IMPORTANT
READ IT CARFULLY
I finally passed with a score higher than I expected.
Thanks to everyone for your help during my study. Here is
my "lessons learned" in order to finalize my "PMP certification
project".
Preparation
~~~~~~~~~~~
I followed the 35 hours course from my local PMI chapter in
marsh/april 2003. I learned a lot of trick there and I don't know I
could have passed the exam without it. The last three hours before
the exam, I re-read the Powerpoint presentation of this course.
I had a surprise then. I thought that, after the course, I would
only have to study for a couple of weeks and pass the exam. How
wrong I was!!! Our first teacher told us that we should study
between 100 and 150 hours in order to pass. I put the material on the
side during summer and really start my study in september.
I submit my application form for the exam in the first week of
november via PMI website. I received my confirmation 4 days later
(one of the person who attended the same preparation course as mine
has waiting more than 2 months for its confirmation after he sent is
application by regular mail). Lesson: APPLY ONLINE!
In october and november, I studied about 10 hours a week. In
december, I studied an average of 3 hours per day. My objective:
pass the exam before Christmas.
I read the PmBok twice. The second time,
while reading, I took many notes in an 80
pages par chapter). I also did a big map
inputs and there outputs and the way they
That really really help me understand the
I did "active reading";
pages notebook (about 3
of all the processes, there
interact with each other.
PmBok. Lesson: Do that!
I didn't bought Rita machintruc's book nor any other costly
material. I felt I didn't need any of these. I think you don't
necessarely need them.
My company doesn't have a formal documented framework for project.
So, based on the PMI but adapted to our particular organization, I
built one and submited it to the management in place. That was a
hit! Management likes it a lot and mandated me to continue working
on it (part time but it is better than nothing). I had to explain to
them what is "scope management", "earned value management", "risk
management" and so forth. Doing this, I often had to refer to the
PmBok. That also helped me a lot.
I have discover the PMPCert group only three weeks before my exam.
Two great benefits from this discovery. The first one is that you
showed me how to analyze the questions: in which processus are we?
Do I understand correctly the context of the question? What do they
ask? That might look basic and simple but I think this is another
key for a successful exam.
The other great benefit is TRANDUMPER. I did a lot of test
(somewhere between 2500 and 3000 questions). That really helped me.
Lesson: tests are a great way to learn the material. Do as many as
you can!
While doing the test (before answering the question), I wrote down
how sure I was of the answer (100%-sure, 75%-almost sure, 50%hesitate between 2 answers, 25%-guess). This is another tool which
help me a lot during the exam. At the end, I was having the
following result:
o I was generally "sure" or "almost sure" of 65% the answers.
those 65%, my answers were correct at 90%.
Of
o I had around 30% of "50-50" questions. I generally answer these
questions correctly between 60% and 70% of the time.
o I had less than 5% of pure guess. My results were so variable that
I considered that no guess was correct.
Regarding the Trandumper test, I work principaly with the CTSA series
of question. I scored around 78% on those tests. In the last week
before my exam, I took Reddy (78%), ExamCram 1 (88%), Examcram9
(79%), Sybex (76%), Ohio (87%), Balaji (76%), PMP Simulated Test Demo
(86%), Dallas (88%). I have found that Ohio, Examcram 1 and PMP
simulated test and Dallas too easy. So I assumed that my target note
was around 78%.
Was I ready? I was not that confident but I had to go forward ...
There is not a great margin between 78% percent and the passing
score. My fear was that I could have very few "sure or almost sure"
questions during the test. Imagine if I only have 50-50 questions; I
could then be in trouble ... There is also the perception that
discussion on this site tends to say that you can pass the exam when
you score in the mid-80's at practice tests...
The day of the exam
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a 2 hours 30 minutes drive from home (Quebec city) to my
test center (Montreal). My test was scheduled at 13h00. I planned
to take the bus at 8h00 in the morning to be in the test center
before noon.
A major snowstorm hit my region the day of the test. Everything in
my hometown was closed. We received over 20 inches (50 centimeters)
of snow. The highway between Quebec City and Montreal was almost
closed. I decided to take the bus at 7h00 and finally arrived in
Montreal at 11h15 (the 8h00 bus arrived in Montreal at ...
14h30!!!!). Anyway, I was there on time. Other lesson: RISK
MANAGEMENT and RISK RESPONSE PLANNING!!! What could happen might
happen!
The exam
~~~~~~~~
During the tutorial, I dumped a schema showing all 39 processes and
there interaction (a mix of figure 3-5 to 3-8 on the PMBok with a few
personal notes).
I answered all 200 questions on the first pass which took me 3
hours. I wrote down the "degree of assurance" for each question. I
marked all the 50-50 questions. Only two or three questions took me
more than 3 minutes to answer and I decided to answer them right away.
I then compile my numbers and got the following results:
1 - Sure and almost sure: 124/200
2 - 50/50: 66/200
3 - Guess: 10/200
Based on that, I assumed that I have 112 good answers for "sure or
almost sure". I only need 30 more good answers out of my 66 "50-50"
which is less than 50% and less than what I normally get in the
practice test.
So I started to relax!!!! I was quite sure to pass at that time! I
reviewed my 50-50 questions and realized that, in many case, I could
have put an "almost sure" quote on it. I also changed a couple of
answers.
2 minutes left.
Submit.
Pass: 165.
(I was expecting in the 150's).
My appreciation of the exam
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Altough I have found the exam moderately difficult, I've got a better
result than many practice tests. The number of "easy" question was
almost the same (62%). The number of very difficult question was
also almost de same (5%). I really think that I scored better than
90% on the "sure" and more than 65% on the "50-50" questions. I feel
that the questions were "less tricky"! As hard, but less tricky.
You must also rely on your experience. The question and the answers
are not always straight from the PMBok. I think experience is a big
factor to succeed in the exam. Know the process. Know what is an
I/O (Input / Output) and what is a tool.
Now, I can release my resources from this project.
Project completed.
Daniel Tremblay, now PMP
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Hello Everyone,
I took the PMP Certification Examination yesterday (12/12/2003) and
I passed. YES!!!
If you plan to take the PMP exam, consider developing your own braindump cheat sheet. I understand that some folks may not agree with
me on this. However, in the exam should one encounter an
unfortunate brain freeze (risk event) the brain-dump cheat sheet
(contingency planning) may help get the concentration/confidence
alignment back and even help you remember what you momentarily
forgot. So, is the brain-dump cheat sheet worth your time
investment? You decide.
Also note that unless you truly have a project management
experience, the exam will be quite challenging. At the very least,
you aught to have a project manager's thought process. Memorizing
the PMBOK should not be considered the only tool needed to pass the
examination. There will be few questions with answers that appear
just about the same. Your project management reasoning will be your
key guide to the right answer.
If you are seeking a study material, I have read a lot of
recommendations on Rita Mulcahy's PMP exam preparation book ($89)
and her fast-track CD ($299). At one point I even thought about
ordering her whole study kit (RMC PMP® Exam Prep System - $393).
Instead, I invested in Kim Heldman's PMP Study Guide book ($59.99).
My reasoning was simple: Heldman's book was more affordable and had
a CD with a decent number of test questions. I am not discouraging
anyone from purchasing or using Rita's materials. I just happened
to find a more cost efficient way of preparing for the PMP exam.
I have observed that some individuals want to attempt as many preptest questions as they possibly can get their hands on to prepare
for the PMP exam – an overkill by any standard. If you have a
Project Management experience and if you have studied the PMBOK, the
objective of taking the prep-test questions should then be to help
gauge the weak-spots in your understanding of each knowledge area
and associated processes. The questions in Kim Heldman's PMP Study
Guide CD can help you achieve that goal.
A few PMPs in this group have recommended reading the PMBOK 2-3
times. Make sure you take notes on each chapter as you go along.
Review these notes as often as you can. Attempt the prep-test
questions in the last two weeks preceding your PMP exam date to
reassess your learnings. Re-study weak concepts in the PMBOK and you
are all set to take the exam!
Do let me know if this information has helped you. Good luck!
Regards,
Saif Shariff, SCPM, PMP
I passed with 166 on Thursday. If you have managed few projects, exam is not that difficult. Many
of the questions can be related to actual situations and wearing a halo behind your head, you can
choose correct option. (remember PMIsm and Code of Conduct etc.)
Material used for study.
1. PMBOK
2. KIM Heldman
3. Rita's PMP cert.
4.Files from this group
and most important is the archive of correspondence exchanged among the members of this
group. For few questions I could relate to the discussions in this group and pick the correct option
immediately.
4 hours is a long time and to sit and focus. Many of the members in the past has given detailed
instructions relating to taking the break and get some fresh air. I found all such instructions very
useful.
Thanks to elceem and all the members of this group. Without this forum it would have been a
major challenge to go for such certification.
Thanks
Vijay
Here is what I have started doing.
Instead of memorizing IT & TO, I am trying to understand their pupose for a particular process.
It has helped me in understanding and in turn memorizing.
In PMBOK Pg 33, the planning processes diagram has also helped me a lot in this. The matrix
presented in PMBOK Pg 38 has also helped a great deal.
Hope this helps.
thanks
Puneet
Here are some thoughts for my fellow PMP study sufferers out there:
** THERE ARE AS MANY WAYS TO PASS THIS TEST AS THERE ARE TYPES OF
PEOPLE**-- One of the most productive and reassuring things I did
while preparing was to do a search on this forum using the
word "passed," to pull up people's various approaches to studying.
It made me realize that there are many different ways to pass this
test, and you just need to find what works for you. By this time in
our lives, most of us know what works for us in terms of test
preparation-- be true to yourself. If you are a visual learner, if
you need things to be color-coded, if you need to go to the test
center beforehand to feel comfortable-- listen to that. Don't believe
someone who tells you that there is only one approach that works-this forum proves it.
I found this was also helpful when I felt like I got into a
studying "rut" to look at some of the "passed" notes again for new
ideas of what to study.
** KEEP IT FRESH AND INTERACTIVE**-- Let's face it, the material is
dry and hard to absorb by pure memorization. In addition to the
Trandumper and other practice tests, there were 2 tools that I found
especially helpful:
- PMP Tools daily crossword and word search puzzles
(www.pmptools.com): I am a puzzle person by nature, and when I got
tired of studying, these puzzles were a great way to feel like I was
goofing off while still learning. I found that over time, these
puzzles really helped me learn the vocabulary more than memorization
would have (for me, at least).
- PMP MEMORIZE IT v2.xls (posted here in files section): This is a
spreadsheet set up as an interactive quiz to learn the process
groups. I copied this onto my desktop at work and when I had a spare
10 or 20 minutes, would quiz myself. I found this was a great way to
memorize the process groups in a fun way.
** THINK POSITIVE FOR YOUR TEST PSYCHOLOGY **-- This is a tough test,
but it is important not to get psyched out by it. I think it is
important while studying to take lots of practice tests and get used
to the idea of answering questions you aren't sure of and thinking
positive even if you think you have wrong answers. Remember, you just
have to pass the test -- your score doesn't matter beyond that-- and
the test *is* designed so that most of us are going to miss a bunch
of questions. I should mention that I was surprised at the number of
very straightforward questions-- ones that if you knew the material,
you could get straight off the bat. However, there were plenty of
tough ones, so I was glad I had practiced.
** STUDY THE PMI PROFESSIONAL CODE **-- One area that I was not
prepared well enough for was the Professional Responsibility section-there were a number of questions that directly pulled from the PMI
document and none of them were anything like I had seen in practice
tests.
TEST CENTER
I had a good experience with
in case anyone else comes up
bug on the website so that I
closest to me. I called them
problem.
Prometric. One thing to let people know,
with it-- I found that there was some
could not schedule the test at the site
and was able to schedule it with no
As other people suggested, it would be a good idea to find where your
test center is ahead of time-- mine was 10 minutes from my home but
was hidden in the back of a parking lot and was very hard to find. I
was really glad I had scouted it out before test day.
Good luck to the rest of you studying out there-- you can do it!
Marie
I took the exam yesterday and passed with a 190. If you find that
score hard to believe so did I at first. I must have guessed right
on almost all of the questions that I could only narrow down to two
choices.
I also went into the exam overprepared, if there is such a thing. I
have a fair amount of project management experience but it's all been
in software development with one company so there was a lot in PMBOK
I wasn't familiar with. I've been studying for six months, well over
100 hours put in total. My study materials were PMBOK, Rita's book
(4th edition), and the ESI Sample questions and Study guide (4th
edition). I read PMBOK and Rita's book three times each and took
notes in a spiral notebook on the things that weren't familiar in
order to reinforce them. I went through all of the sample tests in
Rita's book and the ESI book twice. I also downloaded the trandumper
file from this site and took most of those tests, including retakes
of the questions I missed. I highly recommend the trandumper tests;
I think a few of the answers given are wrong and some of the
questions seem unfair but practicing all of those test questions and
researching the ones I got wrong really prepared me. Yesterday there
was only one question out of 200 that included a term I wasn't
familiar with.
My nickels worth of free advice is not to get discouraged during your
studies. On my first pass through the Rita and ESI tests I was
getting marks below 70% on some of the chapters. I just kept
hammering away at it until the material that was new to me started to
make sense.
I'm selling the Rita book and ESI book on this site if anyone's
interested. Good luck to all of you in your studies.
Just wanted to perform a lessons learned to help benefit the PM
Knowledge area. ;)
I took the test yesterday at 9:00 AM CST and passed with a 173.
About my studying:
I studied for about 3.5 - 4 months.
that everyone knows about.
I used the common materials
PMBOK - actually very important to know and understand this
Rita - This book is great, in my opinion. If you go through the
book, and understand what EVERYTHING is, you are most likely ready
for the exam. The life cycle game is an excellent learning tool.
Sybex (Book & Study Guide) - The book is great. It was the first
book I read after the PMBOK. It is really layed out quite nicely.
I didn't complete much of the study guide. I really didn't need to
buy it, but I was nervous about the exam and thought "the more
material, the better".
Rita's Audio CDs - I listened to these for approx. 2 months on my
commute to work every day. They are a great tool, as well.
This site - the Notesv.5 file is great! Thank you to it's author.
I also enjoyed reading about other exam success stories.
About the exam:
I had troubles finding the exam site. I should have heeded the
warnings and found the site ahead of time, but I didn't. I arrived
well ahead of time, and the proctor allowed me to start early. I
did a brain dump during the tutorial of the life cylce game, EV
formulas, estimate ranges, communication formula, PV formula, and
process group interactions. This was VERY helpful to me, since it
reassured my answers.
I felt very prepared for the exam. Real world project management
experience is a MUST have for this exam. I do not think I would
have passed without this experience. I made it through all
questions in about 1 hour 30 minutes. I had only marked about 6 or 7
questions, and after reviewing them, I submitted the exam. I had
told myself before I started the exam that I was going to list the
questions out in the .9, .5, .25 format list, but I just had a good
feeling that I had at least passed. I was very surprised that I got
a 173!
Advice for others:
- EXPERIENCE IS A MUST. You will not be able to pass this exam
without real world knowledge.
- Be committed to your studying. Don't take the exam lightly. Set
a strict study pattern and adhere to it.
- When you feel like you are prepared, register for the exam and
schedule it for as soon as possible. This is what I did, and the
material seemed very fresh in my mind.
- Don't stress out. This is a tough certification exam, and there
are people that do not pass it. It is NO BIG DEAL if you do not
pass. Schedule the retake, and pass it the second time.
Good luck to all of you out there studying still. I am going to try
to hang around here and answer questions in the future.
Hi All,
This group helped me in terms of Morale, Q&As and in aligning my
method of preparation. Thanks a ton.
On Dec 1st I Passed.
Things I did 2 days before exam:
0. Reviewed entire PMBoK. (supplimented with Rita) - took me 16 hrs.
1. Proj.Mgmt Life cycle - RITA (only thing I Memorized. Helped me
answer at least around 20 Qs)
2. Process group/KM mapping
3. Planning processes relations
4. Process definitions and meaning of each.
5. ITTO (I did not memorize, tried to understand logically)
Study Material:
PMBoK (you know it)
Rita
This group
About the exam:
Felt it was easy while i was answering, but my score did not reflect
that.
Marked 40 for review
finished in 3hr 30mins.
Reviewed all and changed around 4
Pressed end 1 mins before finish.
There were couple of questions that really did not make sense to me
at all, though i knew well, the subject it is asking.
About the center:
I started in 15 mins test and it crashed.
Started after 20 mins again.
Center did NOT allow me to write anything on paper in first 15 mins.
Said I can write only after actual test started!
Center did not allow me to take break (nature call? he said no!)
There were 15 candidates taking test and all started punching their
keboards at at point for around 20 mins.
I was given Ear plugs, but did not use them.
My suggestions:
Relax and you can make it.
Make sure you Know
1. Project Management Life cycle chart in RITA. (page 24 i guess).
Read top-down. (If you can memorize, good)
2. KM area/Process group mapping from PMBoK
3. Planning processes relations (PMBoK)
4. Process definitions. - What each MEANS.
5. ofcource ITTO (need not memorize, but know them logically)
M
Shirley,
While I can not comment on the other two books, the Heldman CD with the sample test are quite
adequate for preparing for the exam. Our local PMI chapter is getting excellent results with using
the Heldman CD and a 80% passing score as a benchmark for taking the test. Students report
that the real exam score are anywhere from 0 to -10% of the Heldman scores.
It is common to get feedback that students are memorizing the test using the prep cd's. While this
might be true in some part, I think the value that you get out of the practice tests are the
execution of the test process. Many of the questions missed initially are due to not
reading/understanding the questions, not lack of knowledge. Both are needed for successfully
completing the test.
I don't know one PMP that felt "ready" to take the test. I tell you this to assure that this is a normal
process. The test is challenging but not impossible. If you test yourself against the Heldman CD,
and consistently obtain a score of >80%, it is my belief that you will have a great chance
(~98%) of passing the test with a score of 150 or greater.
One bonus about the Heldman Book is that is can be bought online for under 40.00.
Best of luck, reschedule the test and let us know you passed.
Mike
Jackson,
I am sure we all feel your pain. My PMP investment was over 1300.00 USD. Here is a few
comments that might be helpful.
First, you have done many things right. Rita's book is most likely one of the best resources out
there (also one of the most expensive) . You don't specifically state that you have the PMBOK, if
not get it now! 60% of the test is covered buy the PMBOK.
Although I also get the puzzles and such, I would not use them too much. PMPtools does not
want the PMPcert group to comment on their material, draw from that what you will. (did your
momma teach you not to say anything if you cant say nice things??? )
Once you have reviewed the PMBOK (2x min, 3x is recommended) and gone through the Rita's
material, I would also suggest you get the Heldman book with CD (published by Sybex). Got this
for the CD with sample tests. Go thorough the test until you score a consistent 80%. Sybex will
teach you to read and take the exam correctly. Many of the question that you will miss will be due
to not reading the questions, not a lack of knowledge.
By this time you will be feeling anxious and totally unprepared. Don't worry this is normal.
Schedule your test and go take it. You should pass with a 150-170 score. One review item that
has been helpful to people in our study groups is to trace the output to the inputs, understanding
that the whole PMBOK is a integrated process.
All this is based on the data from our local PMI chapter and the way we run our exam prep class.
We used the Sybex and Rita books and the PMBOK. Although we charge 575 for a 6 day class,
nothing presented in the class is not contained in either Sybex or Rita.
Our quality audits find that the Sybex test scores either match the exam results, or overstate the
exam by 5 - 10%. Hence if you are scoring 80% on Sybex Test, you should expect a 150-160
score on the exam.
One other note, one of my students just got a 184 on the test. The feedback was the he ran into
some very bizarre questions that could only be answered if you have an background in
accounting, IT and construction project management. So don't think you are going to have a 200
on your test score. Most people score in the 150 to 180 range, and I have rarely found someone
to score in the 137 - 150 range (about 2% of the scores that I collected are in this range). So
either you will pas with a 150+ (about 95% proximity) or fail the test (about 2% proximity) if you
follow the above guidelines.
The test generally test your comprehension of the the PMBOK PM process. Many of the people
feel that memorization is not necessary IF you comprehend the process.
Good luck and feel free to contact me if you need help. I am putting together a yahoo chat study
group and please email if you are interested in joining. I hope to have the first facilitated study
group meeting in the next few weeks.
Best of luck
Mike Graupner, PMP
714.349.8170 (cell)
714.839.5924 (home/fax)
Hi All I appeared for the PMP exam at New York today and passed with 171 !
I started thinking about PMP 2 year ago but started serious study
about 2 months back. I used the following study materials 1. PMBOK - Studied 4 times
2. Rita Muchahy's book [4th Edition] - Studied 4 times
3. Study materail from this group
- PMP Notes v5 [Studied last 2 days]
- PMP Transdumper [Finished about 50%]
I did not refer any other study material. I would have studied for
about 100 hours. I found Rita's book quite useful. I used to study
each chapter from PMBOK first then Rita's book and the questions at
end of each chapter. I did this for 3-4 times.
As lot of people in this group have already indicated, if you have
experience in project management then it is easier to relate to
situational questions. There were a lot of situational questions in
the exam.
The Exam I found the questions in the exam a bit simpler then Rita's and
Transdumper. But not many were direct picks from any of the sources.
So, it is important to understand the answers when you are doing
practice tests. I finished the first pass in 2 hour 35 min. Then
finished 2 rounds of review (only the questions marked for review)
in another 1 hour. Finally, I was left with about 10 questions where
I was not sure about the answer. After 3 hour and 50 min I pressed
the magic button - Exit ..... Those last few second of waiting for
result were killing !!!
My suggestions 1. Read BOTH PMBOK and Rita's book in detail. It is very difficult
to study PMBOK cover to cover, but try to read it full at least in 23 passes.
2. Complete as many practice questions as possible. I found
the "Transdumper" on this site pretty good. [Unfortunately I didn't
have time to complete it]. Try to understand reason behind every
answer.
3. Based on your personal comfort, select an exam strategy and stick
to it.
4. Be mentally prepared that you won't be able to answer some of the
questions in the exam
Finally, I would like to thank this group for all the support motivational and study material. I am sure many more PMP aspirants
will benefit from this group.
Thanks
Gopal, PMP
My Study effort was well rewarded today. I Took my PMP exam today and
passed it with 165 (82.5%).
I have been doing project management work (some in a coordination
role) for about 7 years. Three years ago I started taking some of
the ESI courses inpreparation for this moment. Six weeks ago I
finally made the decision to take the plunge and shed the $800
required to take the exam, join PMI, and buy the Rita book. Here are
my comments, experiences and suggestions:
- It definitely helps to have a base to start from. If you are
familiar, in a practical sense, with project management
terminologies, practices, and processes then you eliminate a big
barrier going into the exam.
- the PMP exam itself is more straight forward than the majority of
the test exams found in the net and training books. I found the PMI
questions to be short and clear. However, a small percentage (around
10% of them) where difficult to solve because the ansers were very
borderline (too close to each other).
- As suspected, expending too much time learning the Inputs, Outputs,
and T&T is not worth it. I focused in learning the 39 processes
involved in the 9 knowledge areas, and then made a ligitimate effort
to understand what type of information (input, output, T&T) would be
relevant to use in each of those processes. In that faction, I
gathered enough knowledge and a good notion of what would be involved
with those processes, but not necessarily memorize them. As
suspected, the PMP exam had probably no more than 10 of these
questions, and they were easy to figure out. So don't waste your
valuable time concentrating in this area, instead focus in
understanding the practicality of the processes.
digest and remember all that information anyway.
It is impossibly to
- There was a mix of very short (one liners) and long questions. I
would say the mix was 60% short questions and 40% long, and in those
longs, many used the same text in the question to ask a subsequent
question. So make sure you practice with both types of question.
- The test is really made to be taken in 4 hours comfortably. I took
my time answering the questions and took me 3 hours and 35 minutes
including a 10 minute break taken half way through the exam.
- I found the executing process questions to be the most difficult.
The interesting thing is that this was the same area I found easier
during my practice test. The breakdown of questions was as follows:
Initiating (17), Planning (47), Executing (48), Controlling (45),
Closing (14), Professional Responsibility (29).
- The network questions on the PMP exam were harder than I expected.
They were not straight forward and they don't necessarily use the
finish-start relationship only. The EVM questions were extremely
simple. No calculators needed, although the center provides one for
my use.
- There seem to be lots of quality related questions in the exam.
- I used the PMBOK, Rita, Sybex, and this forum notes in that order.
Only read the PMBOK book once as I thought it was clear to
understand, but referenced it back to validate answers to test
questions. I then read Rita's book and highlighted what I thought
was important. I think the book is well written, but over-rated.
Quite frankly, I do not think it buys you much more than what you can
get from the notes in this forum. The Sybex book is a good book that
can be used more from a practical standpoint. It has errors, but an
errata is available form their website. I do believe however, that
the Sybex test questions are excellent and give you a good sense of
the types of questions you should be able to answer for the exam.
The notes in this forum, specially the PMINOtes document, are
excellent for quickly reviewing. I actually read my highlights on
the Rita book prior the exam. Never used the PM FasTrack CD and I
suspect, with all the test examples available in this forum, that it
is not worth the money.
- I read up to the last minute of the exam, and I could feel the
effect on my eyes and brain. Not recommended. Better to take a
break before the exam day.
- Practice tests: I spent a significant amount of my preparation
time (the majority) answering test questions. I would venture to say
I tested on over 3000 questions. The TranDumper tests on this forum
are excellent source. I made sure to analyze every question I got
wrong. The interesting thing is that some of the questions in the
PMP exam were identical to some of the ones I encountered in the
practice exam.
- Rather than spending so much time memorizing EVM formulas, why not
understand what each of the terms really mean. The only formulas you
really need to remember are CV, CV, CPI, and SPI.
common sense and can be derived from these four.
Everything else is
- If I were to recommend an approach for studying for this exam I
would say read the PMBOK, Rita, PMINOtes, and then do tons of
practice questions using these study materials as reference.
- Good luck to everyone here and thanks for the help! I will
continue to contribute as much as I can to this forum.
Culantro, PMP
Hi all,
I took the exam on Tuesday and passed(project
completed) and wanted to share a few things:
* Prep time: ~10 weeks, 10-14 hrs/week
* Study material: PMBOK and Rita's book. I read the
PMBOK two times, took my own notes/summary while
reading and prepared flashcards for ITTOs. Rita's
book was definitely helpful (BTW, I didn't do any of
the exercises) and took my own notes from Rita's book
as well. I had the Kim Heldman's book but after a
couple of chapters I realized that it doesn't have a
lot of extra info than PMBOK but read it once(easier
to read than PMBOK).
One thing I found very useful when reading PMBOK is,
to read the processes by Process Groups. It is much
easier to follow and learn.
I did all the questions in the books mentioned above +
questions at the PMI website + questions in this
group's db + free ones on various web sites
* ITTOs: 90% memorized them. I found it helpful. if
you can, memorize (and understand) them and if you
cannot memorize them, just understand them (very
well).
One other thing.. Planning processes-Figure 3-5 on
page 33 of PMBOK. I drew that figure to my scratch
paper at the beginning of the exam. The planning
processes include 21 of the 39 processes and their
flow is very logical(in terms of Inputs and Outputs)
*The night before: read Initiation and Closing
processes from PMBOK and Rita's book + professional
responsibility chapter.
*Exam: very long but fair. It took 3 hours to finish
all 200. No breaks. Marked 30-40 for review. After
finishing the marked ones, reviewed 20 more and time
was up. hit the end button and waited for really
long 5 seconds to get my score (177).
Thanks & good luck.
Alp
I spent a lot of time researching different course options for the PMP. I needed something that
satisfied the 35 hours, provided a good learning experience (i.e. I wanted to learn and not just
satisfy the training requirement), and finally be able to be undertaken by distance learning given
I'm based in the Middle East.
After a lot of discussion with various providers I settled on the mScholar course which follows a
self learning approach. It uses a combination of audio and text based material to teach you the
required coursework. The cost not only includes the PMP course but the next 3 years of the
continuing education requirements for the PMI. If you calculate the cost per training hour its quite
reasonable compared to other offerings.
There is online support through an instructor forum and the instructors accept direct emails as
well. I found all the staff to be extremely helpful and knowledgeable. At the end of the course
you sit an exam online at a Prometric centre so get use to the conditions of the real exam (this
should be available overseas in the next couple of months due to changes at the Prometric
testing centres).
I was worried about a course that wasn't classroom based but found the approach to be such that
I can study any place, any time with most lessons broken down to short 15 to 20 mins
components. It allows you to fit in a lesson anytime during the day when you have a little bit of
free time. Given the online forum option as well it also means you can have discussions with
other students on any points you are confused on.
The material is based on the process groups so is a lot easier to follow and relate to our practical
experience than if it was grouped by knowledge area.
Prior to buying the course I had read the two main PMP prep texts talked about in the forum
(Kims Sybex guide and Ritas Exam Prep book). I found the material from mScholar to be
superior to both of them in terms of understandably and layout. The main problem with this exam
is over studying - there is just so much material available its difficult to know what is the core
material you need to know. mScholar sticks to the main information only so you can learn what
you need to know properly. I supplemented the course with the other two texts mentioned as I
didn't want to depend on only one source of material. The extra material may have resulted in 2
or 3 additional marks in the exam but not much more.
My only negative comment on the course would be that I would have liked more sample
questions at the end of every chapter - there is only 3 or 4 per chapter. However, there was so
many other sources of questions available that this wasn't a big issue.
I see the mScholar course combined with one other text such as Rita's or PMPTools Exam Cram
is a good combination to pass the exam.
One last thing, the course provides the normal guarantee that you will pass the PMP exam or
they will refund your money. Any provider that doesn't give such a guarantee is not worth
considering - it shows how confident they are in their material and approach.
Anyone wanting more information should refer to www.mscholar.com They have a couple of
documents available that will explain their approach and give you and idea of the quality; one
of them is worth reading no matter which course you undertake as it involves lots of hints for
approaching the certification including studying and exam. It includes one sample lesson as
well.
I can't assess the additional courses that are provided for the CE requirements as I haven't tried
any as yet. They are adding more courses every few months.
Please note I'm not employed by mscholar nor do I have any financial interest in their
organisation.
Good luck.
Mark Rohan
mrohan@emirates.net.ae
Hi all,
I passed PMP on 28th of August.
As promised find below the preparation process I followed for the PMP exam :
Material Used:
1. PMBOK 2000
2. SYBEX - Project Management Professional- Study Guide(with CD)
3. PMP preparation Notes from PMP group.
4. Training Materials (My present employer's Academy Division)
5. Quantitative Methods for Business by Anderson, Sweeney, Williams
6. Flash Cards for the Mathemetical Formulas.
7. Study Plan for 2.5 months
Tools & Techniques:
1. Studied PMBOK 2000 twice, every time tried to do a Brain dump.
2. Created a Project Management Knowledge Areas Mindmaps of my own using the available in
PMP group folder.
3. Created flash cards for the mathametical Formulas which I used to revise in between my work.
4. Formed a PMI aspirants group in my present company and had presentation sessions on the
various knowledge area. This was a one month exercise with 1.5 hours everyday (excluding
Saturday , Sunday obviously).
5. Solved 70% of the Mock exams available in the SYBEX CD.
6. The day before the exam just went through the mind maps and the notes.
7. During the exam,utilized 10 minutes of the tutorial review time to do my brain dump of all the
mathematical formulas and also the Processes under each knowledge area in sequence, and
also differentiating the Core and the Facilitating ones.
Output:
1. Scored 150 in Exam.
2. Certified PMP.
3. Added to my confidence in Project Management.
2. Lessons Learnt which will be helpful for all PMI aspirants.
Lessons Learnt:
1. Should have solved more of MOCK test questions.
2. To go through PMBOK atleast 3 Times.
3. Had a gap of 7 days inbetween, just one week before the exam which affected the flow. This
was a unforseen risk which I should have planned.
4. Professional responsibility was a weak area for me and many of the questions I found during
the exam, had a touch of both PR and the knowledge Areas. Solving of questions with such a
mind set would have helped.
Thanks & Regards
Mridul Paul ,PMP
The major difference is the inclusion of Professional Responsibilty
as a chapter in 4th edition which is not there in 3rd edition.In
addition every chapter has questions dedicated to Prof.Responsibility.
The Prof.Responsibility forms a significant portion of the questions
in exam.
Regards,
Archana Roy, PMP
Hi Team.
Sorry for this long email but lots to cover.
I sat the exam this morning and passed with 173. I started studying in
April for the certification. I was allowed 4 months preparation as I
had a
lot of other things happening at the same time in my life and had to
balance
priorities. Unfortunately due to exam registration issues with PMI it
added
two additional months of delay before I could sit the exam.
Materials Used
I used the following text books :
- PMBOK - I read this four times over my study period.
- PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy - although most people seem to like
this
book I was not that impressed with it. Its very difficult to determine
from
the headings and layout information maps to which topic areas. Its
almost
like a series of notes rather than a structured text book.
- SYBEX PMP Certification guide by Kim Heldman - I read this book
first.
Its well structured and given its organised by process groups its
easier to
follow and relate to. However, I agree with other reviewers it doesn't
have
the depth to be used as a sole text book.
For practice exams I used:
- Boston Exams (Exam 3 for PMP) - Its only 200 questions but they
are
good quality questions and they also provide good explanations for the
answers.
For the training I used the mScholar course.
I sent a separate review
of
this yesterday to the forum. mScholar is a self study program that can
be
undertaken at the students own pace. Further information can be found
in
www.mscholar.com
In addition I received a summary of this forum discussion each day and
reviewed the items one by one.
In terms of other materials from the
files
section I liked PMPCert-PMINotes v5, the 220 questions (PMPCert-QA220),
and
PMPSample70a. Again be careful with all sample questions as there may
be
some incorrect answers. The forum itself has discussed a lot of them.
Study Hints
1. Prepare a plan of your approach. Re-evaluate the base plan after
the
first few weeks once you have an idea of the material and work
involved.
2. I found I was having trouble learning by just reading the various
texts especially since they all had a slightly different approach. I wasted
a lot
of time reading other texts and not taking in the information before I
decided to prepare my own study notes. I wrote 2 to 3 pages on each of
the
knowledge areas using the main texts as input - this helped me absorb a
lot
of information in a very short period. You could use the PMINotes v5
from
the files section but I think actually writing the notes yourself is
the
main benefit of the exercise.
3. Its important to set boundaries for what you want to
learn. Although
PMBOK is the main text to be used its made clear that we have to use
other
materials. If you look at some of the questions raised in this forum
they
are complicated enough to put most people off ever sitting the
exam. From
the beginning I decided not to learn the Inputs, Tools/Techniques, and
Outputs. I thought my study time could be put to better use
elsewhere. I
memorised figure 3-9, pg 38 in PMBOK that shows all the processes by
process
group and knowledge area as well as the planning process flow diagram
(figure 3-5). This is the minimum I think people should know. Having
both
of these included in my brain dump provided a good basis for answering
most
questions. I could derive most ITTO questions from this information
combined with my work experience and remembering my study.
4. Over studying is a major problem with this exam. Learn the core
material
very well and do not spend too much time on becoming a mathematics
expert.
The mscholar course helped me a lot here as it focused on the core
information required to pass the course.
5. I didn't focus too much on practice exams in the first few months of
study. I would use the chapter summary exams in the texts to make sure
I
understood the material I had read but nothing more. After finishing
the
main study I spent the last month focusing on practice exams. I used
the
two electronic test banks as well as any paper based ones. If you get
any
questions wrong that you think should be right research the
answers. Don't
just assume you are right as in a few cases it turned out I
misunderstood
the question or the answer and my research showed gaps in my knowledge
that
needed resolving.
I recommend you try at least 2 or 3 full tests of
200
questions or more. This will help you prepare for exam day itself. I
found
I was losing concentration on the last 50 questions and making stupid
mistakes.
6. The day before the exam minimise your study - I read through my
study
notes for 30 mins only and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I sat
the
exam on a Monday so I could rest on the Sunday.
7. The biggest question for most people is when are you ready to sit
the
exam. I liked Karen's comment I saw a few weeks ago on this forum
saying
you are ready to sit the exam when you are sick of it. That's very
true.
For those of you trying to prepare in a faster time period I would look
at
your marks on the sample tests. If you are constantly getting 80% to
90% on
the main tests you should be ready.
Exam Hints
A lot of this has been properly covered before by other people so I'll
just
mention the highlights.
1. Pace yourself. Keep on eye on the time and allow yourself
breaks. The
number and length of breaks differs from person to person but I believe
at
least 2 breaks are required.
2. Leave any of the longer questions to later. If you can do the quick
and
easy ones first it will give you confidence for the more difficult
questions. Remember that most people have time at the end of the exam
to
review their questions.
3. Take some food in case you need a snack during one of your breaks.
4. Relax.
the
You've spent a lot of time preparing for this day, you know
material, and have time. Don't get stressed about some questions you
don't
know, move on, and focus on the ones you do know.
5. Make a plan of how you will approach the exam. I went through the
questions quite fast the first time - 30 secs per question. I marked
everything for review where I was unsure of my answer. Anything
unmarked was
theoretically correct. I then had a break and started reviewing my
marked
items (125 of them). During this 2nd time through I kept track of the
number of questions I was still unsure of. At the end of the 2nd cut I
was
left with 46 questions I was unsure about. Given I could get 60 wrong
I was
reasonably confident I had passed. I started doing a 3rd review of all
questions but was too tired and ended the exam with 25 mins remaining.
Overall I found the PMP certification to be quite valuable. Apart from
obtaining the certification itself, more importantly I found I actually
learnt something from my studies and believe I'm a better project
manager
because of it.
Finally thanks to everyone that contributes to this forum. Its a great
help
and is the first source I recommend to anyone that asks me about
preparing
for the exam.
Mark Rohan
mrohan@emirates.net.ae
Hi All,
I passed the PMP certification exam today scoring 85.5% (171). To be
honest, I could not breathe for the few seconds it took for the score
to show up, because I was not sure how I had done. Even though I went
into the exam quite confident, while doing the exam I realized that I
still had a lot of grey areas. They do make u think..
I sarted studying 3 weeks ago, studied for about 40 Hrs. I do have
enough Project management exp to be elligible for the exam but thats
about it. So I still have ways to go and therefore found the exam a
little tough..
I studied the PMBOK, Rita Mulcahy's Prep book and did the PMP Fast
Track by Rita.
The first time I read PMBOK, I was ready to throw up after reading
each knowledge area. There was too much to digest..
I still finished reading the book once. I then did Rita's Prep book,
felt much better. Went back to reading PMBOK and quite honestly
enjoyed reading it since it all started making much better sense. I
was undersatnding more than trying to memorize. I then did PMP fast
track CD by knowledge area.. was scoring about 75%. Read Rita's book
and now realize that two chapters in particular HR and Communications
are much better covered from the exam perspective.
Then did PMP fast track CD by groups. Scored 90% and more. Read PMBOK
again. Can u believe that..This time I was trying to memorize the
I/O/Tools as well.
I was now confident to write the exam..
The exam can be quite ambigous. If you dont know your subject matter
well, be sure that u will be guessing because there sure are multiple
right answers.
My 2 cents.. Its all about PMBOK and real life project management
experience. Some stuff not in PMBOK is mostly covered in Rits's book
like Theories of motivation..
Also, do try to retain I/O/Tools to the extent you can but not very
imp..
Good luck to you all.
Bela, PMP
Hi Team.
Yesterday in my posting on passing the exam I gave reference to boston test questions. The
correct reference is boson questions. The web site is www.boson.com. Sorry for the incorrect
reference. Boson have 3 test banks available for PMP. I was recommended to get the 3rd one
as it more closely represents the exam. I was happy with the questions and explanations of the
answers in test exam 3. There is a free sample download if anyone wants more information.
Thanks to Davin for pointing out the reference.
Mark
Hi KG.
In the top left of your screen you have a box to mark a question.
used
this to mark any question I was unsure of for later review. In
addition you
can leave the question completely unanswered.
I
At any time during the exam you have a review button at the bottom of
your
screen. When you press this button it gives you a list of all question
numbers. Those that have no answers are marked 'I' for
Incomplete. Those
you have marked yourself are highlighted with a 'R' for review.
You just need to double click on any of the question numbers in the
review
screen and are automatically taken to that question. It takes
literally 1
to 2 seconds to jump back to the review screen and select the next
marked
question number you want to look.
If you are going to take this approach just make sure you keep track of
the
time. Given I was aiming 30 seconds per question for the first cut
this
meant I could get through all 200 questions in around 100
minutes.
After a
small break I had 125 questions to review which I divided over the
remaining
time. If you take more time on the first cut you will have less
questions
marked for review so won't need as much time. Its a balancing act. I
went
quite quickly for the first cut as I wanted the confidence of a lot of
answered questions behind me before I went through the more difficult
questions.
Mark Rohan
mark.rohan@vistre.com
Hi all,
I took the exam on Friday and passed with 163. I sincerely want to
thank all of you for all the support/files/discussions. This is a great
group. The moment I found this group, I knew I can make it.
This is how I prepared for the exam (in chronological order):
1) I’ve been advised of the PMI exams on a Project Management course (2
days) in last January. In March I decided to take the exams.
2) I read for the first time PMBOOK2000 on April. I bought the
preparation book..... (after reading I realized I need something else).
3) I attended online PMP Prep Pack of IIL and I bought the Kerzner
Project management Book (I found it very good, exams or not exams).
4)On the 30th of July I send eligibility
studying seriously for 7 week during the
(average of 14 hours a week). I read the
PM IQ questions and questions I found on
form to PMI. And I started
evening time and weekends
Kerzner book; I made Kerzner
this group.
5)On the 11th September i received the eligibility letter and
immediately fixed the exam for the 19th September. This week I brought
with me on holiday my laptop and studied about 8 hours a day. I read
for the 3rd time PMBOOK (sounds really better than the first two times
...).
6) Exam: very long time in my opinion!, the italian translation of the
question was very bad and my english is not very good... Sometimes I
hardly understand questions, and I had to read over and over again ...
It took 3 hours and 50 minutes to finish all 200 questions. No breaks.
Marked 70 for review, but after 10, time was up.
I had many questions about quality management (gurus, ITTO, many
situations with differences of performance measurements and quality
control, ISO9000, whatever), about 10 questions with EVM, some Network
diagram to analyze ... I made a brain dump of AOK, process and some
ITTO at the beginning of the exam (I found it very useful, consider to
do it).
During the exams there were 2 cameras looking at me for the whole
exam (I was in Milan Prometrics center, Italy). I have been advised
that all my exam would be videotaped... mmm ... GREAT FILM!!!
Forget
bringing with you any scratch papers from home.....
At about 3:59 I
was so exhausted, I hit the end button and waited for really long 5
seconds to see PASS on the screen.... my score was 163.
Thank you for the help and encouragement I have received from this
site!
And good luck to future test-takers!
Angelo Bonorino, PMP
Hi Subha,
I am currently studying for the PMP exam as well. After reading tons
of messages from various members who have passed the exam
sucessfully, the books that you need to use are:
1) PMBOK 2000
2) PMP Exam Prep by Rita Mulcahy
3) SYBEX PMP Certification guide by Kim Heldman
Have Fun!
Jude Joseph
Glad to inform you all that I took the PMP exam today in Oregon and
cleared it with 168.
I am happy with this score considering the fact that I did not spend
a whole lot of time preparing for the exam.
I prepared for approximately 5 weeks (added a week to my initial
planned duration to be absolutely sure of passing).
The main motivation for studying hard was the thought of losing 405
bucks :)
My study plan in chronological order :
(1) Took the online e-learning course to get the 35 hours from
http://www.pmguruonline.com
(2) Took the online e-learning course from http://www.skillsoft.com
(3) Became a PMI member and got the PMBOK. Read the PMBOK once.
(4) Read the complete Kim Heldman book online once.
(5) Read the PMBOK again.
(6) Solved tons of practice exams. Performance varied from around 65
percent to around 95 percent.
(7) Took the exam today and passed. (Took 3 hours and 59 minutes)
Needless to say, this group was an invaluable resource and helped in
every stage of the preparation. A big thanks to elceem for forming
this group and to all the other senior members Karen, Mike for their
postings.
As you can see, I did not use the Rita book mainly because I could
not find it in the local bookstore.
Lessons learned :
(1) Practice more situational questions.
(2) Understanding the meaning of terms and other terms that may be
used to refer to them. Do not expect the exam to use the same
terminology or same sentence that is used in the PMBOK.
(3) Do not panic if the first few questions seem difficult.
Good luck to everyone preparing for the test.
Shashank
SCJP2,SCJD2,SCWCD,IBM-XML,PMP
Hi,
I took the test last Tuesday and passed it with a score of 169.
I took the local PMI chapter (Pittsburgh) class in Apr-May but
could not keep my study steady. From beginning of August, I got
serious about it and started spending weekends on study. Took 3
days off from the work just before the exam.
Though I download everything from file section of this website
and printed out, binded it (separate folders for theory and
questions), I could not review it. I did some questions set
downloaded from yahoo group.
All in all, I did following seriously 1. Studied PMBoK 2 to 3 times
2. Rita Mulcahy's book Reading as well as exercises - 3 times
3. Rita Flash Card
4. Sybex PMP Study Guide - Read once and did questions in the CD
multiple times.
At last I had started scoring 95 to 100% in Rita as well as PMP
Study Guide Question bank. (Somehow I recalled correct answers).
I have following material for sale asking $125 OBO (worth $200) +
SH
- Rita Mulcahy's PMP Exam Prep (excellent condition) - original $90
- Rita Flash Card (Audio as well as Paper format) - original $ 48
- PMP Study Guide (Excellent condition) - original $60
If you are interested, please e-mail me at (subject - PMP Book)
charmie_gupta@yahoo.com
If somebody is from Pittsburgh area, we can make mutual
arrangement for delivery.
Hello KG,
Thank you very much.
Please find my answers below :
(1) How many hours of study did you dedicate for the exam?
I studied only for about 5 weeks. However I studied really hard
(average of 4 hours on weekdays and about 16 hours on weekends (both
Sat and Sun put together).
(2) Did you have any background in Project management before
preparation ?
Not really. I am a technology consultant and don't do Project
management for a living.
However if you work in any IT project, you are bound to come across a
lot of the Project management
activities whether you are a project manager or not.
(3) How do you rate the difficulty level of the exam with the 220
questions on this site ? The Dallas PMI sample questions ?
The 220 questions are very good for assesing how well you have read
the PMBOK. However a lot of questions among the 220 deal with
questions related to inputs,tools and techniques and outputs.
The real exam hardly has a few questions relating to inputs/tools and
techniques and outputs. Also the 220 questions do not have much
situational questions, which is again different from
the real exam.
Frankly, I think the Dallas PMI questions are very easy compared to
the real thing.
(4) The terminology difference, is it too confusing. Are there any
sources you know that provide alternative terminology?
Not really, Usually by the process of elimination, you can eliminate
about two answers.
You will have to select between the remaining two answers.
Sometimes the questions can be tricky.
For example,
(1) What is the process of splitting a deliverable into smaller more
manageable parts called ?
Is it Scope definition or Decomposition ?
(2) What is the technique of splitting a deliverable into smaller
more manageable parts called ?
Is it Scope definition or Decomposition ?
Please note that the above are not real exam questions, but
indicative of the type of tricky questions.
You have to watch out for keywords. In the first question, the key
word is process.
In the second question the keyword is technique.
The answer to 1 is scope definition, since decomposition is not a
process.
The answer to 2 is decomposition, since scope definition is not a
technique.
Also try to know the alternate names with which different
terminologies are called. You will find
a lot of them in the PMBOK itself.
for example, escalation notices, kill points, contractor initial
response, risk register etc.
Hope this helps ....
Good luck with your examination.
Shashank
Initially I was thinking of taking 4 day prep seminar costing $2795.
But later just but PMBOK book for $25 on Amazon and Rita's PMP Prep
book for $89. Rita's book helped very much in simplifying the concepts
and also the practice exam at the end of each chapter in her book
helped. Later I tried to solve the practice questions available in
the files section of this group. That was sufficient.
Thanks. I passed with 158. I studied for 2 weeks. Read PMBOK once.
didn't understand. Read Rita's PMP Prep and then studied PMBOK one
more time. Rita's book helped a lot and of course all the prep
questions on your site and other links suggested by you for the free
practice exam.
Hi everybody
I passed (150) and this is the effort I put:
Total 10 days
In a day studied only max of 6 hours. (With max 2 hours at a
stretch.. Did a thorough undertsnading of the PMBOK rather than
cramming...for eg.. any person who understands plain english would
know what comes first Activity definition or Activity sequence... )
After reading PMBOK (Complete) Read Rita Mulchay (A very helpful
course material) Read it once. Did all the practice exercise in the
book. ( Again the focus was on understanding the process rather than
cramming...)
Then did the practice tests on Rita's CD.
The only cramming required are few formulas...which are
peanuts...EVM, Comms channel, PERT.
Believe me if you have common sense and if you little experince in
Project Management, the test is a cake walk......
(I guess the other help was that I was one of the interviewee for my
companys assesment for CMM level 5....and I was aware of lots of
processes etc...)
Remember law of dimnishing returns....too much studying will confuse
you more and not add any more value.....
Best of Luck....
Bhupinder
Hi All,
Today (09/28) Passed PMP.
Thanks for the Study Materials & help. I found this forum is most
useful for Exam Preparation.
My Exam Preparation was nearly 2 months (2- 4 hrs per day).
Study Material used:
- PMBOK (Studied Twice)
- Rita's PMP Exam Preparation Book - 4th Edition- (Studied Twice).
Apart from above Books Practiced around 500 sample Questions.
My Experience:
- To Clear Exam, understanding complete PMBOK, Project Management
concepts are VERY CRITICAL
- Memorizing things may not help much.
- I felt Rita's Book will give you the feel of Exam Expectations. It
is a good book for Exam Preparation.
- Practical Project Management Knowledge will help you to some
extent while answering questions.
- This Exam Really Test your Knowledge, so I recommend, it is
required to have a dedicated study for minimum of 2 months.
So wish you all the Best & Good Luck.
Thanks,
Shreerama Muniyoor
Hi All,
I passed the PMP exam today. This forum has been very useful for exam preparation. I used
PMBOK, Rita and Leroy Ward.
To clear exam, understanding complete PMBOK, Project management concepts are required.
This exam really checks your knowledge. So it is required to
have dedicated effort for minimum of two months.
So wish you all the best & Good luck.
Thanks
Harish
Dear all,
I passed the exam on 29/9.
This is group helped me a lot.
My experience:
1. read PMBOK only will get you about 100 questions.
2. use supporting materials: those from this group, join a
preparation course, acquire some preparation guides - in order to
pass the exam.
3. draw diagrams in your paper - you are going to reuse the figures
in questions later.
Thanks and good luck to those who are going to take the exam.
LC
Just wanted to thank this group for all of the great tips and study
information!
Passed the test today, and used the following to study:
1. PMBOK
2. Rita 4th edition
3. PMP FASTrack
Studied for about 5 weeks (about 100 hours). The most important thing
to do to succeed is:
1.Form a study group. This kept me focused and motivated.
2.Understand the PMBOK (did not memorize ITTO).
3.Do practice tests. They were very representative of the actual
test.
Good luck to all that have not taken the test.
Tony Kovinchick, PMP
I just passed a couple of weeks ago with a 163. I studied with two
other guys. One had Rita's book, I had Leroy's book. Ultimately, I
gave up on Leroy's book and only used Rita's book for the last few
weeks. Rita's book was much more helpful. As you mentioned, Leroy's
questions are just too long and not really representative of the test.
I did, however, get a lot of benefit from the audio CDs that Leroy
Ward and Carl Pritchard put out from ESI. I listened to them daily on
my drive to and from work. So if your commute is around 30 minutes
one way, you can get a lot from the CDs.
Hope this helps.
Cliff
Dear Naresh, Hi
i do have similar experience and years like you, Still i would advise you that you need to practise
more sets of Questions, develop the "mental frame" in responding to questions. Time is
important.
Read Kerzner, Rodney Turner, Gray Larson atleast Once.
The EXperience brings insight but the answer to Questions are based on ideal conditions as
described in PMBOK. ( Not necessarily relating to your situation)
Wish you all the best.
Regards
Gaiyas
Hi All
Passed the PMP today with a 162. Thanks to everyone who posted in
this group.
The information, practice tests, etc were all a great help
examin. The examin wasn't as difficult as I had expected.
was made possible by information here along with using the
Rita's book. Read both three times along with taking a PMP
the practice tests I found here.
with the
But that
PMBOK &
prep &
Thanks
John H
I took practice tests from Rita, PMP Exam Cram and
Leroy Ward. Rita's material was very similar to the
exam. I spent last 2 months preparing for the exam.
Thanks
Muthuswamy
Dear All,
I cleared the PMP Certification today with
167.
a score of
Books Used:
PMBOK
Rita
Also the PMPCert-PMINotes v5.doc from this site was
very much useful during the last few days.
Before starting the tutorial, I did a brain dump which
helped me throughout the exam.
Thanks,
Muthuswamy.T.S
While 12 years of experience managing projects is a great asset for
the exam, that alone is not sufficient to clear the exam.
In fact, sometimes too much experience might work against you if the
project management methodology you have been following on your
projects is not similar to the PMI methodology.
In extreme cases, you will have to go through an unlearning phase
before you can start learning the PMI way of managing a project. It
is like learning to drive on the right side of the road after driving
on the left for a few years.
However, since you have completed the 35 contact hours in Feb 03, I
assume you have been studying for quite a while.
Use the PMBOK as the bible for the exam and practice lots of scenario
based questions. Take as many sample exams as possible in the same
kind of environment that you would expect in the real exam.
The practice exam in the Kim Heldman book is good. If you are able to
get more than 80 percent on this exam, you should be able to do well
on the real exam.
Good luck with your exam.
Shashank
SCJP2,SCJD2,SCWCD,IBM-XML,PMP ....
I passed PMP with the score of 172 yesterday. Information and
material posted on this group was immensely helpful. Studied for 3
months on and off. Other than the material posted on this group, I
used PMBOK and Rita's book. I didn't buy any question banks or
simulated exam and as an afterthought, I feel questions from the
files section in this group and chapter end questions from Rita's are
more than enough.
Mahesh
Good article on the value of a PMP and why you need it.
whole site is pretty good.
http://www.pmousa.com/cfm/hm_pg_content_page.cfm?var=137
Hi All
Passed the PMP today with a 160.
I took the exam this afternoon, after a preparation of
3 months with PMBOK, Rita's Book, sample tests posted
in this group and also in www.yancy.org.
PMPCert-PMINotes v5.doc was very very useful for me to
revise all the topics this morning.
Thanks to everyone who posted in this group.
About the exam:
I didnt do any brain dump during the initial tutorial
time.
I started answering, and marked the questions which i
was doubtful. It was pretty fast i finished answering
all 200 questions in around than 90 minutes. Then i
reviewed all the questions which were marked for
review (38 of them).
Then i started all over again to go through all the
questions, this time i noted down all my answers under
3 different category, X (answer almost sure) Y
(questions where i narrowed down to 2 answers and also
questions of doubt) and Z (never heard or no clues
about these questions) in the end i calculated the
Actually the
probable score by x*0.9 + y*0.5 + z*0.25 i got
figure of 158. Then i pressed the END button and
waited for nervous and loong few seconds to see my
score and result.
Good luck to all PMP Aspirants and thanks again for
all the postings in this site
Regards
Ganesh S
I recommend that for your final weeks and days you do the following:
Read the PMBOK Glossery every day
Take a sample test every day
Practice your brain dump (if you intend to do one) every day.
Take a 200 question exam in a simuated environment at least once. Close yourself off with a
timer, a basic calculator, a pencil, and some scratch paper. Do your brain dump and proceed
with the questions. Take your breaks at your scheduled times. This really helps.
Good luck!
Karen
I took the test on 9/29 and passed with a 153.
score as I would have liked, but I passed.
It's not as high a
For the benefit of those yet to take the exam, I thought I'd share a
list of study aids in the order of effectivness for me:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
PMBOK 2000 hard copy and CD
Rita's Book
Rita's Fast Track CD
PMP training course (3 days)
ESI Intl. Portable PMP Prep CD's with J. LeRoy Ward
Good luck to all.
Hello all,
Passed the PMP yesterday.
Score 156 - 78%. Very happy with the score. Wouldn't
have minded a 137 either.
Impression:
Most questions are situational. Good understanding of
processes, their implications and their intent
required to answer these questions.
The test actually measures the "application" of the
knowledge.
Study Technique/Materials used:
-Never completed the PMBOK end-to-end. (Might not work
for all).
-Never completed the Kim Heldman book end-to-end.
(Might not work for all).
-Completed a Certificate in Project and Program
Management from UCSC Extension almost a year back.
Reference materials from this group.
-Common Sense.
-Never completed one full test (200 questions) during
preparation. (Might not work for all).
Suggestions:
-Understand the application of Processes, tools and
techniques.
-No need to memorize T&T, I and Os. However,
understanding what they signify is important.
-Braindump of key equations helps but application of
equations is what is important.
-Feel free to Mark as many questions as you want. You
will only go over these questions after your first
pass. I personally went over my marked questions 4
extra times... each time unmarking some of them till I
unmarked all of them.
-Read questions well and even more - read the answers
provided.
-Do any kind of stress-reduction activity the day
prior to the exam. And repeat that after the exam too.
All the best to aspiring PMPs.
Good Luck.
SN
PMP, CPPM, MCA, CTM, CL
(finally feels good to be a PMP)
Glad to inform you all that I took the PMP exam yesterday in Hyderabad and passed with
165.
Material used:
PMP Study guide by Kim Heldman (studied twice)
PMBOK (not able to complete even once, I found it very hard to study)
PMP Exam Prep 4th edition by Rita Mulcahy (studied twice)
PMPTools Simulated Test Bank software
PMP Role Delineation Study by PMI. (Clearly defines the test criteria, excellent resource
for planning preparation strategy, wish I had it early in my preparation)
Solved lots of practice exams.
I studied for nearly 100 hours over the past 3 months.
During exam:
After the tutorial, done an extensive memory dump, but in the end it was not required at all.
Used the following strategy during first pass.
For the questions I am 100% sure, selected the option.
For the questions I am not 100% sure, selected the option and marked the question for
review.
For long questions and math's questions, I had not answered.
After 1 hour, I had reached the end and there were 25 unanswered questions. Took a break
and completed the 25 questions using review unanswered questions feature. Then reviewed
the questions that I had marked for review (~ 50). At this moment little less than 2 hours
remaining, so I tried to review all the questions from start, but this time I am finding
multiple answers to be correct during the first 20 questions. So stopped the review and hit
the end button.
Lessons learned :
Practice more situational questions that have more than 1 correct answer. In other words,
most of the questions I had practiced, I can easily eliminate 3 options. It is quite different
in the exam.
Good luck to those of you preparing for the test.
Thanks & Regards,
Ravindra
Hello everyone,
I just wanted to share that I passed my pmp exam last saturday with a 161 score. Thank you all
for sharing all your questions/answers. This group really helped to solidify things in my mind.
How I prepared - I think I may have done it a little differently. I did the following:
- SPent about 100 hours studying.
- Couldnt get motivated in beginning. So I scheduled my exam THEN started studying. This is
backwards for most people, but I needed the time pressure to get off my lazy butt and get
going!!!!
- Took a PMP prep class from ESI INternational via my employer. This was a real help in that
they gave us lots of material to help us focus. In addition to class materials, we got the following
books:
PMP Challenge (600 practice questions in form of flash cards)
ESI practice test book ( it had a 40 question test at end of every chapter and a 200 question test
simulation at end.) As luck would have it, the book was copyrighted July 2003 so it appeared to
be very new.
Hardcover PMBOK
An automated tool called PM Powertrack by Mamagement Concepts Inc (another training
company). Got this courtesy of my employer. This was nothing more than lots and lots of test
questions. They had practice questions for both process groups and knowledge areas as well as
a 200 question simulated test. The questions were ok, but didnt really resemble the type of
questions I got in the exam. In addition, if you got a question wrong it wasn't real clear what the
solution was. It pointed you to a page in the pmbok or a textbook, but no explaination
whatsoever. ESI was much clearer with explainations as to why a question was what it
was. Also, this tool timed you in the practice exam and scored you in each section so you could
track performance. Overall, not sure I would actually buy the PMPowertrack thing myself.
- Studyed the first 2 above cover to cover. Used PMP challenge in follwoing way. Spent 1
hour/day on 1 chapter of flash cards for 2 months before exam. This kept me current.
- Read PMBOK cover to cover
- Did most of the other things to prepare that people said in prior notes. However 1 thing I did
that wasnt mentioned earlier had to do with studying for the 5 processes (initiation, planning,
execution, control, closing). As I studying the PMBOK I was having trouble relating chapters 4-11
knowledge areas to the IPECC process flow. So here is what i did. I took an old poster board
and wrote out the process flows as outlined in ch3 of the PMBOK. WIthin each process box I
wrote the inputs, outputs and TT's. I did this for planning, execution and control. WHen I saw the
whole process flow and the in/tt/outs, it became so much more clear to me what the key docs
were and what you were trying to do within each flow. It was nothing fancy or pretty, but it helped
me see the whole thing and see trends, relationships, etc.. I would recommend this exercise. It
really helped me in my exam.
MY EXAM:
- FInished pass 1 within 3 hours
- Very little number crunching with math formulas
- LOTS of situations: what would you do, what would u do FIRST, etc.
One curve ball they threw at me had to do with a network diagram. They gave ma a NW diagram
question and I had to do start-finish for whole thing to answer a question abou float. Then about
20 questions later, they show me THE SAME diagram with slightly different working to make it
look like a new question. BUT IT WASNT. The 2nd question asked if we change float on B to x,
what does this do to task Y. Same diagram, different calculation. As luck would have it, I did my
NW diagram on separate piece of paper in pencil. I merely marked up old doc with new data and
quickly got answer. From there, I saw 1-2 more questions with SAME NW diagram so I used
original drawing. But quesstions were spaced like 10+questions apart. Moral of story: save any
calcs cleanly and neatly off to the side as you may need them again.
Hope this helps someone out there like others have helped me. Best of luck to anyone out there
studying. Go for it!!!!!
I'm proud to say that I passed my PMP testing today and wanted to thank
everyone participating in this group. I have been a silent member for a
few months. I have used the emails being shared to answer my own
questions as well as get a better understanding of issues I believed I
had a handle on. I did submit a question on calculating PV and got a
most insightful and easy method to obtaining my answer. A special
thank you to ELCEEM. His work on the files section of the group
website is greatly appreciated, and it enabled me to find answers and
study material quickly. I will continue to monitor the emails from the
group, as I feel these communications can be a valued source for
reference and clarification as I continue to advance my PMP career.
The only words of wisdom I'll pass on to those still studying for the
exam is that you must read and understand the PMBOK, as well as use as
many test questions as possible. For most of us, it's not a matter of
knowing the material, but how to take the test and pass. There is a
difference between real world experience and how the PMI organization
is scoring you on the test. I will say the test was much easier than
most of the test questions I came across.
Good Luck!!!
Elizabeth Hazel
liz4200@bellsouth.net
Greetings fellow PMers!!
First time poster and wanted to share my experience on the PMP
examination.
PREPARATION FOR THE EXAM:
I used only the following: PMBOK, PMP Exam Prep (Rita Mulcahy, 4th
edition), PM Fasttrack CD (Mulcahy).
I typed out each chapter in the PMP Exam Prep, organizing the
material in a way that made more sense to me. You don't
neccessariloy have to do this. It has always helped me becuase it
forces me to go over everything. I refered back to PMBOK for
subjects that I didn't understand or wanted more information on. I
did not read the PMBOK. I only went to it looking for specific
information on topics. I also used the PMBOK to read over the
glossary. If I didn't understand something in the glossary, I went
and searched out more information in the PMBOK.
After going through the PMP Exam Prep, I turned to the PM Fasttrack
CD. I must have taken 10 or so 200 question exam simulations. For
the most part, if I started a 200 question simulation, I forced
myself to complete it all. I did stop short a few times but that
was after I had taken a number of test and felt pretty good about my
knowledge. It was taking me around 2 hours to complete the
simulations.
I then went through the PM Fasttrack CD and took questions from
specific process groups so I could focus more on a single process
group at a time. This helped out a lot. It made me see patterns
and key words to some of the questions (i.e. Quality Assurance
= "Overall or confidence" and Quality Control = "specifc").
After going through the process groups answering questions, I went
back and took the PMP simulation tests again. I scored 90% twice
and that was good enough for me.
So to sumerize some things that I did and did not do that I see a
lot of questions on...
- DID NOT read the PMBOK. Only referenced it like a dictionary.
- DID NOT memorize inputs/outputs. After learning the material this
came naturally.
- DID NOT learn how to calculate NPV.
- DID learn the rest of the formulas.
- DID use the simulation exams as my primary source for studying.
All in all, it took me around 4 weeks of intense studying. I
actually moved my test date up a week becuase I was tired of
studying anymore.
ABOUT THE EXAM:
It took me approximately 2.5 hours to complete. The simulation
questions and the PMP questions were a good match. I don't think I
would have passed without the simulation exams. It's worth the
money. I "marked" all of the questions that looked to be difficult
or required extensive calculations or thought. I didn't want my
brain to sizzle too quickly so I saved these for the end. There is
something to be said for having gone through all of the questions.
It makes you feel more optimistic about the ones that you need to go
back an review. When you get stuck on question 3/200 it can be very
discomforting. Just "mark" it and go back when you have some
questions under you belt.
Bring ear plugs. My testing center had head-sets and I am gld they
did. The guy across from me kept pounding on the keyboard as he was
typing away and I considered picking up my PC and throwing it on his
head. WARNING: You will need to retake the exam if you crush
someone sitting next to you with your PC.
Anyhoo, I am open for questions. I really appreciated the feddback
posted in here from others that passed the exam. I found those
posts to be the most valuable so I am hoping someone can use this
info. Good luck!!
Hi,
I also wrote last Thursday and passed with 170.
Some of my experiences :
The test centre was 5 min walk from my office so I went in early to
have a final "refresh" but landed up having to deal with a minor
work crisis which threw me slightly - DON'T DO THIS!
In preparation, attended a PMP prep course over 10 weeks which ended
in August. I have not bought Rita's, or any other books. The
institution offering the prep course had an old version of Rita's
CD, and I did about 4 full length tests.
Other material included :
PMBOK - 3 times
Extensive use of the notes on this site - Yancy, Version 5, and
quite a few others in the form of presentations etc
Lots and lots of practice questions. I can't stress the importance
of doing practice questions. I kept notes of those practice
questions I got horribly wrong, and used these, together with Ver 5
notes as my main Key-points summary prior to the exam.
The exam itself : Got there early, and was allowed to start
immediately. Did a brain dump during the tutorial period, then did
the tutorial. Don't be thrown by the "END" at the end of the
tutorial - selecting this will NOT exit the exam, but just the
tutorial, and take you to the exam. I found the questions generally
easier than expected. I had a calculator, but did not have to use
it. Some questions were simple one-liners, but others were quite
extensive. There were also some where all four choices seemed
correct (based on by 14 yrs project management experience). I
finished in 2 hours, then spent a further 45 min reviewing EVERY
question. This was just as well, as some of the questions are worded
in a tricky fashion, and have a corresponding answer in the choices
if mis-read.
Its a relief to have passed. This site is about the best resource I
have found. I intend over the next few days to add to the Ver 5
notes based on my experience, and as a thank you to those in this
group who have helped me pass. A BIG THANKS to the moderator as well.
I guess I need to share my own experience too.
I found that the exam was not too difficult if you understand well
the principles behind the PMBOK.
It is not a question of knowning by heart the content of the PMBOK
but rather to assimilate the PMI philosophy and being able to apply
it to the different situations that are proposed in the exam.
My recommendations:
1)Read the PMBOK
2)Take some sample quiz
3)Take a prep exam course (it helps a lot in putting thing together)
4)Take the exam within the following month and in the mean time:
4.1) reread the PMBOK
4.2) review the course notes
4.3) take a lot of practices tests
It requires discipline but for someone with a fair amount of
experience in project management,it should not be too difficult to
get the PMP title.
Good luck.
I took the exam yesterday and passed!!!
experiences:
Here are some of my
I took the ILL exam prep course a year ago. So as part of it I used
Kernzer, the PMIQ CD and PMBOK. A friend loaned me her Rita prep book
and I purchased the Kim Heldner book. My strongest recommendation is
if you are taking a prep class; take the exam as soon as possible.
Don't put if off. I found it to be difficult to get back into the
swing of studying.
My Recommendation is
1.
PMBOK
2.
Kim Heldner
3.
Rita Prep
4.
This group, what a valuable asset this is.
5.
Trandumper – or as many pc based exams. I wasn't use to
taking pc-based tests and this really helped prep for the long exam
and staring at a screen for so long.
With all the studying I did (started back in Sept), it is difficult to
say if the exam was difficult. I tried to over study, in fear of not
passing. That's why try to take it as soon as possible after a
prep class, while everything is still fresh. One thing is for sure,
that you have to put some study time in to pass this exam. My
schedule was everyday for 3 hrs, and on weekends during the last month
(increased it to 8 hrs). This was mostly taking the practice exams.
This was good practice as to what to expect. The trandumper files are
great, along with all the other material in the notes file. As for
setting a test date, I had originally set it for Nov, so that I could
be study free for Thanksgiving, but in taking the tests, realized that
I was not ready. That's when I got the Kim Heldner book, which
just put everything into place and started with the trandumper tests.
During the exam tutorial, I had done what so many people recommend, a
brain dump, mostly of the formulas. This came in real handy. It took
me about 3 hr, and I did review some of my work but not all in the
last hour. I just got real tired of the stuff.
I want to thank everyone and the moderator of this group. This played
a huge part in my passing. I can't believe how much sharing and
support is here. I am so relieved its over, now its time to start to
live again. Good luck to everyone who is planning to take the exam.
I read PMBOK one time and then hit Rita's questions hard. I went
through each Knowledge Area getting between 65-75% correct, then I
immediately retook it getting 85-95%. The day before the test I took
the Super PMP and got ~86%.
Thanks much for all of the help!
RS
Hi All ,
I am glad to inform the group that I cleared my PMP Exam with a score
of 158 on Dec 8th 2003 .
I read PMBOK and Rita atleast Twice completely and did take some
Practise tests which gave me lot of confidence .
My advise to aspirants is , pl. don't overkill urself . There is
wealth of info. available around but only some of them are really
useful .
I would say 75-80 hours of sincere study would be sufficient for any
one with a resonable amount of PM experience ..
What is more important is to understand the processes and Definitions
thoroughly (Don't by heart).
Be prepared for Situational Questions .
Important Note : Don't expect Very lengthy Questions . Most of them
will be one or two liners.
Time : It is more than sufficient for any one . I finished all the
Questions in 2Hrs.55 mins and review got over in another 15 mins .
The Technic that I thouroughly applied while taking the exam was RTQ
(Read the Question)and RTA(Read The Answer)
Thanks and Rgds
Nagesh
Hello All,
Just wanted to share my good news! I passed the test (P.T.T) on the
first try today!
Even though I did not post here... I did go through the files and
found a lot of useful study guides and practice exams.
Study Material used:
- Rita Mulcahy's book
- Kim Heldman's book <-- her book is very good for making sense of
the order in which processes are to be performed.
- PMBOK (I actually read it twice!)
- Practice exams
Good luck to everyone preparing for the exam and pass the test ;-)
Best Regards,
Trinia M. Tabb, MBA, PMP
Advocate Health Care
Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to share my great news that I passed the exam this morning
with
a score of 161.
What I did:
- Read Rita Mulcahy's book (3rd & 4th editions..) - which means I went
through it twice!
- Read Kim Heldman's book
- Referenced PMBOK for clarification
- Practiced questions from: (1) Rita's book, (2) Kim's book & CD, (3)
PMI
Sample questions, (4) PMP Exam Online Prep Test (http://www.vlp.net/pmponline-self-test/75-free-questions.htm)
- Day before the exam, only went over what I was going to braindump for
the
exam NOTHING MORE (this keeps the test anxiety to a minimum)
What I did NOT do:
- Memorize ITTOs. (it may be helpful to some, but I personally could
not make
sense of it and saved myself the headache and frustration of it all..)
Thank youu to everyone who have posted questions and comments to this
group! It is definitely a great resource!!!!
Akon E. Ekpo, PMP