I passed the PMP Exam on 16th Feb 2017.
Preparation Time: I underwent to 35 contact hours in 2015 December. More than 12 months. Started with Head First – Studied only once. I have started Rita Mulcahy which is really good to understand the concepts in a detailed way - I studied cover to cover for twice.
PMBOK: Starting, it was a good sleeping pill. When I completed Rita and start reading PMBOK, it was giving me a good grip on the solid project management concepts. Over the period of time Sleeping Pill became an energy tonic for me to stay connect with PMBOK – I read PMBOK cover to cover more than thrice.
I familiar with all 47 process flow diagrams/refined data model/Difference between PM plans and project documents - I used to draw all process flow diagram and I haven’t memorized any ITTO’s (Priazon YouTube gave a good understanding of Mainline concepts). I used to apply Plan-Do-Check-Act as a tool for my study preparation. When I complete the full mock exam and I use to go through the wrongly answered question and use to analyses the reasons.
YouTube Videos:- iZenBridge free Video – (Mr.Saket), Learnt lots of concepts from his video only and I have gone through all his video in iZenBridge(Highly Recommendable to view and enjoy his energetic orations). Other YouTube – Praizion/PassionatePM/CBT Nuggets/SirGanttalot/Engineer4Free(Network Diagram)/PMChamp and some PMI conference videos.
Other Reference Book: Andy Crowe and KIM Heldman.
Supplementary: After completion of two rounds of Rita and PMBOK. I purchased “Earn Your PMP Certification” from Udemy for 15USD with good discount and got 35 Contact hours again and got completion certification – I loved Joseph Phillips lectures
Blogs/Groups: I use to follow all threads in “I want to be a PMP” in LinkedIn. I use to visit other blogs as well - PMzilla, PM Study Circle, Deep Fried Brain, iZenbridge and PM Precast discussion forum.
Free Mock Exams: IzenBridge/PM Aspire/PM Zilla/PM Challenge/Oliver F Leman/Just PMP/PMStudy/Exam Central/Simplilearn/Headfirst/PM Zest + Rita 400 questions
Paid Mock Exams: Prep Cast – Attended all mock exams including ITTO and scored 95% in ITTO Exam – Because of the process flow diagram understanding and practices andPM Zilla – 200 Tough Questions.
Free Consulting –Before my exam, iZenBridge Mr.Saket scheduled a Hangout session and gave his feedback and dispelled my doubts and weakness. However, I haven’t enrolled any course with him.
Final Day (PMP) ®: A week ago, I visited a Prometric center and taken a help from staff – with regard to ID card and clarified some rudimentary doubts. 16th Feb 2017 morning 8 clock slots, I arrived one hour before and relaxed myself: I said myself (“Clam-down, Calm-down – You can do it, PMI accepted your application and you’re a professional PM who understood PM concepts from PMI perspective and did 2000+ mock questions.” )Question entirely different from mock and highly situational (90%) and tricky but I didn’t lose my self-confidence and positive energy. I was deeply focusing on exam questions and related with PMBOK and every 20 question I used to take a deep breath and relaxed.
I managed my time very well and I have taken two breaks because mock exam helps me to manage the timings. I have completed the exam before 15 minutes and utilized that buffer time for the review. When the final moment I clicked (Flip coin- I decided if I pass let me celebrate, if I fail I will get one more opportunity to read PMBOK again- I got congratulations message on my screen to celebrate
I thank my almighty god and I want to express my sincere gratitude to my wife who gave a consistent support to achieve PMP certification.
For PMP Aspirants:
Be positive – You can do it. If you believe you can.
