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Topic History of : Passed the PMP Exam thanks to the PM PrepCast

Max. showing the last 6 posts - (Last post first)
2 years 7 months ago #27948

Sara Mastroiacovo

Sara Mastroiacovo's Avatar

Hi, I studied 2 months after a specific course to gain the PDUs. I read the PMBOK twice, and the Agile Guide 3 times, and all Rita's book once. But above all, what really helped me though, it was the PMP prepcast simulator. I did 4 exams (excluding the INPUT/OUTPUT/TOOLS & TECHNIQUE question and exam) and many learning and timed short tests on KA and on specific domains. I started scoring 75% and I ended up scoring 85%. I did around 1,500 questions, and read the full explanation of the wrong answers and the correct one (of course), and I went to reference the PMBOK (usually at the end of the question there is the reference to the PMBOK) which helped me to read again that topic, understand it and memorize it. Probably I over prepared myself, I do not know, but I am Italian and I studied in English and did the exam in English, and I wanted to feel confident enough. The exam questions are easier than the one in the simulator, however, the main difference is that in the exam you are always in doubt between 2 possible answers, then you have to read again the question looking for keywords and the better fit answer. Instead in the simulator it is a bit more straightforward, it is less tricky if you know the topic. In the exam there was only 1 calculation about decision tree (EVM) which was easy but it was time consuming. I had 65%-75% questions on hybrid & agile. In my opinion when they are only Agile, they are easier to answer, while if they are hybrid, you need to think a bit more because there is not a specific guideline, and the PMBOK doesn’t cover this topic enough. I got 5 or 6 questions drag and drop, and for me those ones were the easiest. I had a lot of questions about conflict resolution. To make a long story short, the exam was easier than I expected, and the prepcast simulator is the tool that helped me the most.
2 years 7 months ago #27946

Stan Po - Admin

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John,

Congratulations on passing your exam!

Thank you for sharing your success and lessons learned. We are glad to hear that our products helped you prepare for and pass your exam.

Good luck in all your future endeavors.
2 years 7 months ago #27945

Asha Kurmi

Asha Kurmi's Avatar

Thank you for your post John. IS there something you would like to highlight on length of the question? How did you prepare for the ITTOs?
Did you memorize it or having a fair understanding & logical mapping is good enough?
2 years 7 months ago #27944

Asha Kurmi

Asha Kurmi's Avatar

Thank you for your post John. IS there something you would like to highlight on length of the question? How did you prepare for the ITTOs?
Did you memorize it or having a fair understanding & logical mapping is good enough?
2 years 7 months ago #27941

John Collmus

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Earlier this week I passed the PMP exam, on my first try, with above target scores on all three sections.

I gave myself about 2 months to prep for the exam. The first month I watched/listed to all the episodes of the PM PrepCast. I found this to be a good review of the things I learned while completing my MS in Project Management. My degree program did not focus on Agile, so I found the sections on Agile to be particularly helpful.

After finishing the PM PrepCast, I took my first practice exam using the exam simulator. I quickly learned that I still had significant knowledge gaps for the Agile content. I bought the Agile Project Guide and read the entire thing. It is much easier to read than the PMBOK Guide, which I did not read.

During the last month leading up to my exam, I focused on the PMP Exam Simulator and Premium Quizzes. I took all four of the Premium Exams and a handful of timed quizzes. I got a 63.3%, 65.6%, 66.7% and a 73.3% on the Premium Exams. After each exam, I went back and reviewed all the questions that I marked or answered incorrectly. I made slow and steady improvements but I was a little nervous that I was not getting higher scores. If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken more of the timed premium quizzes before taking the four premium exam. I found that taking a 10-20 question timed quiz and then immediately reviewing the correct answers was extremely helpful. In the days leading up to my exam I built my confidence by taking shorter quizzes where I achieved higher scores than I had on the four Premium Exams. The premium exams were important for building the endurance required to sit still and answer questions for 3-4 hours.

I took 2 days off work, the day before and the day of my exam, so that I could relax and focus for the exam. I took my exam at a Pearson VUE Test Center. They were very professional and explained the testing process and policies. One thing that I was not expecting was they made me remove my watch. On all the practice tests that I took, I would use my watch to keep track of my time. On the exam, they show a count down timer just like the PMP Exam Simulator. I ended up being fine on time. I took both 10 minute breaks to relax and have a snack. I finished the exam with about 20 minutes to spare. I thought the questions on the actual exam were easier than the questions from the PMP Exam Simulator and I only marked a few questions that I was unsure of.

Special thanks to the PM PrepCast team! You have developed a great product and your PMP Exam Simulator was the key to my success.

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