Student Profile: Narendra Karambelkar, PMP

My name is Narendra Karambelkar & I live in Goose Creek, SC (USA). I have a Masters degree in Science (specialization in Physics). I am into IT field for 30 years. I started as a Trainee Software Engineer and then later held various managerial positions such as Director, Project/Program Manager and Engagement/Account Manager. For the last 8-9 years I am into Oracle E-Business Suite as a Functional or Change Management Consultant in the Distribution area. I travel extensively to wherever my client sites are based. Currently i am Consulting Project Manager for Implementation of E-Business Suite modules in the Order to Cash & Procure to Pay Areas for a Multi-Million dollar Berry Grower based in Ventura County, California.

My recommendation to the students in the first week of study should do the following:
    * Download the PMBOK guide
    * Start reading the PMBOK Guide & making cheat sheets
    * Start drilling this into mind "Yes I will study couple of hours every day till my exam date"
    * Ignore the following:
        - Any test exams
        - Free sites pertaining to PMP study
        - PM-Prepcast (Only when I finished going thru' the PMBOK guide, i started listening to the prepcast which was like 3 weeks after start)

My study routine in the last 3 days before the exam:
    * No sample tests
    * Just going thru' the following over & over again:
        - my cheat sheets
        - Printouts from PMBOK guide for the following tables:
            ~ Table 1-1 Comparative Overview of Project, Program & Portfolio Mgmt
            ~ Different Organization Structures (Matrix, Projectized, Balanced, etc.)
            ~ ITTO Diagrams
            ~ Going over the formulas's again & again so that i could write all of them down from memory on the rough sheet before the exam clock started
    * "Yes I can Pass" mantra all the time in my head

Narendra Karambelkar, PMP