I took the PMP exam on February 17, 2017 and passed on my first attempt with 3 Ps and 2 MPs. I spent around 2 and a half months preparing and a week and a half of practicing mock exams.
I began very confused and overwhelmed as to where and how to start studying. I read a lot of websites, PMP articles, and other people’s experiences to gain insight into how others approached PMP and that helped my come up with my own strategy to study and prepare for PMP.
I started with Rita’s book but within 2 chapters I realized that this book was not for me. I shifted to Sohel Akhter’s book and that helped me learn all the key PMP concepts and lot of additional material. I also read the PMBOK Guide (don’t think I read through every page). In the end, I did a quick review of Aileen Ellis’s book and that helped me strengthen the key points.
My approach was not sequential like first read PMBOK Guide, then books, and then do mock exams. After my initial reading I downloaded a PMP app and started giving exams and answering daily questions. That helped me identify my strengths and weaknesses and I was able to spend my time appropriately. I did mock exams at regular intervals to get an idea of what the exam would look like and that helped me prepare better as I could focus on weak areas.
I did memorize the 47 processes, all formulae, and key concepts. For a month or almost daily I used to spend 15 minutes reproducing the Project Management Process Group and Knowledge Mapping table (PMBOK Guide Pg. 61), all the formulae and key concepts. It sounds like a lot but after the 1st week I was able to do a brain dump without any issues and within 12 minutes. So don’t be overwhelmed.
My last week was a quick review of my notes, Edward Chung’s notes (link below), and around 3 mock exams.
On the day of the exam I learned that we cannot do the brain dump during the instructions but we have to wait till the exam starts. So that was bit of a shocker but nevertheless it all worked out. I finished my exam in 3 hours and 20 minutes. I spend the remaining 40 minutes reviewing all my marked questions.
TIP: Do not waste a lot of time on one single question. If unsure, mark them move on to the next question. The first priority should be going through all 200 questions and answering all the ones you know. I also marked all the problem questions for end. Luckily in my exam there were only 3-4 problem questions. The last thing you want it to run out of time and miss out on some questions which you could have answered easily.
Good luck to all on this journey and please feel free to ask me any questions. More than glad to help.
Study Material
• PMBOK Study Guide 5th Edition
• Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification Exam Prep – Sohel Akhter
• PMP® Exam Simplified: Updated for 2016 Exam - Aileen Ellis
• Edward Chung - edward-designer.com/web/introduction-to-pmbok-guide-knowledge-areas-processes-process-groups/
Mock Exams
• Oliver Lehman (PDF Exam and Online)
• Free PM Exam Simulator
• Edwel Mock Exam
• BrianBok (PMP Practice Exam 1 and PMP Practice Exam 2 – very difficult but I thought they made me more confident. The actual PMP exam was lot easier than BrainBok exams)
• Simplilearn Free Exam
