Good day everyone,
Im really happy to share that i passed my PMP exam.
Initiating: AT
Planning: AT
Executing: T
M&C: AT
Closing: T
Resources used:
- PMP Exam prep seminar - Joseph Phillips
- PMBOK 6th Ed
- PM PrepCast Exam Simulator
Prep time:
2 months or less (2-3 hours per day; 4-5 hours per day in the last 2 weeks)
Preparation:
I did everything wrong as far as preparation is concerned. I stalled because of my hectic work routine and was unable to book a date for the exam until i booked one 10 days before the 1 year time limit expired. I also covered the material at a snails pace at the start, didnt really focus on the PMP math and or any technically challenging topics.
So make sure you book an exam date. That really helps focus on a deadline/target and gets you going with the prep.
I started preparing 2 months before the exam date. Sped through the PMBOK, without absorbing the material, just underlining important stuff with pencil and putting sticky notes on important pages with ITTOs and charts and definitions (THAT HELPED during the last week). Then i sped through the Joseph phillips course to understand the gist of the material, making notes on my ONE-Note app as i went through the course.
2 weeks before the exam, i purchased the access to PM-Prepcast Exam simulator. That was the best investment i did in terms of exam prep. I cannot express how important it is to invest in Prepcast simulator. I did not read the rite book. I did not use any other resource or exam simulator.
I gave a total of 2 mock exams ( 72% in the first one; 70% in the last one). I was really scared about my mock exam scores. I gave numerous learning and timed exams on various topics/knowledge areas and read the answers and comments every time i would answer a question wrong.
Prepcast exam simulator was the most important resource for me simply because firstly, the explanation for the answers was just fantastic. Helped me understand reasoning behind the "perfect" answer that PMI is looking for on the exam. Secondly, and this is what i experienced, the PREP-cast exam simulator questions are way tougher than the actual exam. Now that may just be my experience, a one-off maybe. But the questions on the exam were short and less complicated.
Exam:
I was super nervous. I went in, went through the tutorial screens and did not even do a brain dump. I planned to speed through the questions, answering marking anything that would take too much time. I planned to do the complicated or math questions during my second run through the questions. That helped. On my second run i had had over 115 questions flagged(but answered). By the time i had completed all my questions + 2x 6 min breaks, i had 50 min left to review everything.
I wouldnt recommend this approach. I still say, do your thing, make your brain dump, answer every question carefully but just dont spend too much time on one question.
At the end, i would like to thank the PM-PrepCast team for their support and the platform that they provided me to prepare for the PMP exam.
Regards,
