE application closed and the Proctor chat window opened up and thankfully I was guided back to continue the exam. Once I reached 90 questions, began reviewing and then close to the 50 question or so, this issue happened again. And again I had to go through the same harrowing process.

Unfortunately, this happened again after Q60 while reviewing. Then the proctor messaged me saying that they would call me. Since my phone was outside the room, I was guided by chat to long press on the Power Button for 15-20 seconds and then come back and click on the Pearson VUE application and continue the exam. While I was scared that my exam would be cancelled and I would have to write it another day, the proctor reassured me that there was no need to worry and I could continue from where I left off.

Thankfully this worked well as I didn't face any other technical issues during the remaining part of the exam. At the end I got the congratulatory message and then within 5 minutes I saw my 'Above Target' score on the Pearson VUE dashboard.

And honestly it was delightful and a relief in equal measure! . While I didn't really find the exam that difficult, the constant technical issues were making it difficult to maintain the concentration.

What a stressful experience! It sounds like you handled it well, though, and you got a great result! Congratulations on becoming PMP certified

Thank you Elizabeth . Yes it was stressful but I guess all's well that ends well .