Last month I passed my PMP exam and I was hesitant to share my lessons learned given that I failed the first time in 2019 and most success stories here have been about passing the first time. This will not be a perfect story as FAILURE from my first try in 2019 and FAILURE on the Practice Exams in this PrepCast truly helped shape the outcome of receiving Above Target across the board in all 3 segments and receiving my PMP certification.
As many of you may know, the exam changed shortly after 2019 to include more People and Agile practices. I took a 30 hour course at my local college that was very helpful for the first exam. The Lessons Learned from my first failure is simple, I studied by memorizing terms and the exam was very scenario based.
I restarted my studies in early 2022 when I reached out to a friend from college who I saw on LinkedIn had just passed and earned their PMP. I had the new PMBOK 7th edition but I wanted to know how he studied. He recommended this PrepCast and the Agile Practice Guide so I used both of those materials to study.
I found the practice exams THE BEST TOOL with the detailed explanations that BREAKDOWN EVERY ANSWER with citations at the end for where to study the topics the question asked about. The best advice I heard in the PrepCast was for the 4 hour practice exams, plan for yourself at least that same amount to time to review your wrong answers. FAILURE HELPED ME PASS because of how wonderfully in depth this tool goes into explaining your wrong answers and other wrong answers you may have also considered, and of course why the right answer is right! I took 4 of the 4 hour practice exams and reviewed all my wrong answers after them all noting where in the PMBOK, AGILE PRACTICE GUIDE or other other sources cited and read about the topic on the spot.
Additionally, I found the Youtube videos by Cornelius Fichtner extremely valuable as well as the Podcasts! He walks through various topics about the exam, study materials and hot topics. The Lessons Learned Forum and all the tools do a great job staying fresh for anyone just starting their study journey.
EXAM DAY:
I scheduled it first thing in the morning and scheduled to take a half day off from work. NERVES NERVES NERVES! I did not feel ready but I knew I followed the PrepCast guidance and they even say you may not feel ready (this I believe is personality dependent. In school there are students who test well and confidently and other students like me who are not a fan of taking tests. As I understand the value, its a nerve racking process where I second guess myself throughout) In this instance I think the PrepCast's Practice Exams were great for me since I took the time to fail so much and studied what wrong answers sounded like and looked like, the right answers were clearer.
During the exam, I took one 10 min break as I feared running out of time to review marked questions. During my practice exams I had taken both 10 min breaks (again NERVES won on exam day and I went rogue taking only 1 break) In the end I finished on time using every minute intentionally.
Having failed the first time in 2019, seeing the "Congratulations" message was surreal and I've been on cloud 9 since. Special thanks to my friend from college recommending this PrepCast and everyone here supporting so many career and personal milestone goals.
