TOPIC: Passed PMP Exam and My Lessons Learned

I passed PMP Exam today, above target. It was like yesterday when I joined this forum and popped the question whether 2 months of preparation was efficient.

A bit of background, I've been an IT Project Manager for 13 years, but that means nothing to pass the exam if I don't study. I have 2 months to study since the day my PMP application is approved. At the beginning, I spent 4 to 5 hours a day to study and yes, I was stressed out. Even in my dream, I saw myself doing the mock exam questions, yeah for real. After the first month of reading materials and doing mock exams, with more feedback from people taking the exam, I felt more relaxed and less stressed. During the day before the exam, I watched FIFA world cup and witnessed how Columbia beat Poland 3-0.

The materials that I used consist of PMBOK 6th edition. I pay for the PMP simulator and it helps me the most . I regularly check out some youtube channels with PMP questions. I start out using this site with study mode for all the question. I do 30 question quiz in the morning and 30 question quiz after dinner until I use up all the 1200 questions. 3 weeks before the actual exam date, I start taking the full 4 hour mock exams, 2 exams per week (Monday and Thursday). Other days including weekends, I continue doing the quizzes. Even the day I take the exam, I did the 40 question quiz as well. Below are my exam scores using the simulators:

Exam 1 84%
Exam 2 82%
Exam 3 81%
Exam 4 74%
Exam 5 82%
Exam 6 79%

Now to the actual exam itself, the areas that came out with more questions were: scope, risk, quality management, stakeholder management. There were a few with conduct procurement. There was no agile questions. There were a few ITTOs, which I knew was my weakness during study, but I think I nailed them. Most questions were short with some long winded questions as well. Some questions were vague, so vague that even I marked and revisited, I still had to guess the answers. For some questions, I couldn't choose the correct answer, but I picked one by slowly eliminating the ones that I felt "incorrect". In total, I took 3.5 hours out of the 4 hours given to me. The lady next to me was breathing so heavily that it bothered me, but I chose to deal with it instead of wearing the provided headset to block the noise. The provided headphone was too tight and it bothered me even more.

That's it for now. Thank you PM PrepCast.

Luke - Outstanding news! Congratulations, and I agree those around you can be very distracting but you found a way to make it happen. Best Wishes on your future endeavors. jfw

Hi Luke,

Congratulations on passing the PMP Exam!

Congrats. How would you compare the Exam Simulators to the actual exam? In terms of length, relevance, difficulty and any other useful information

I am writing my exam on June 30th

Congrats. How would you compare the Exam Simulator the actual PMP exam? In terms of difficulty, relevance, length and any additional useful information.

I write my exam on June 30th.

Luke Ho wrote: For some questions, I couldn't choose the correct answer, but I picked one by slowly eliminating the ones that I felt "incorrect".

Couldn't agree more on this strategy. This is probably one of the best piece of advice I would give to anyone looking to take the exam and served me well when I did mine.

Well done Luke

Navdeep Sandhu wrote: Congrats. How would you compare the Exam Simulator the actual PMP exam? In terms of difficulty, relevance, length and any additional useful information.

In general, the exam simulator is harder, but I appreciate that fact. I use the exam simulator in study mode and view the explanation for the correct and incorrect answers. I spent almost 3 weeks doing just that. I think this is the only simulator that does it this good. Reading the materials was one thing, but by doing it in study mode, it really help the materials retained in my head much better.