I passed PMI-ACP exam yesterday at home using Pearson VUE. I was looking at ways to get ACP certified using limited budget as I was paying from pocket not knowing whether my company will reimburse the cost.
Here is the step by step process on my exam preparation.
Get PMI-ACP Exam Prep by Mike Griffiths. Available at Amazon for $50. read the book thoroughly twice. First time reading took longer than the second time. Each chapter took me 3 hours to read the first time. Plan 25 hours each time to read the book once . I was able to read it twice in 45 days. This book is very good and treat like a Bible. Remember to take practice exams after reading each chapter.
For 21 contact hours I got a good deal in Udemy authored by Elite Instructors for $11.99. Not the best but you get what you pay for. I took my own pace viewing their content and it took me 1 week to complete the course. If I did not pass the first attempt I might have subscribed to PM PrepCast f or 21 hour course prep. You cannot go wrong with PM Prepcast!! Udemy course do have some good reading content read it if you have the time.
The 21 hour course had 1 exam simulator and the instructor gave another 2 complementary exam simulator for practice. Their pass rate was 80%. I got 65%,79% and 68% as my score. I was a little discouraged and the explanation for choosing right answer is not where as comprehensive as PM Prepcast exam simulator
Since I am PMI memmber registered for the exam for $435.
I had already made up my mind to get ACP exam simulator with PM Prepcast as I had a good experience using their examination simulator for PMP (which I passed as well). I subscribed the simulator for $99. I got over 70% on all the exams and what I liked about the PM Precast simulator which I mentioned earlier is the explanation for choosing the right answer. I spent 4 hours each exam to review the answers why I chose the wrong and the reasoning of the right answer. Interestingly someone of the right answers I chose had a different reasoning mentioned in the exam simulator. This help me identify the gaps. I noted down the gaps and read the areas of my gaps from Mike Griffiths book again. Then It retook the exam simulator from Udemy and got over 70% score. Finally I glanced the Mike Griffiths book quickly and took the exam after work remotely.
Note: While taking exam using Pearson VUE, allot 30 mins of preparation time. You will need to take a picture of your ID, pictures around the workstation t o prove that there is no content anywhere near the table. You can need to kill some background software to make sure their software runs on your workstation.
Hope this helps.
