On April 9, 2020, I passed the PMP certification with the above target in all domains. Preparation for the PMP certification began in my case immediately after the PMI-ACP certification, which I successfully passed in December 2019.
The first step was to gain 35 contact hours through the PMP Exam Prep Seminar - Pass the PMP on Your First Attempt (Joseph Phillips)
Subsequently, I filled out the application for certification and obtained the following material:
- PMP® Exam Prep, Tenth Edition (Rita Mulcahy) - an outstanding publication for understanding the overall context
- PrepCast PMP Exam Simulator ™ - testing, testing, testing,...
- Head First PMP (Andrew Stellman) - an entertaining publication for those parts of the study where you have everything above your head and want to relax with a different style of learning
- Hot Topics (Rita Mulcahy)
- Audiobook PMP® Exam Prep, Tenth Edition (Rita Mulcahy) - occasional listening in the car on long journeys
What did I do?
- I set a goal - to pass the PMP exam within 1 year of registration approval - I wanted to properly learn all the practices and concepts of project management, I approached learning systematically
- I spent a few hours studying each week
- by creating my own extracts from study materials (here I discovered the charm of DEVONthink (Mac and iOS) and I highly recommend the publication Taking Smart Notes with DEVONthink by Kourosh Dini
- by creating my own questions (I recommend Studies app for Mac and iOS)
- using PrepCast PMP Exam Simulator ™
- I tried to introduce the acquired knowledge and practices into everyday working life
- adjustment of company processes
- education of subordinates
- for me, probably the best way to acquire knowledge
In total, I spent over 200 hours studying the background material and making notes
I spent over 30 hours answering about 1500 questions through PrepCast PMP Exam Simulator ™
How I evaluate the exam?
- no calculations
- no network diagram
- no ITTO
- over 50% of the questions were agile
- SPI, CPI and EV were repeated all around - it was enough to know the concept and what the numbers mean
- for me the exam seemed quite easy
- since I am not a native english speaker, I did not understand some questions but I could understand the context and answer the questions correctly
