Hi Geeta,
I was in the same boat as you. I have 4 children and found it difficult at times to study and take simulated exams. I scored in the 60’s, then 70’s, then finally got an 80 on the simulated tests.
I took 8 full simulated exams through the PMP Exam Simulator and 1 Andy Crowe exam. I found Crowe’s test frustrating and unhelpful due to the wording of the questions and the lack of explanation in the answers. Stick to the PMP Exam Simulator: Cornelius and team consistently used PMBOK-specific language and concepts and exceeded in explaining EACH answer in depth (A, B, C, and D) and why it was right or wrong, in addition to a general paragraph about the question.
#1 TIP: This was critical to me passing the exam: On my 1st pass through the simulated and real exams, I automatically skipped all questions that were more than 2 sentences or had calculations. This made a huge difference in my test score because of PMI’s inclusion of “experimental questions” — 25 long, vague ones that are not counted in your score. It’s best to practice this, however, because on THE day, you may get swept up in reading all questions in order on the 1st pass. On the 2nd pass through the tests, I tackled the 3+ sentence and calculation questions. I banked on the probability that the unscored, “experimental questions” were in this 2nd group of longer questions. If they were particularly ambiguous or lengthy, I skipped them again.
TIP: Practice Brain Dumps. Do a brain dump at the beginning of each simulated test while the exam clock is running. Mine included the Process Group/Knowledge Area Table plus 22 formulas. It took me 15 minutes.
TIP: Make Flashcards. When a concept was new on the tests or when I missed a question, I made a flashcard. Made 300 in all.
TIP: Differentiate the answers. When I got stuck, I moved my focus to the 4 answer choices. I described them in my head and tried to differentiate them. What’s the point of the Communications Management Plan vs. Resources Management Plan vs. Risk Register?
TIP: Nail down what is being asked. It’s hard in many cases. Everyday words were used on my real exam in place of PMBOK terms, like implementing work vs. the Executing Process Group. In some questions, I wasn’t supposed to address a problem. Rather, they wanted to know the best way to illustrate it after-the-fact to my team vs. to a vendor vs. to a sponsor.
Geeta: If you only have a couple of weeks before your exam, I would concentrate on answering as many questions in the simulator as you can between now and then and concentrate on reviewing your incorrect answers at the very least.
Here’s some advice from Cornelius . . .
“My recommendation for you at this point is the one that has helped most students who are getting close to the actual exam date: Focus your energy mostly on answering sample questions. Do as many "full" exams as you possibly can. And for each answer that you have incorrect you should open up the books to review why you had it wrong and learn from the mistake. So invest 4 hours into taking the exam and then another 4 hours into reviewing the incorrect answers, before moving on to the next exam.”
“Look at all the general explanations for the questions and pay particular attention to those that you got wrong. We now have 'per choice explanations' which tell you exactly why each of the four answer choices is / is not correct. In that way, you can learn from your mistakes and take another step forward.”
I wish you the best, Geeta! We’re rooting for you!
