TOPIC: Failed the exam twice.. Need help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so I failed the exam twice, but I will say there was a vast improvement from my first exam. the first exam I failed horribly with needs improvement in most of the process groups: my second attempt
initiating: Target
Planning: target
Executing: target
Monitor & control: below target
Closing: Needs improvement
my 3rd attempt is end of august so I'm giving myself 5 weeks to buckle down and totally study. I believe I can do it it in five weeks. my study plans are pmbok, prepcast, and rita. (I'm not a fan of Rita I feel its too wordy). can anyone offer some advise to calm my nerves. I know I can defeat this beast...

Melissa,

So awfully sorry to hear! How disappointing and frustrating for you.

Have you already read the article www.project-management-prepcast.com/failed-pmp-exam that I recently published? I mention this because you say "calm my nerves". If your nerves are a medical issue, then you can get a doctors note and PMI will allow you extra time on the exam.

I think your study approach looks sound. Especially since you give yourself 5 weeks to recover and study. My advice: Focus on answering exam questions. You already have our PMP simulator and you can request a free extension from our support team (because you didn't pass). You may want to consider purchasing a second simulator and then do question after question after question and spend a lot of time in going through your errors and learning from them.

You can actually get a Dr note? When I did my CAPM I guess like most people my stomach was in knots but I have anxiety issues which really doesn't help.

Melissa, If you can find a study buddy or a live study group. I think it's a great tool. Learning obviously is the base of passing any exam but I find that discussing with peers is a huge help. I was having a chat with a PMP expirant last week and we both learned so much in just 1 hour of chit chat. Some stuff I had wrong that got explained to me and vice versa.

I am sorry to hear that Melissa, (┬┬﹏┬┬)

I passed my PMP on the 1st try. I think that your plan will work. I spent five weeks and made Rita, my best friend. The resources I used were Rita (book & audiobook) and PMBOK. I read through Rita's book 2 1/2 times, and I used the PMBOK as a reference for a simple explanation. Rita may be wordy, but she will tell you how the pieces of the project fit together.

The crazy part is that it did not start making sense until my final week. At that point, I told myself, I understand these terms, but it did not know how PMBOK wants a project to run. It all "clicked" when I remembered the 49 processes. So, my primary advice would be to know/learn the 49 processes. You should know all of them AND how they work together. After learning the 49 processes and understanding that in a defined project plan, for the most part, things are meant to go in order (Initiate > Plan > Execute > Monitor & Control > Close). Also, the knowledge areas are generally done in columns. There was one YouTube video (How to Memorize the 49 Processes from the PMBOK 6th Edition Process Chart). It helped me a lot to remember the 49 processes. The acronym of the knowledge areas from the video, "I Saw Six Cars Quickly Rip Carol's Right Passenger Side" changed everything for me! Knowing knowledge areas acronym helped me build my graph during the PMP exam. In addition, it came in handy when I saw these style of questions: "What should the project manager do?"; "What should the project manager do first/next?"; "What is the best course of action?"; "What tool or technique does the project manager use in this scenario?"; "What PM technique is described in this situation?"; "What should the project manager have done differently to avoid this situation?" I would go down the chart to verify I was right.

Also, remember what Rita said, do not think of the projects you have been on, but think of the perfect PMBOK project unless the test tells you there was something wrong with the project. However, caveat, YMMV.

Thanks for your humility. Best of luck, Melissa. (●'◡'●)

how do I find a study group in my area, I'm in central new jersey

thank you. I have started reading Rita again. so what I will do is ill take a 40 question test on a specific knowledge area, like schedule management. ill review my answers and then start to read that chapter in rita's book and it makes total sense to me now. I also cross reference the pmbok. my test is the end of august but I have a rigorous study plan that I am following. I believe in myself and I want to pass this test so badly. this is my last shot and I am doing everything possible to make sure that I understand and make sense of the processes. thank you for your kind words. I will continue on

To find a study group in your area you have a few options:
- Contact your local PMI chapter and find out if they know of anyone currently studying
- Post a new message here in our forum to see if there's anyone else

Also... don't limit yourself geographically. With all the free teleconferencing tools at our disposal, it's now easier than ever to join a global study group.

Go to FaceBook and search PMP Study the first 10 results are the ones you want to join and go from there. You can either find somebody that is taking the exam around the same time as you and have webcam sessions or you might find somebody in your area

I fail two times pmp exam too..what support i need?

I failed twice too, i am a exceptionally bright student, which lead me to think i can clear it easily...
I cleared with all AT's in my third attempt today.
I studied PMBOK and Rita and gave 10 mock exams.

I failed twice in old pattern andi gave to give exam on 2021 new pattern .I dont know how i can clear .

Baskar:

The "new exam" will still be based on PMBOK 6. If it were me, I would enroll in a new exam simulator and go through every question at least once and do multiple practice exams.

Use the feedback that you received from your previous failures to concentrate your study on those rubric areas. If there are more than two areas of weakness, that indicates that you need work in all rubric areas and you will need to look at all the areas for study.

Good luck!

Harry

Will the 2021 simulator give questions like the real exam where there are fill in the blanks?

Just saw Cornilius' video. The answer is yes.

I just failed for the second time. Horrible feeling