I passed first time with 3 Above Targets, but came out of the exam sure I failed. I want to pass on to others how I approached the study, to share my journey in the hope it may help others.
Phase Gate
I put my exam preparation into 3 phase gates and used, as much as possible, a metrics-driven approach to move from one phase to the next.
Phase 1 – PDUs and Application
Kick-off: I read the PMBOK 7, selected a course for my 35 PDUs, and then after completion applied for the exam. AI can really help ensure your application is in good shape for submitting. BUT use AI as a copy editor to get the right terminology. It can hallucinate, so make sure it’s 100% truthful and you can back it up. You could be audited, so use it just to polish and not to invent. Ensure to keep integrity—do not be tempted to embellish.
Phase 2 – Adaptive Approach
Kick the tires and work out my weak areas that didn’t stick during the 35-hour course. Cyclic: [review and restudy on those weak areas]. In a relaxed environment, I did thousands of questions. I made a list of what I got wrong and then developed a plan for relearning. So, it went: 100 questions, stop, retrospective, study weak areas, 100 questions, etc., etc. Then, when I was reaching 80% on these questions, I moved to Phase 3.
In Phase 2, I also used the PrepCast exam simulator, as there are thousands of questions you can do outside of the mock exam with great explanations! But I also used some free resources such as YouTube.
Phase 3 – Exam Simulation (Mocks)
Research and determine a percentage mark when you confirm readiness to take the exam. I chose an average of 70% over 4 exams as my release point to schedule my exam. This also depends on risk appetite—the lower the mock results, the higher the failure risk. You must be responsible for what percentage to accept. 70% was mine and mine alone.
I made the mocks as close as I could to the real thing: same room and time, same computer (I did online). I closed all programs and made it as real as possible. I felt, “I am spending all this time and money on a mock—I want to get my money’s worth, and I am wasting it if I do not treat it as a real exam.”
Exam Prep
Booked exam with 1 week’s notice. No more mocks—a wind down with tough and challenging questions, recharging my brain. I watched some videos on exam questions, focused on process groups, and watched and read material on mindset.
Day before exam: did some VERY light reading, watched some films, relaxed, and went to bed early.
Exam Day
Disclaimer: When you do the exam, you sign to confirm you will not disclose exam questions, so I will not go into any detail on the questions.
I did the online proctored exam and entry was smooth, but I did a lot of preparation of my room (removing books, posters, etc.) beforehand. First 60 questions—I panicked. The first 10 questions were the hardest I had ever seen, and by the time I finished the first 60 questions, I was sure I was going to fail. In the last set of 60 questions, I felt I could feel my brain steaming. I also felt a little sick—my brain was running like an overclocked CPU without a heat sink (I ensured I took all the breaks—without them I would have collapsed). The questions were far harder than I expected—each question felt like my brain was being hit with a mental hammer. However, I closed out with 38 mins to spare (I was shocked I was running ahead of time. If I’d kept the pace, I would have completed 1 hour ahead of time, but I slowed down). I was completely physically and mentally exhausted by the end of the test. It was the most intense mental exercise I have ever done.
Result
It can take 5 days to get the online results. This is a good thing—PMI wants to ensure they keep the integrity of the exam, which is good for all PMP holders. The wait is painful but necessary. I was fortunate—my results came back after 24 hours, and I got an email: I passed with all 3 areas Above Target!!
Lessons Learned
Mock Exams (PrepCast Simulator vs. PMI Study Hall)
PMI Study Hall cannot be ignored—it’s an exam simulator from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, and it’s less than a hundred bucks, so its worth discussing as its good but not perfect.
When I was looking for an exam simulator, the worst attribute it can have (outside the obvious of not being like the exam) is when you do a question, and it’s wrong, and even after reading the answer, you still don’t know why you're wrong! It means you have not learned, and that's the worse result out of a simulator.
Now, on PrepCast simulator, this never happened to me. No matter how difficult the question was, when I went to the answers, a light bulb moment always happened. I was always able to say, “Ah, now I get it.” Prepcast helped me so much in driving my learning cycle to get my skill levels up. Always VERY detailed explanations of the answers which allowed me to study and brush up my weak areas. With PMI Study Hall, quite often I would still be none the wiser looking at the answers, as the explanations are not in much depth. Also, Reddit and other forums are becoming littered with panicking PMP students asking for advice on why a Study Hall question is wrong—and just simply not able to understand.
Study Hall is like an exam pacifier—it makes you feel confident because it’s from PMI, but in terms of learning loops, it’s not as good as PrepCast. You get much better detail on the answers and can embed them much better into your learning cycle. It depends if you just use the simulator as a liptus test or as a study aid, as study aid Prepcast is very good.
Careful of the YouTube PMP Gurus!
As more people apply for PMP, so does the growth of the gurus promising PMP certification with no reading and studying in less than 20 days! I made the mistake of watching one of these gurus do some exam-like questions on YouTube. The questions were poor, and they got some answers wrong. When I politely pointed them out in the comments, they got very angry with me! In the end, they look at his bio he was just trying to sell their personalised courses at $1,000 a pop. From that point on, I only went with experienced and tried-and-tested trainers such as PrepCast. Old saying but needs to be said: “If it seems too good to be true, IT IS.”
A lot of these gurus’ selling points are: "you can pass PMP without reading!" I am lost with this—I mean, you must read the questions on the exam? How is this a selling point?
Summary
PMP still remains the benchmark. I toyed with the idea of PRINCE2, but there are even more gurus and money scams than PMP, and I feel my work values are more aligned with PMI and the PMBOKs.
PMP still remains the champion standard for project management. It’s extremely challenging, and at the end of it, I feel I have become a much better project manager! Buts it a hard road and its not easy, but would the PMP exam be worth anything if it was easy?
