TOPIC: Successful PMP Exam project closure

Having to take an exam after so long, has been a very unnerving experience. But man, is the taste of passing ever so sweet.
Passed with 3Ps and 2MPs.

Here are some afterthoughts and lessons learned:
- I thought I would finish the exam early, like the many full mock exams I had practiced. But. Parkinson's law was in full effect during the exam.
- Since I didn't count the number of questions I had marked. I didn't know how time I would need at the end to review them again.
- Was dismayed/frustrated by lack of context on some questions.
- They definitely need a new user interface for the exam. It reminded me of when I took the GRE. Pm - exam simulator is how it needs to look.
- It was a full house at my exam center and a couple of examines were clicking away at the keyboard like they were writing a novel. Even with headphones, noise can still be a nuisance. Focus is definitely needed.

- Practicing low quality one-liner questions with 2-3 absurd and irrelevant answer choices and one sure choice, will not help.
- "what do you do next?", as I have seen in many practice questions, Is very essential to know for all processes
- Need a good understanding of how a project doc, plans or any inputs/outputs from one knowledge area are used in other knowledge areas. Basically process and data flow.
- Alternate wordings for processes, documents can be used.
- As ITTOs was high risk item for me. I used ITTO explorer and quiz on BrianBOK.com, to mitigate much of it.
- 3 Android apps I used for 'on the go' questions and reference - Hyper PMP (very useful process flowcharts, no questions), Sean Whitaker PMP (good questions and flashcards) and Oliver Lehmann's app ( 500 questions).
- Other than PMBOK and Andy Crowe's book, I referred to Harold Kerzner's PM- systems approach. It has good situational questions at the end of the chapters.
- Best thing about prepcast videos was that they are on demand. The index at the end of the accompanying student workbook was very helpful. Also, the extra interviews are very insightful. Thanks Cornelius

So thats my 2 cents

I have been so addicted to PMP questions for the past few weeks. I think I'll need to wean myself off by doing few questions everyday

PS- Very strange, but the last thing I heard before ending the exam was " So its time for Justine to say...."

Congrats! Love the comment about Justine! I, too, got to the point after each webcast that I would recite with Cornelius 'So it's time for Justine to say....'

Tracey

Congratulations IMRAN and thanks for sharing your thoughts.

and yes, me too, used to recite with Cornelius "So its time for Justine to say.." and i always repeat what Justin has said

Congrats! Love the comment about Justine! Haha

Congrats and thanks for the reference to Parkinson's Law. I've always found this little principle applicable in so many parts of life and business. It was great to hear it applied once more.

If asked how long it takes to complete the exam, we can apply Parkinson's Law and reply:
"The time it takes to pass the PMP exam is equal to the time given to take it."

If someone reading this isn't familiar with it, read up on this interesting subject on wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law