Hi,
Finally after 3 years of delay I was able to clear my PMP exam in the first attempt through Online Proctoring method of Exam, from the comfort of my home.
I got a T/AT/AT/AT/T, with an overall AT.
What worked for me, probably might not work for anyone else, but would like to share some details about my preparations (though I feel it would not be relevant post Dec 2020 as the exam pattern is going to change).
With a demanding job and a family with kids, it was really challenging to spend time on preparation. Not to mention that I changed my job earlier this year.
Anyways, I initially spent 2 hours per day with around 4 hours over the weekends with 1 mock test from prepcast.
I felt the tests in prepcast were a bit more challenging as compared to the actual test. I was scoring in 50s, 60s and 70s in my mock test. I did not get a chance to take all the 7 tests, but I did take the timed and learning tests.
On an average I solved around 40 questions per day in the past 2 months.
I primarily used Head First PMP and read cover to cover to get the concepts right. I made my own notes.
Then using my notes, I read through PMBOK 6 and focused on any items that were not covered in Head First PMP.
In the last 2 days, I went through my notes thoroughly and for any items that were still not clear (like Six Sigma) I referred to Rita's.
About the Online proctored exam.
It went smooth with a bit of hiccups in the beginning. The proctor seemed very inexperienced. He asked me to take my laptop in my hand and show a 360 degree view of the room where I was taking the test from. This was in spite of taking the pictures of the room. I made sure there were no papers in the room and no posters on the wall.
When I asked him if I can take a washroom break during the stipulated break time, he said it is not allowed to move away from the camera view during the test.
After 5 minutes of the the scan, he said, he would be releasing the test in few minutes, but in reality he had already released the test and I was on my 6th Question already.
After a few minutes he came back and said he wants to scan the room again....I was annoyed, but entertained him as I didn't want to cause any issues and delays. I lost a minute of time, but it was ok. I told him firmly after the scan if he needed anything else as he was disturbing me. He apologized and allowed me to continue the test.
I got a warning after sometime as I was covering my mouth with my hand, which I have a habit of resting my face on my hand while concentrating. I was asked to remove my hand.
After 90 questions, there was a break. By then I had a different proctor and she allowed me to take a washroom break without any issues.
During this time, though subconsciously I was covering my mouth with my hand, I did not get any warnings.
Technical glitch : At question 160, the next question wouldn't load, I had to wait for almost a minute and the test came back to question 160 and I then onwards there were no issues.
After the test result screen was shown, I got the details exam results after 4 hours. I took the test on a Saturday.
Finally, thanks to prepcast team for the simulator, it really helped me identify my weak points so that I could focus on them.
Thanks
