Dear All,
I would like to share with you my lessons learned and how I prepared and trained up to the exam itself.
How I did train:
I started my training in the beginning of 2020 with the PM-Prepcast video-training. It was a very good way of starting as it guides you through the PMBOK in full detail. I really astonished about the excellent and clear language of Mr. Fichtner… If it would have been colored by an accent, I don’t think I would have used it to the end. This was great! Also, the slides are very beautifully made and even that good that sometimes it was a bit distracting. At least in the beginning. Great job!
I also bought the Mulcahy study book… I wanted to use that book as a learning revision. After I read the first pages, I did put it aside and never looked back into this book. This is nothing for me…
At the beginning I fully read the book simultaneously. However, this seemed to be way to time consuming so after a while I just looked up for some details or doubts. Furthermore, off course to also look back if all was implemented in the videos…
As I have kids and had a lot of work, time went by and I had little progress. It isn’t the nicest thing to do but after half a year I pushed myself to get myself prepared to do the exam by the end of the year. Nearing the end of the year it seemed that it would not work out to start and finish with the exam simulator.
So, I skipped the exam to 2021. Following to this, the ECO changed and AGILE was been added by PMI.
I started the exam simulator and noticed, that the gap on Agile was so big that I was thrown back in my schedule. By that reason I bought the booster course and found myself studying again with the videos. By the time I cached up with that, the simulator was already expired so that I bought an extension…
I was getting nervous whether I would really be able to do or pass the exam. Too much time flew by until I finished the study material.
I thought I really had to restart from scratch… The company I worked for provided one year of the video material which also was expired so I bought the full material again. Following to that I forced myself to nail down the topic and set the end date starting with the exam simulator… That was exactly 3 month ago from now….
As I heared about the lessons learned I became anxious and bought the 50questions book as well. I wanted to prepare as good as possible not to fail in the exam! And I finally succeeded… PMP… It’s dynamite
Summary:
Study was hard, I took to long… Believe in yourself… set a goal and try to put work aside so that it does not take as long as for me… The video material of PM-Prepcast is great (Agile need modernization)…
The exam simulator is an absolute must! Extreme value for money (it boosted my knowledge extremely). I would say, without simulator I think you will not pass. The timely pressure and kind of questions must be trained. 180 question in 230 min is really though…
Indeed, the questions in the exam are partly very vague and the simulator mostly clearer… but for training purposes I think it is the right balance.
At the end… Was it worth it? I wanted to have the certificate, so I say yes it was… It is good to deepen and widen onesleves' perspective… Does someone become a better PM by having the PMP-certificate? I would say no! I assume it does not really change the way you perform the work as very often it is just about wording… like “enhance or exploit” …
At the end one of the best things about the training was the additional things I learned from the Agile mindset as I work in a predictive project environment!
