
Experience Tracker: Your PM experience must be from past 8 years from submitting your
application. But the 3 years used out of the 8 must be consecutive.
o I attached the Experience Tracker that I used. It didn’t get kicked back so I guess it was
good. I may have taken a little liberty with the dates and descriptions.

Here’s the program I used - The Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF)
o https://ivmf.percipio.com/journey/94b9e3e4-6d21-4be4-b385-4fddfc52cfca
 User name: djoconnell34@gmail.com
 Password: 121Hoppy!
 Click on the ‘Get Started’ button in the top banner – the banner should say ‘O2O
– 2021 Project Management…’
o Here you can:
 Overview, how to put application together, download an experience tracker
template…
 Tracks (The 35 hours worth of Courses) – This program took me a lot longer
then 35 hours, because I took notes, tried to process everything and then there
are short quizzes after each video. The information and detail are great,
although I took like a 100ish pages worth of notes, and didn’t even use them. I
would recommend watching broader overview videos on YouTube. And Tyler
said he’s doing the 35 hours for free on a site where you could skip to the end
and still receive the credit for the 35 hours. I don’t think I retained much from
the classes, so I would focus more the questions in the next bullet.
 TestPrep (Practice questions and Exams) – I liked the practice questions
because I learned a lot from them and they made me think through the project
process framework. Most questions in the practice exams are more specific
than the real exam. The practice questions give the situation, will hint at which
Process Group you are in (initiation, planning, execution…) and ask a question.
In the real exam it will give a similar situation/scenario, but most times you
won’t need to know which step/process you are in. Also, the answers in the real
exam will be a description of what you should do next (not asking for the
specific process you are in now or what specific process comes next…).

I don’t know how many versions to the real test there are. My version did not have any math
problems, no specific leadership/motivation/management theories (Maslow’s Hierarchy,
Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene…), and no specific estimating agile story points strategies
(planning/playing poker, Fibonacci Sequence…). Overall, no specific theories.

96% of the exam was multiple choice (pick 1 answer out of 4 choices)
o Most times you can narrow it down to 2 answers (and PMI doesn’t say this, but it seems
understood that you only need a 60% on the whole test to pass)
o 2%: pick 2 answers out of 5 choices
o 2%: pick 1 answer on a chart/graph out of 4 choices.

I would focus more on the Process part of it because it’s 50% of the test.

The People part (42%) was pretty easy. The people part surmises to: If an individual has a
problem – talk one on one with him. If the group or individuals are acting up – remind the whole
team about the Team Charter they signed. Be a coach, motivator and empoweree.

Resources/Recommendation:
o To study, I did about 30-60 min a day of the Practice Questions for 1-2 months (it was
quick responsive feedback and learning). I also had pass 3 practice exams through the
program (the only value I got from them was the speed necessary to complete the exam
(230 minutes for 180 question = 76 sec per question)) (I had to pee really bad for 3
hours during the real test lol). Also, on these practice tests I was only getting 70-75%, on
the real test I got around a 90%. Again, the practice questions are a bit harder/more
specific.
o This Reference Guide is great. A great high level visual for the different PM processes,
shows the inputs and outputs for the process and important definitions. I think this
guide has the most important info extracted from the large PMBOK books.
 https://www.amazon.com/PMP-Exam-Quick-ReferenceGuide/dp/1732055726/ref=asc_df_1732055726/?tag=hyprod20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=475795130774&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=448336
4273988409766&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=
&hvlocphy=9006728&hvtargid=pla-1164642357793&psc=1
o I bought the PMBOK books version 6 and 7, and did not use them. But of course, they
would look great in the office or in the background of video conference calls haha.
o I bought these flashcards, they were somewhat useful when traveling and studying.
 https://www.amazon.com/Exam-Prep-Flashcards-PMBOKGuide/dp/0997598379